Super-8mm Films

Dali, Dali, Dali, Behind the Scenes Dali, Dali, Dali For more Information on my 20 plus years making films and videos, please visit Alex LOGIC. I am also an ideas person, and an excellent collaborator. Here is a link to my latest DP project shot in Super-8, it is called Dali, Dali, Dali and features the versatile and talented actor Levani. How serious was Levani in making this film? I witnessed Levani turning down a guest starring role on a prime time network television show because we were making this film at the time. Wow. But considering that Levani is the present day visual reincarnation of Dali, who can blame him for finishing his Dali film even if meant being unavailable for a guest starring role. Levani is again available for network television and theatrical films. If you click on the Dali, Dali, Dali link be sure to watch all the short teaser clips located throughout the website. There is so much more that is not on the website as well, the clips are meant to only show small portions of the entire film. As DP, I can tell you that we used six different super-8 film stocks, each one contributing to the overall feel that Dali's life was a puzzle of his own choosing in which only Dali could juggle those pieces into several artistic masterpieces.

Bronze Award Kalamazoo Film Fest The Alphabet Song, A Unique Filmmaking Project The Alphabet Song was my first ever attempt to make an in-camera Super-8 film that would sync up to a song without any additional editing! The Alphabet Song was written and peformed by Angelina Joy Emanuele of "The Joy House" Fame and is a snappy tune that helps kids learn the letters of the Alphabet. In order to synchronize the filming on the streets of Los Angeles to the musical rendition of the song, I did a second by second timing breakdown of The Alphabet Song's lyrics and music stings. This actually took several hours to do. I then converted this timing breakdown into film frames. I took this 12 page music timing breakdown sheet on location with me as I shot my 3 min & 10 second film, one time-exposure frame at a time. It sure felt strange constantly refering to my "notes" while filming my letters. My secret weapon was a digital frame counter I attached to the side of my Super-8 camera. I would always check my digital frame counter to make sure I had hit my target frame number count before switching to a new letter! I spent 10 nights and over 50 hours filming the Alphabet song on the streets of Los Angeles. All that time to shoot one cartridge of Super-8 film! Close to 3500 individual frames in all, each Super-8 film frame composed and photographed as an individual snapshot. I would shoot between 5 and 30 time-exposure frames per letter (depending upon the duration of each letter in the song) before switching to the next letter. Yale Labs in North Hollywood California developed my Ektachrome Super-8 Film and then transferred my Super-8 film to video using Rank Cintel Technology. I did three consecutive transfers of my Super-8 film at three different transfer speeds. Yale offers Variscan so I first did a 6 frames per second transfer, then a second transfer at 18.05 Frames per second, and a third transfer at 17.95 Frames per second. I am pleased to report that my film stayed in sync to the music at the 18.05 frames per second transfer! My in-camera Super-8 cinematography stayed in sync to the rapid fire music lyrics! I would like to thank Angelina Joy Emanuele for recording the Alphabet Song and making it available to me for my project. I would also like to thank David Riddle for modifying a Digital frame counter for me so that I could accurately count film frames on my Super-8 Camera. The Digital Frame Counter counted frames from zero through 3,500, ACCURATELY! I would also like to thank my Father for helping me "rig" my camera in such a way so that I could shoot my letters yet be mobile so that I could move from one location to another quickly.

Florida, California, Utah, Buffalo The Alphabet Song is Screened at Several Film Festivals Even though I succeeded in my initial goal of keeping my In-Camera Edited Super-8 film project in sync to the song, I felt I could make the final version even better with some additional video editing. I incorporated some of the six frames per second transfer footage for dramatic pacing effects, and the newly edited video definitely surpassed my initial in-camera effort. As a result of the additional editing, The Alphabet Song was shown both Internationally and in the United States. I was both stunned and pleased to learn that The Alphabet Song had won a Bronze Award from the Kalamazoo Film Festival along with a check for $200! My Super-8 entry competed against 16mm, 35mm and Digital Video Projects yet still was a prize winner. To see the official result after clicking on the above link just scroll down the page until you see Independent -- Films for Children I-FFC Bronze - The Alphabet Song. The Alphabet Song has screened at over a dozen film festivals including, the Rutgers Film Festival, the Kalamazoo Film Festival, in Utah, at the Los Angeles Italian Fest, in Florida, in Buffalo at the Global Super-8 Day, in Pennsylvania, in Canada at the "Splice This" Super-8 Film Festival, in two International Global Super-8 Day Film Festivals, and most recently, the East Lansing Childrens Film Festival. Click Here to See my Entry with JPG and Description. OK, that link is no longer online, sorry. Super-8mm.net - The Many Advantages of Super-8mm Filmmaking are Revealed. Page-1 Super-8mm Overview. Page-2 Super-8mm Film Advantages Explored Page-3 Super-8mm Film Production News Page-4 Music Video Techniques. Page-5 Labs & Transfers. Page-6 8mm Film Subscription Magazines. Page-7 Flicker Super-8 Shooting Strategies Page-8 Using Polaroids. Page-9 Super-8 Cameras. Page-10 Super-8 Forums. Super-8mm.com - Super-8mm Low Budget Feature Filmmaking Techniques. Page-1 Super-8 Links, Overview & Methods. Page-2 Super-8 Guerilla Filmmaking. Page-3 Indoor & Outdoor Locations. Page-4 Super-8mm Film Stock Strategies. Page-5 Super-8 Production News & Notes. Page-6 A Good SoundTrack Can Make Your Film. Page-7 Using Quiet Super-8 Cameras. Page-8 Best Script Concepts for Super-8mm. Page-9 Acquiring Same Model Super-8 Cameras. Page-10 One Stop Super-8 Film Labs.