1) Choose your film-stock
Kodak 50D
With good sunny daylight definitely a gorgeous film with fine grain and details. Most super8 camera’s must be set to the ‘lamp-sign’ to switch away the build-in filter, because this is a daylight balanced film. This is a sharp and fine grain filmstock.

 

Kodak 200T
This 200T gives good results when used with the right light settings and filter. It does also give good results with less good conditions but exposed during daylight is advised.

Kodak 500T
This is you’re choice when you have low light and want results on super8 colour. Keep in mind that this film has high grain and therefore does not look as sharp as other films. Always try to expose it at f-stop 5.6 or better. There aren't many super8 camera’s that can automatically expose this 500ASA type film because at the time they manufactured super8 camera’s there was no extreme high speed super8 film on the market like this one.

Kodak Tri-X
A black & white reversal film.  You can screen this film with a movie projector straight after processing. Almost any super8 camera can automatically expose this film.

​

Kodak Ektachrome 100D
One of the worlds classic colour reversal films has returned: Ektachrome 100D! Great film and good colour. You can screen this film with a movie projector straight after processing.
Most super8 camera’s must be set to the ‘lamp-sign’ to switch away the build-in filter, because this is a daylight balanced film.

2) Test the camera and batteries
You don't want to be ready for a scene and find out during the scene that the camera is jamming or
that your batteries are low. Check your camera and batteries right before shooting. 
Have another super 8 camera ready as a backup. Also check if your camera is a type in which the light meter also controls the aperture. If it is, check if the light meter is working properly. Some camera's use a button cell battery for this. If you neglect this, your images can come out heavily under or overexposed.

 

3) Set up your sound recording and music 
Nowadays it is very easy to do a good sound recording. There are very cheap sound recorders on the market, but you can even use your own smart phone for the audio recordings. Place the recording deviced on strategic places on the scene out of sight, but where it still will be able to record properly. But keep in mind, super 8 mm filmmaking has its limitations. One of those limitations are the fact that the camera makes a distinctive rattling sound when you are shooting. This means that it will interfere with your audio/dialogues, if there are no other surrounding sounds. When you have the sound of your surroundings such as wind, driving cars, people talking, etcetera, the rattling sound of the camera can blend it and it woun't be noticable. But if you are shooting in a car for instance, you must allow enough surrounding sounds to be able to enter the car and the rattling sound will be blended in this surrounding sounds. And if you would like to have only dialogues within the car, it would mean that you have to shoot from the outside, with the dialogue sound being recorded without the interference of the rattling sound of your camera. 

4) Shoot some cartridges of super 8 using only your imagination, intuition and improvisation
By doing this, you will also be able to experiment with your sound and how to do its design for your
movie. You can also test what type of film you want your feature to be shot on. These footages can
be used afterwards and can help intertwine the situations in your film. In any way, you can always
use these footages. Also you can use these footages as teaser for your film.

5) Storing and developing of your film 
The longer you wait to develop your film after shooting, the more the quality of your images can detoriate. Unless this is detoriation is wanted by you as a filmmaker, try to avoid it by immediately have your film developed after shooting. When you have your film rolls back, store them at a cool place. Store films that are still unused in the fridge.

6) Work the concept of your film-idea out to a 2 or 3 pages synopsis
Do this your own way. Don’t follow the familiar ‘how-to’s’ of writing a screenplay or how to build a
story, how to break this down in 3 acts and how to do the plot in this, in which the protagonists and
antagonists develop in the traditional way. We are not dealing with traditional Hollywood
filmmaking, but rather amateur, personal filmmaking with high auteur value. We advice to put your focus on the situations and characters you want to portray in your movie, instead of writing a story and translating this onto the screen. When you come to this step in this stage of filmmaking, we assume that you have enough characters written out, that you can connect these characters to help you make this 2 pages outline. Keep in mind, this outline may be changed at any given moment.

7) Work your synopsis out to a treatment of 30 pages and the use of music
When you think that your 2 to 3 pages synopsis of your movie will not be altered anymore, start making a 30 pages treatment out of this. Again, don’t write it as one story and dialogues. Instead, try writing it as situations (scenes) and the characters roles in these situations. A kind of frame if you will, in which the scene can take place. Write enough situations in which you connect your characters, stretching 30 pages. The chronology of your film, as compared to a screenplay, will be the treatment from the first page umtil the last page. After completing your treatment, every individual scene must be planned and shot one by one. If you have arranged music from  people or if you have made music yourself, this is the moment for you to determine which music you want to use in which scene. Include that in your treatment.

8) Shoot the scene
Prepare the scene you will shoot with someone who will shoot the scene with you. Optionally use the tag-game method to tag each other every time a roll of film is about to run out.

9) Develop the film stock immediately after shooting
When you participate with 8GC, you will have to send back the films rolls to us, after which we will develop them and make a scan. This scan will be send back to you for editing. 

​