The 8mm Revolution

"The 8mm Revolution" - SUPER 8 Movie Featurette from Cinelicious on Vimeo.

100

100 from Stewart Schuster on Vimeo.

Little Fox

Over the last two weeks, or so, I've started to get more serious about a project I mentioned last year called Little Fox. I have finished the initial outline of it, and will type it up and start fleshing it out more in the coming weeks. I have started collecting bits and pieces for it already, props and wardrobe, and will continue to do so over the next couple of months, as well as purchase film for it. I'm going to shoot on Ektachrome 100D Super 8. I was, originally, going to shoot on 16mm, but have decided to go with Super 8 for this project, since it will be a longer piece (15-20 minutes), and since there are so many extras for it that I will be investing money into (props, wardrobe, etc.). I'm really excited to be moving forward with this, as it is the first thing I've done since PHX.

Trailer for Kurt Markus's Documentary on John Mellencamp

I'm highlighting this because it was all shot on Super 8. Love the look and feel of it. There's nothing quite like Super 8.

John Mellencamp Trailer from Rounder Records on Vimeo.

PHX Blog - How Telecine destroyed my chance of shooting film

My number one goal in my "professional" filmmaking career has been to shoot everything I could on film. Let's be honest with each other, film will not always be around. It has another ten to twenty years before the monster that is digital will probably swallow it up. Don't get me wrong, I would like to see film around for, at least, the rest of my lifetime, if not beyond. There is something truly magical about it, and that is why I desperately wanted to shoot PHX on film, more specifically Super 8 Ektachrome 100D and Vision 2 200T. So why couldn't I? Well, with the budget I have, affording the film was no problem. The developing wasn't really an issue either, as it would be about the same cost. What killed it? Telecine.

For those of you that are somewhat unfamiliar with what Telecine is, it's actually quite simple. A Telecine machine scans each frame of film, and converts it to a digital video signal to be put onto tape or hard drive in order to edit on a computer. Most telecines are now HD capable, but there are very few that are capable of doing Super 8 in HD. After having called this handful of places and talking to folks at each one, and getting transfer rates and attempting to talk people down (quite unsuccessfully), I realized that the dream of doing this project, with the money available, was over.

The breakdown was simple - The industry standard rate for Super 8 transfer seems to be 3:1, which means for every hour of film you have, you are charged for three hours of Telecine. Now, most places that run standard definition (SD) Telecine's, will give you a 1.5:1 transfer, especially if they just throw it up on the machine and let it go (no color correction at all), but I couldn't get any of the places I called to give me a break, except one - Frame Discreet, in Canada. Unfortunately, though, the break they ultimately were willing to give me was still a little too expensive for the budget. Can you imagine if my only choice was some of these other guys? Figure, roughly, eight hours of footage, at 3:1, and a rate of 300 dollars an hour. Got your number? Needless to say, that's more than the whole budget of my film.

It was a tough decision to make, but, in the end, I had to go HD. We just don't have enough money, or time to go back and reshoot anything that might get messed up, to shoot on film. It's unfortunate, and I hate it, but, it's what's best for the project. Maybe if this one does good, we can do film for the next one.

New Film - Matt

This is my new film, Matt. It's a sort of moving portrait of an old friend of mine who I was able to visit with while going home for a friends wedding. Shot on Tri-X Super 8. Music by Tchaikovsky. Hope you like it, and please feel free to leave feedback - 

Matt from Stewart Schuster on Vimeo.

Travelogue, Nashville

Travelogue, Nashville from Stewart Schuster on Vimeo.

I have been working

I know I always say I'm working on this or that, but I am actually working on stuff, it's just slow going. As proof, I offer some stills from a recent transfer I did of 16mm and Super 8. The 16 stuff is for Indefinable Orbits and the Super 8 (black and white) stuff is for an as of yet untitled film.

Update - 091208

Been really busy with helping put together a film for a group I'm a part of, and that's why I haven't really been updating or, for that matter, watching films in the theater. Got a little time to do that kind of stuff the last two days, so that's why you're getting reviews of Hamlet 2 and Baghead, and I'll be back, probably tomorrow, with a review of Burn After Reading.

Also, I've been watching all of the Wong Kar Wai stuff I can get ahold of. I realized, after watching My Blueberry Nights, that I still hadn't seen a lot of his early work. So, there will probably be a lot of Wong Kar Wai DVD reviews (including Blueberry Nights).

I took a trip back home, to Nashville, a few weeks ago, and shot a lot of super 8 for my multi-frame project, and some super 8 for something else, and I shot some 16mm the other day for a new project tentatively called "I Am In The Clouds".

So, things are happening, I've just been a little busy and a little lazy about updating this blog. I'd like to say I'll try harder, but, you know how that goes...

2 from Vimeo

The first video here is a little experiment I did, that is sort of a preview of something I'm working on. The upcoming film, a "self portrait", will include 9 frames within the primary frame. That's all I'm going to say about it, but this is sort of a "rough draft" I made from some Super 8 I have shot over the last couple of years, a little bit of video, and a still from the movie "Quiet City", which I had been using as a background for my computer.

Multi-Frame Experiment from Stewart Schuster on Vimeo.

This film is just something I found by accident on Vimeo, and I thought it was cool. Enjoy -


landscape of a body from # on Vimeo.

With/Without

My final film for Watkins is now online. You can watch it below. Although it has flaws that time has allowed me to see, I am still very proud of it, and hope to make more like it. I would like to take a moment to thank everyone who was involved with the making of this film. I just wish I could have been in a place to put it in festivals, but, unfortunately, by the time it was finished, and by the time I was in a place financially to do so, it was too late. Enjoy - 

With/Without from Stewart Schuster on Vimeo.

She... She screams in silence...

That line, from an old Green Day song, gave me an idea this morning. One that may be another film to make with my Bolex.

I sent off my Plus-X test roll last week, and I should be getting it back this week, along with a couple of cartridges of Vision 2 Super 8 film for Steve's wedding (nothing but the best for the Crawford clan!). I'm looking forward to see how the Plus-X turned out, and, if everything is cool, it will be time to start shooting on Indefinable Orbits.

I'm piecing together ideas for Raccoon Head right now, which I am hoping to shoot on and off over the next year/year and a half. I'm trying to make it a comedy, but, it feels like it keeps pushing more towards drama. Since I don't have a script draft, I guess I shouldn't worry too much about it, for now. We'll let it be what it is.

I watched the commentary for Linklater's You Can't Learn To Plow By Reading A Book, and it really got me psyched up to do The Definers on Super 8. I want to take a chance and make the film EXACTLY how I want to make it (of course, sans the professional actors, which I can't afford). But after having listened to Linklater talking about just going out and doing it, and experimenting, and telling the story you want to tell, how you want to tell it, everyone else be damned, it really got me hyped up. I'm gonna take the chance. It's time to start finalizing the script, and do the pre-production on it.

Also, I've made it my goal to finish With/Without and submit it to festivals for the upcoming season. It deserves to have a chance to live outside of the Watkins student screening and a couple of DVD's with rough cuts on them. I've put in the final sound effects that it was missing, and am re-doing the credits, and... I think that's it. It will be ready to go. 

Wish me luck with everything.