Tarnation

"Your greatest creation, is the life you lead"

Tarnation is a dark and haunting autobiographical of Jonathan Caouette and his enduring and gruelling relationship with his mother. It is a collection of VHS, Super 8 film and photographs twinned with snippets of answer phone recordings and short films directed by Caouette. Tarnation is an independent production shot on home movie equipment and edited in iMovie on a budget of just $218.

The films avant garde style depicts montage of clips. Its non linear form begins in 2003 where Caouette learns that his mother, Renne, a diagnosed schizophrenic, has overdosed on a prescription of lithium. The narrative then depicts the struggles of Caoutte’s upbringing in a family blighted by trouble and turmoil; endured by him and his mothers remarkable relationship.

Tarnation re-invents the idea of what a documentary can be. It could be said to be a film 20 years in the making, with footage shot by Caouette from the age of 11.

“I conceived the film as a new way of looking at documentary, as though it were imitating my thought process, giving the audience the experience of seeing what it was like to be inside my head.” - Jonathan Caouette

Super 8 as a medium was always invented for amateur film makers and more specically as a format for home movies and the inclusion of this in Tarnation is ideal as it captures the essence of home movie making perfectly.

You might often associate home movie making with images of happiness; smiling faces on family outings and celebration where as Tarnation depicts a much more darker tone of home movie making which in super 8 comes across quite haunting as it juxtaposes to it conformity.

The nature of the film stock is to capture brightly coloured and saturated images where as Tarnation contrasts that identity and replaces is with distressing images of sorrow and despair. This use of home technology captures the emotions of the narrative in its rawest of forms.

With Tarnation being a true tail, the use of super 8 technology to create this film add to its genuine story and forthright way it addresses the audience. There are no reconstructions or staged action it is emotion captured on film in the heat of the moment, with no evidence of a planned out narrative.

The somewhat naturalistic choice of the medium of super 8 captures the emotion of the story it portrays in a raw form which is completely truthful. This format proves itself as a medium of nostalgia due to its connection with the family home. Whether this be used to capture something happy or sad in this occasion is up to what the filmmaker shoots.

Super 8 in Feature Films Continued

Continuing on from the last post, which featured how super 8 has been implemented into feature films, this post features the 2010 Richard Ayoade release "Submarine". This coming of age comedy follows the character Oliver Tate and his achieve his desperate goal to find love.

The film in general is very stylish with a wide array of different techniques used in camera and lighting. The film also uses super 8 footage as cutaway during the film. The film titled "two weeks of love making" depicts Oliver and the young girl he has met playfully running across a beach, play fighting and kissing one another. The fits the stereotype of super 8, evoking a sense of happy nostalgia through happy faces and antics.

An interesting thing about this super 8 footage is that both of the characters appear in the film and the camera is following them. So you would have to assume that the format has been used intentionally as a stylistic choice to depict the mood of happiness and love and not as a self made documentary shot by the characters within the film.

This use of super 8 again evokes a feeling of nostalgia, however in this example, what we see in super 8, is how the characters look back on those memories.

Super 8 in Feature Films

Although as mentioned previously in the last post super 8 is a format that is most commonly associated with amatuer and home movie making. However it has also featured in some feature films as a cutaway to achieve a particular style or mood.

One film which utilizes this is the 2009 release Carriers, directed by Alex and David Pastor. The film uses super 8 at the start of the film depicting a family day out at the beach. The mother, father and two children run around and playfully act to conform to the happy stereotypes associated with super 8 family film.

Its a warm sunny day with brightly saturated colours and warm glows that enhance the happy actions of the characters. The film is also jumpy and scratched which too adds to the amateur nature of the film and dated feel of the what is taking place.

This then interestingly gradually switches to the modern day. The 4:3 aspect ratio slowly expands horizontally and the camera tilts upwards to the sky to reveal a match cut between the two shots of the sky. The camera then completes a 360 flip to reveal a four by four car traveling down a dessert surrounded road.

The purpose of the super 8 film in this movie is to juxtapose between good times and bad times. Happy and sad. The characters strained relationship is manifested from the situation they find themselves in and the breakdown of their family.

This footage is referenced to during certain points in the film when the characters reminisce of how things used to be at a location they eventually return to. Therefore the use of super 8, in this film in particular, is used to capture a certain mood and use it to juxtapose against something else, in this case a strained relationship between two brothers.

Although the characters never sits down with a projector and watch the film together, the director uses super 8 as a format of nostalgia. The actions in the family movie are played out in the mind of the characters in super 8; such is its relationship with nostalgia.

Experimental Super 8

Due to its cheap comparative cost set against film formats such as 16mm and 35mm, super 8 has been used by many artists as a film format not just to film on, but also experiment with it.

This example of abstract super 8 by Fred Pelon seemingly uses old processed film reels. The film stock has been molded, as in left to develop in fungus with cheese, as well as soaked in various alcohol mixes to achieve its colour distortion, then put into the projector again and slowly pulled through while projecting and filming the projection with a digital camcorder. Due to the slow pulling of the film, the partly molded emulsion parts burn and bubble during the telecine process.

The example above is of double exposed film, a technique in where the double exposure of film combines two images in to one.

This technique of distorted super 8 is something that has been used in feature films, though much more subtlety. Although in 35mm, the 2007 release Planet Terror by Robert Rodriguez has a scratched film effect which was achieved by delicately running the film effect through sand paper. The film also expands and warps in times of discomfort intended to further disorientate the audience (as seen at 1.02 in trailer).

The editing of the film itself can be used as an effect to distort viewers and once again juxtapose against the conventional connotations and associations you would make with the super 8 format.

Super 8 Music Videos

To see how super 8 has been implemented over the years as a medium this post will look at a few selected super 8 music videos. Super 8 is most commonly associated as a medium for home movies however it has been know to be used for various other works, including film which shall be looked at a later date.

This super 8 film directed by Art Boonparn is of the Pains of Being Pure at Heart performing the track everything with you. The majority of this footage has been shot inside at night and due to the lack of tungsten light and use of incandescent light the films saturation is not as high as you'd might expect with super 8. This also applies to the footage shot outside in where the grain further continues to increase in intensity. Though the bouncy footage, choppy edits actions of the film make it authentically super 8 and fun. 

Sedative by Babyshambles. Shot with Pete Doherty's personal 8mm camera, this self-produced video is jarring, disorienting and tattered in an aesthetically pleasing way. The selection of film is shot at different locations at different times to add to a wide variation of clips. The stuff at the beginning seems very over exposed and its disorientating effect might be intentional to the narrative of the songs lyrics of drug consumption.

"Sedative,
it's a sedative,
it was my hero,
and I had a hit..." 

The colour palette of the video constantly varies from bright overly exposed film to afternoon glows and dark night snippets of footage. The indoor footage also is quite different with a morning blue and purple palette lighting the environment of the cats. Personally I am very keen on the footage at night. The background has a bright lime green colour whilst the foreground is light brightly with the white light of the scooters following the camera.   

This video really tests the limits of the camera and film which in this case copes with the variation in lighting environments comfortably displaying little sign of annoying noise. 

Directed by Moses Berkson, this footage of the Fiery Furnaces performing Naval Nurse is what you would most expect from a super 8 film. The colours are heavily saturated and ooze with vibrancy. A common trait that it encapsulates is the vivid deepness of the blue in the sky in contrast to the land which are separated so clearly between either side of the horizon.

An interesting part of this video is the footage seemingly filmed beneath the surface of the water which is something I personally have never seen with super 8. I never imagine this would be possible either with the cheapness of super 8 camcorders and the era they were produced. This either could be achieved by using a product such as the Ewa Marine underwater bag or water tight super 8 camera which are very rare to come by.

The Eumig Nautica was one of the few super 8 cameras to be able to shoot underwater.

If there was a music video award for dedication this would be it. Holly Throsby, What I Thought of You. Shot by twenty people over the course of thirty years, singer-songwriter Throsby delivers a fanciful journey through time with plenty of warm, grainy Super-8 celluloid. This video varies in stocks, location and time providing us with a vast array of colour palettes, exposures and stories.

This video is one of few with snippets of black and white celluloid. The footage looks studio shot with is cast of shadows and silhouettes which evoke memories of film noir and their dark shadowy cinematography.

This montage is encapsulates super 8 wonderfully with a mix of dark, dull and grainy stock to more bright, colour saturated and clear stocks all displaying a vary in styles and subsequently moods.

Mansard Roof by Vampire Weekend is the bands first ever music video and has as well as filmed been stylized with text credits and the beginning aim to evoke a feeling of nostalgia. Again as you'd expect with super 8 the film is heavily colour saturated and in this case casts a warm orange glow with low height of the sun in the location.

My favorite part of this example is the use of lens flare which strikes across the screen at select parts in the video. Many modern day productions see this flare and as a nuisance where as I see it a very nice and aesthetically pleasing defect of not having a lens hood over the camera; too adding to the amateur style of super 8.

Lastly is my favorite example of super 8 in music videos. The 1986 release Ask by the Smiths. From a technical point of view its rubbish, but what makes it special is its amateur manner. A group of people gathered together, dressed differently and acting to the music and lyrics and relating to what the lurcis say. 

"Shyness is nice, and
Shyness can stop you,
From doing all the things in life
That you' like to..."

The footage is an array of madness from its contents and look. Jumping from colour damaged green cast looking film to wonderfully crisp and noise free film. Though this has a point, switching from moods of the real world which is dark and miserable to the world the protagonist dreams of, warm and happy, filled with colour and vibrancy. 

Fuji Velvia

Velvia was a brand of colour reversal find produced by Japanese company Fujifilm. As a film stock, Velvia was well known for its very high level of colour saturation and image quality. Introduced in 1990 as a competitor to Kodachrome its sales rocketed creating somewhat of a commercial battle between Fujifilm and Kodak in the industry standard for high definition colour film.

Compared to Kodachrome and Ektachrome its colour representation is understood to be far more brighter however due to its much more higher colour saturation in compassion to Kodak's the image representation is much more unrealistic. With this new colour representation, finer gain, faster film speed (x2 faster) and a more convenient development process (The E-6 process) Kodachrome sales dropped dramatically; eventually leading to the ceasing of its production.

This is my favorite example of Veliva super 8 film. Velvia, like in this example, has highly saturated colours in daylight with a high contrast and sharper picture. Compared to Kodak, Fujfilm has a more cooler palette of colours in its image representation, making it more popular with naturalistic pieces of photography and film. This Kodak and Fujifilm comparison shall be discussed further in this blog. Due to high saturation of Velvia it is considered overdone by some photographers. In particular those who don't primarily shoot naturalistic pictures. Its tendency to oversaturate skin tones makes it not suited for portraits, as it gives pink or brown skin a red colour cast.

Like with many of the super 8 formats Fujifilm was discontinued in 2005 due to a decrease in demand, and also the fact that it was a niche format for its different style of colour representation. However some small companies do still produce it;

After the discontinuation of Kodachrome by Kodak, this caused a serious problem for many amateur shooters, since some Super 8 cameras can't adjust themselves to the film speed of other Kodak film. Many perfectly good cameras were suddenly unusable. Spectra Film & Video in North Hollywood has a solution: Fuji Velvia 50 daylight balanced color reversal film in Super 8 cartridges. Velvia exposes properly in cameras designed for the old Kodachrome film. It also offers extremely fine grain and vibrant color reproduction.

"The picture obtained from this film is quite impressive. And, as a reversal projection film, it still maintains the "vintage" look we all love. Reversal films have a unique, surreal color and contrast that cannot be duplicated in any other medium. People relate the reversal film look to past experiences because news reel footage, documentaries, sports footage, home movies and more were all shot with it as recently as the 80s." - Spectra's President, Doug Thomas 

 The result...

A nice re-creation of a stock that no longer exists. As you can see the saturation of the colours is very high and accurate of the characteristics of Fujifilm Velvia. However one part of the image representation that has changed is that the Velvia stock that Spectra produces has been reconfigured to have a better balance of lubricant to minimize jitter.

In summary to this post Velvia crossed over two era's in super 8, the first was as a competitor to Kodachrome, providing an alternative in style and practicality whilst it also had to compete with the release of Ektachrome, the format which later became the successor to Kodachrome. Although commercially it was never as successful as Kodak its style caused a craze in still and motion picture film making, which now seems to of been re-discovered in the current rise of Lo-fi photography and companies emulating old super 8 film stocks.

Ektachrome 100D

As mentioned in the previous most the last colour reversal film still to exist is Ektachrome 100D. I thought I'd share some footage I have previously shot on Ektachrome 100D.

This footage was shot around two years ago for a project made at college. The aim was to recapture life in Britain 50 years ago, emulating Kodachrome and the the first British Pathe films captured and processed for colour projection.

The film was recorded and sent for processing in Germany where once returned was projected and filmed onto HDV. The film was purchased through a company called the Widescreen Centre in London, one of few shops to still sell Super 8 in the United Kingdom.

Again the great thing with super 8 film stock like in this example is the richness of the colours. The quality of this isnt the best as it has been recorded onto HDV however you can pick out the deep contrast of the colours and accuracy of the colour. 

"Reversal film for motion imaging has a powerful ability to emulate reality and bring a story to life. Film is about depth; it's about nuance of color, flow of movement. Super 8 Ektachrome 100D Color Reversal Film delivers the power of film. Whether you are a Super 8 enthusiast or a cinematographer, you will enjoy the strikingly saturated color performance, the neutral gray scale and the accurate skin tones found in this Super 8 product." - Kodak

Interestingly Ektachrome 100D is a daylight balanced film, and therefore has different exposure characteristics than other films in the Super 8. Automatic handle this difference through the notched film cartridge. However, many older manual cameras that were designed for use with tungsten-balanced films utilize an internal filter that converts daylight illumination to a tungsten balance. When using 100D Film, this filter is unnecessary. 

 

Ektachrome

The successor to the now ceased film stock Kodachrome was the release of Ektachrome from Kodak. Like Kodachrome is available in many different formats which range from;

• 35mm 400ft Core
• 16mm 100ft Spool
• 16mm 400ft Core
• Super 8 50ft Cartridge

Ektachrome was first developed in the 1940's, intended to be a successor to Kodachrome so amateurs as well as professionals were able to process there own film stock. Kodachrome was a very intricate method to process so the introduction of the E-6 process would allow amateurs to purchase and develop their own film It would also make colour reversal film more practical in much more larger formats.

national geographic picture

Kodak announced in 2009 that Ektachrome 64T and 100 film would be discontinued. One of the last motion picture film known to of used Ektachrome was the 1999 release Three Kings; a film which used a cross processing process in C-41 colour neagtive chemistry to give the film its unique appearance.

Cross Processing - The process of deliberately editing/processing film for a different look to its original appearance.

In February of 2011Kodak announced the ceasing of production of Ektachrome 200. The only Ektachrome that is currently in production is Ektachrome 100D colour reversal film.

This example of Ektachrome 100D is one of my favorites. Although the footage is dated as being shot in May 2010 the aesthetics of the film make it look like something from 30 years back. The film as Kodak say themselves delivers intensely saturated colours, accurate skin tones and a neutral gray scale; attributes that can even be rare in modern digital camcorders. The film also captures the lighting of the environment beautifully. The colour palette is extremely warm with saturated yellows and oranges which juxtapose and contrast nicely with the deep blueness of the sky. Its colour representation is incredibly vivid.

Compared with Kodachrome the release of Ektachrome was more a successor of practicality than aesthetic improvement. The colour accuracy of Kodachrome was improved with the release of Ektachrome however is longevity is worse, with colours fading on film faster than the previous stock Kodachrome.