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.