As an investigation this project hasn't achieved the aim of conducting a wide scope comparison of various super 8 formats, due to the rapid decline and scarce availability of super 8 stocks. This problem was overcome by using 35mm photographic film formats to compare and contrast the colour profiles of Kodak and Fujifilm and proving that different companies did offer something different, just as 35mm photographic film does today. However I feel the most important and striking outcome of this investigation was the digital film versus analogue film discussion, which compared Ektachrome 100d film stock to widely available applications that aim to recreate the look of super 8 film. The comparisons in this part of the investigation were striking and proves that digital has quite some way to go before it can completely shut down the film stock production lines.
It has become evident that if super 8 was widely available at lower prices with faster processing there would be a resurgence in super 8 usage. However these are the very reasons what seems to put people off from using super 8. Everything people use today has to be instant and has to be affordable, and super 8 is no longer those two things.
There has been a big shift in the identity of super 8 as a format. It has gone from being at its height, the every man's camera for home made amateur films, to a format now accepted by industry professionals in the film industry as an emotive tool to help tell a story. Its inclusion in popular media is used as blue print to create a feeling of nostalgia.
The feeling of nostalgia stems from the fact it is, a format, commonly associated with home made movie making, and this is why super 8 has featured more prominently in cinema over the past twenty years as it is now virtually extinct as a home movie format with the introduction of DV tape camera recording technology and now SD HD "Handycams" and DSLR's. No doubt in a generations time we shall see snippets of DV footage used a tool for nostalgia.
Therefore, in summary, the future of super 8 is bleak. During this project I got to know someone who processes and develops super 8 footage; the last person to do so in the United Kingdom. He informs me that he would expect Kodak (the last major company to produce super 8 film) to cease production of super 8 film by 2018.
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| The argument between digital (left) and film (right) remains an interesting one. |
It could be argued if film was to have a future super 8 would be it. Super 8 has never been known for its high quality as a format where as recently in film there has been an argument between the quality of digital versus the quality of film. Super 8 cannot be added to the equation of this argument as the fact of quality sets it apart from the likes of 16mm and 35mm; now losing the battle against cameras such as the Red Epic and Arri Alexa. If super 8 has a future it lies in a niche market or for it to be accepted as part of the Lomography movement in SLR camera photography. Personally I dont think the future of super 8 has yet been determined even though the future of 16mm and 35mm are in doubt.
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| Camera's such as the Red Epic may pave way for the ceasing of 16mm and 35mm production but not necessarily Super 8. |
Although popular amongst amateur and professional film makers alike, it simply isn't used widely enough to generate any profit from it, as it catered for a market it no longer has. Super 8 may or may not have long before it becomes extinct however the bright vivid and coloured images it has produced will live long in memory.
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