8mm Camera is an application created by Nexivo which aims to replicate the look of super 8 for footage shot on the iPhone. The application allows users to select and toggle some of the camera and look preferences, with options to change the lens of the camera, which creates gradients and changes the frame design around the footage. The application also allows users to change the film stocks, with options for X-Pro, Noir, 60's, Siena, 1920's, 1970's and Sakura looks. There are also toggles which allow you to add frame jitter to the footage when shooting as well as turn sound on and off.
To see how this digitally produced footage compares to real super 8 film I have shot and edited the footage below using this application. The camera was set to the "60's" film stock in the camera preferences; being the closest match to the Kodak Ektachrome stock which was used to shoot my final piece for this project.
None of the footage below has been graded or enhanced.
The first thing to note about the footage compared to genuine super 8 footage would be that the frame sizes of the footage are different. The original super 8 footage was exposed at 480 x 270 whilst the digital super 8 footage came out 960 x 720. Although in post production you could add a frame to replicate 4:3 the original aspect ratio of super 8, this would make things tricky when shooting as there are no guidelines for 4:3 on the viewfinder for the 8mm app. Also, as the "jittery" frame rate effect follows the edge of the entire dimension of the footage it, the effect would once again have to be added in post production.
As the grain and scratches on super 8 film is completely naturalistic and appears in a variety of patterns and on different areas of the film at particular points, the 8mm application for the iPhone is unable to re-create this effect, as it purely uses a video overlay which is applied on top of the footage you record. Therefore the grain and scratches in this footage is looped and appears in the same form. This also applies to jitter effect in where the focus of the images turns soft automatically, even though the user might not be zooming to focus on a different object at the point in filming where the effect automatically enables itself. Another effects that also occurs is the light flares which burn in the corner of the screen. Again this effect always occurs in the same place and does not fluctuate in position.
The frame rate jitter effect also allows you to spill frames onto one another, however in super 8 projection this wouldn't happen sporadically unless the frame size of what was being exposed would was changed or the frame rate slowed or sped up during filming. This is because in projecting super 8 or any other formats of film, the cells are aligned prior to projection so the frames would not leak at the bottom or top of the frame sporadically.
The most important factor of the compassion between digital and analogue film is the colour detail. For me I believe the images captured by the 8mm digital application do not even come close to replicating the images exposed onto super 8 film. Super 8 is known for the highly saturated colours it produces and high amount of colour detail. Compare the footage shot using this application to super 8 film and the colours in the replication are very faded and lack the amount of high contrast you see with super 8 film. The colour palette in general is very dull in the iPhone replication footage. The colours are all very brown and purple like, where as the footage shot on super 8 is much more true. This observation can be justified in comparing the skin tones on each pieces of footage. Despite advances in digital and the possibilities it offers, digital doesn't render skin tones as faithfully as film and it misses the depth and texture of film, and this becomes apparent when you look at the reds, blues and greens of the footage.
Being a objective as possible, can digital replicate super 8 film? No. Well, at least not yet. If it were able to, it would need improve the overlays for the effects it adds to the footage captured by adding longer variations in grain, scratches and light spills and instead of offering an option for frame jitter, allow users to adjust frame rates. The most important thing that requires improving though is the colour detail of the images the digital camera captures. Although the camera is just an 8 mega pixel mobile phone camera the colours need to be rendered to be more vivid with more contrast.
"For all my career I have tried to emulate film with video with various degrees of success, but I have never shot film. The biggest problem is the expensive 16mm film, processing, telecine costs a lot of money. Even Super 8mm is a fair bit, about £30-40 here with processing and telecine for around 3 minutes or so depending on frame rate. So not cheap." - Phillip Bloom
Although aesthetically digital cannot replicate super 8 like for like, its great practicality as a medium cannot be matched by film. Filming super 8 can be a nervous but at the same time exciting process as you cant look back at what you have just filmed. You must wait up to 3 weeks for the footage to be processed and there's no guarantee it will come back how you might expect it to. With 8mm camera you can immediately go back and review the footage you have just shot and see what you may need to re-shoot, where as film is not as limitless to re-shoot as digital and therefore you have to be much more sparing and careful when your shooting film, which can be seen as good or bad.
There is no comparison between the two mediums when it comes to cost. Taking the device the films are shot on out of the equation, a 50ft roll of Kodak Ektachrome costs between £10 to £20. On top of this cost the film can cost between £25 to £50 for one roll of film to be processed. The application which renders the footage for iPhone super 8, 8mm camera, costs a mere £1.49.
In terms of permanency, digital files never lose quality, film does, however super 8 film can be telecined at an extra cost, creating a file which wont degrade over time. Digital files are also a lot easier to store and organise than film reels which in super 8's case, quite easy to misplace and lose.
In summary to this comparison between digital film and analogue film, its not possible to say whether one is better than the other. Each have their advantages and each have their disadvantages, though if this was a study on can 8mm camera replicate super 8, Id say the answer would be no. It creates something that resembles super 8 by using the characteristics of super 8 as effects but in terms of quality of images it produces I dont think it can be regarded as a like for like carbon copy of super 8 film. Above anything else this is a discussion of practicality.
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