"HOME MOVIES" ARE IMPORTANT!
THEY PRESERVE CULTURAL GESTURES!
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| 9.5mm | 16mm | 8mm | Super 8 |
Dear fans of old movie film, we are happy to report that 16mm, 8mm, Super 8 and even 9.5mm movies are alive and better recognized as cultural records and media art than ever.. We are Bob and Toni, Brodsky & Treadway, working together more than 30 years, to train, network and encourage you, whether you are a fledging filmmaker, committed media artist or starting to work on a family geneaology, tribal history or neighborhood archive. We are glad to offer technical assistance in this site about amateur motion picture film.
"HOME MOVIES" ARE IMPORTANT!
THEY PRESERVE CULTURAL GESTURES!
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|
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| 9.5mm | 16mm | 8mm | Super 8 |
To help you identify the film in your hands, the frames pictured are sized relative to each other. The sprocket holes will help you identify these amateur movie gauges. In 9.5mm, they are located in the center. Next, in 16mm, sprocket holes are large and lie on the frameline. In standard 8mm, the sprocket holes are the same size as 16mm and also lie on the frameline. 8mm is half as wide with has twice as many holes as 16mm. The Super 8 gauge was created with an expanded picture area and smaller sprocket holes which are located alongside the image. The links will tell you more about each gauge in a new window.
Making moving images on film is fun, beautiful and long-lasting. Movie film is still available in all four littlefilm gauges and there are still labs who process film. Filmmakers love handling real film and we find young people still interested in film! Used and useful film equipment is not impossible to find, just harder than 30 years ago. We recommend that you consider whenever you digitally record a person or event, you also take a few images on FILM so some gestures are will be accessible for the great-grandchildren and posterity. This site will help you learn how to preserve home movies, shoot new films, record the culture, show the images, and get the oral histories to help pass on the stories. Please STORE your old movie film, old photographic materials or new film COOL and DRY in proper containers which are vented. Your original film materials are a family heirloom.
WHAT is this concept called "LITTLE FILM" ?
LittleFilm is Toni's word to describe motion pictures made by individuals for the love of it. We love the subject being filmed and the act of filmmaking. LittleFilm contains extraordinary experiments and artistic expressions. LittleFilm also means home movies: people loving what is going on around them in their family or community and recording moving or still images to honor and preserve the experience. In the Twentieth Century, Regular 8mm film gave people access to moving images five decades before video camcorders were invented. Today, some people choose 8mm film because they find it more beautiful, flexible, touchable and permanent than electronic moving image media. (Digital recordings have no track record as preservation media; photochemical film does.) We love the filmmakers, the subjects, the act of filmmaking and the culture as held on LittleFilm. We believe that the continuity of individuals filming lovingly needs to be showcased and encouraged. We believe that in the motion, in each telling gesture, much cultural detail is revealed.
FAQ and your ideas. We are refining our presentation, writing FAQ and designing little skyTalks about filmmaking, hardware, and preserving home movies. Here are excerpts of our old, out-of-print filmmaking book Super 8 in the Video Age. For the family archive or beginner in home movies, please read 3 pages of basic notes on preservation.
Brodsky & Treadway, the founders of LittleFilm.org, have worked together for more than 30 years as filmmakers, technicians, writers and advocates. For details on our film restoration work, please read our sister site Brodsky & Treadway. For information on Bob Brodsky's 2005 memoir please click here for Bob's book.
This version is archived at: https://www.littlefilm.org/Contents.1.en.html
