One Take Super 8 Event

The One Take Super 8 Event (OTS8) began in 2000, with 20 filmmakers each shooting a single reel of Super 8 film, which then premiered to an audience without the filmmakers seeing their work beforehand. All the films were shown as shot. No cuts. No splices. The popularity of this non-competitive festival has allowed it to return each year with more filmmakers participating. To date over 1000 films have been created for over 50 One Take Super 8 Events across North America!

Saturday, December 7, 2013

6th Annual 1:1 super 8 Cinema Soiree

As winter hits the great white north, Florida keeps super 8 reels spinning with their annual super 8 soiree.

Films are at the lab and returning shortly to be screened on December 14 at IWAN (The Bubble).

You can get more details on their Facebook page.

Here's the list of this year's participants hitting the big screen with the small gauge.

Ally Abrams, Bryan Adams, Veronica Amaya, Jennipher Aquino, Estefania Borrero, Ryan Chavez, Zolia Clark, Cory Cohen, Lisa Danker, Jay Forsyth, Eric Fuhrmann, Lacey Langlois, David Levine, William Lizcano, Christina Mendenhall, Liam Milano, Matthew Perez, Jeremy Ryan, Nick Sacci, Craig Snyder, Aaron Sperling, Jackie Sutton, Derek Taylor, and Mimi Wattanarungsun



Thursday, September 26, 2013

WNDX 8th Annual OTS8 Event tonight!

We return like an inevitable prairie winter to Winnipeg tonight to premiere 28 new films from Manitoba filmmakers, as we shift from closing night of the WNDX festival to our Thursday time slot. All else remains the same. We'll be lighting up the screen at the Gas Station Theatre (for our 5th consecutive year!).

Hard to believe it's been 8 years since we held our first event at the inaugural WNDX showing 30+ films at the Grafitti Gallery. Since then, well over 200 films have been produced and screened at other festivals worldwide, garnering accolades and awards. Returning filmmakers are amongst the bunch tonight, including Scott Fitzpatrick (also featured at WNDX), Aaron Zeghers, Ryan Simmons, Danielle Sturk, the Terrible Friends and Dave Barber with perhaps the most hyped film of the year. All we've heard is that it is based on a true story....

Look for a review of the show and some pictures here soon, but in the meantime, looking forward to seeing you at the screening and the rest of the WNDX festival.

Line up for 2013 8th Annual WNDX OTS8


Reel 1
Stacy Billingsley
Black Helicopter
Fabian Velasco
Delf Gravert
Kelly Duke
Milos Mitrovic
Damien Ferland

Reel 2
Matt Webber
Kayla Jeansen
Dave Barber
Allana Iftody
Kevin Bacon
Alan Macpherson
Ian Bawa
Marcus Henkel

Reel 3
Kenton Smith
Danielle Sturk
Ryan Simmons
Kaitlyn Farrell
Scott Fitzpatrick
The Terrible Friends

Reel 4
Sonya Ballantyne
Aaron Zeghers
Ivan Hughes
Katrine Doniset
Martin Lussier
Matieu Plouffe
Rocky Bergen

Thursday, July 25, 2013

WNDX OTS8 2013 Registration now Open!

Don't delay, cause this edition fills up faster than a Slurpee cup in July!

WNDX has launched their call for entries for their annual OTS8 event in Winnipeg this fall, and you could be one of the fortunate participants to shoot a roll of cherished Ektachrome for only $15!!! (if you're a Manitoba resident that is).  Follow the link to their page and get your entry fee in thusly!

Seriously, this event is outstanding and even if you are not making a film for it, be sure to come out to see the films. And new this year, instead of closing out the festival as has been our tradition, why make everyone wait for it! We're going to be the opening night screening. Mark your calendars for September 26.

Past films have gone on to screen at festivals around the world, featured in artist retrospectives and even have theatrical runs. Seriously. It was this one, just finished a run at the Bloor Cinema in Toronto, opening for 30 Feet from Stardom. Or I as like to think, 30 Feet From Stardom followed 50 feet of super 8 brilliance :)

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Star Phoenix Preview

In case you haven't had a chance to read it, here's the link to the Star Phoenix article published in Saskatoon before our event, or you can read it below.
Photo credit: Gord Waldner - Star Phoenix
Story by Stephanie McKay

In 2009, Callen Diederichs filmed a 3½-minute movie. He filmed the breakup story all in one take on a silent movie format, using T-shirts to illustrate the dialogue. It was his first time using a vintage Super 8 camera and he wasn't allowed to reshoot. He saw it for the first time with an audience in Regina.
It was One Take Super 8, and it's being held in Saskatoon for the first time this year.
"It was a little nerve-racking because you don't know if it's going to turn out," Diederichs said. "With this. you have no idea if it's going to be three minutes of blackness or if it's going to be out of focus or just kind of dumb."
Diederichs has since filmed a Super 8 music video for a friend and completed another One Take Super 8 film that he will see for the first time.
This year, he was especially nervous because there were concerns some of the cameras weren't working properly. There's a chance some of the films didn't turn out at all. But there's something exciting about that uncertainty. Diederichs' first One Take Super 8 turned out so well he submitted it to other film festivals.
Diederichs helped organize the Saskatoon event after the founder, Alex Rogalski, contacted him about using his workplace, the Roxy Theatre, as a venue.
Rogalski, who works in Toronto as a programmer for the Toronto International Film Festival and Hot Docs, started One Take Super 8 in Regina in 2000. It started as a one-off event meant to give him and other filmmakers the chance to screen their work publicly.
"I knew if I made a four-minute film it would be hard to get people to come out to see it but if 20 people made a four-minute film there may be more of a chance to get people to see my film and other people's films at the same time," he said.
One Take Super 8 has now been held all over North America. At least 800 films have been made for the events. There is no competition and no prizes, just an opportunity to share and be creative.
When the project started 13 years ago, Super 8 was a very old moviemaking format that people weren't really using. Since then, the format has become trendy, with wedding videographers using it and apps to mimic its signature look.
"We've waited long enough that we've come back around to being cool," Rogalski laughed.
But for Rogalski it was never about being cool. It was about giving anyone access to make a film and share it in public.
He's excited people are curious about it.
"It's kind of fun to see something that you don't get to watch immediately and show your friends. You have to wait a few weeks after making it hoping that what you took pictures of will show up on screen."
Though a filmmaker is permitted to stop and start the camera while filming, once something has been shot it's part of the final movie, good or bad.
The reel is about 3 1/2 minutes long and is silent. The only limitation is the dwindling film stock. Super 8 cameras haven't been manufactured for decades, but a small amount of film is still available.
While it can be tricky to get a hold of the film, the technology is sound. Rogalski is still using the same Super camera he picked up in 2000.
"All it has ever needed are new double-A batteries. It still works really well and consistently. I can't think of a single cellphone that would last that long."
Rogalski said every city has a bit of its own personality and he's excited to see what the Saskatoon filmmakers come up with. The event will feature 15 local Super 8 films and a few bonus ones. It's free to attend.
"These are personal films. They are kind of unique. Some might call them experimental but they do reflect a community arts spirit," Rogalski said.
Diederichs said he's excited to see the variety of films people create and to see how the last minute of his film turns out. With all the pre-planned shots finished as their crew filmed by the riverbank last month, there were 60 seconds remaining on the reel. Diederichs' cast improvised at the end.
"It got progressively sillier," he said. "I'm really looking forward to laughing at what's going on."


Read more: http://www.thestarphoenix.com/entertainment/movie-guide/Festival+projected+unique/8507504/story.html#ixzz2Xw6O2y6t

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

It's a Wrap Sask.

Meant to do this sooner, but a lack of wi-fi access and some travel and finally I'm getting things together after two incredible events in Saskatchewan this June.

Saskatoon set the bar high for themselves after their 1st One Take Super 8 Event. You never would have known they hadn't had an event before. Only 14 films, but they were fantastic. A great range of films, from quirky comedies (with sock puppets) a couple of dance films, home movie homages and an elegy to amusement parks. The films alone would have made the event a success, but Saskatoon really showed up and made the Roxy come alive with over 150 people attending, as well as great coverage in Planet S, the Star Phoenix and CBC radio and TV news.

We had about 48 hours to recover before heading south on the #11 with projector in tow to revisit our OTS8 birthplace and return to the RPL theatre to screen 25 new films in Regina. After a couple years hiatus, the filmmakers returned with a new vigor and incredible ambition in making their films. Again the cross section of films was as diverse as the filmmakers, including a few subtitled foreign language films (an OTS8 first!).  Our capacity audience filled the seats and aisles at the RPL theatre. Looking forward to getting these films out to bigger audiences as soon as possible. Thanks to everyone who took part, we'll post more photos and stories from the events here soon.  (Photos: ROXY THEATRE marquee / Regina OTS8 2013 filmmakers)

Friday, June 7, 2013

We're days away

Everything is coming together for Saskatoon's 1st and Regina's 11th event. Hard to believe that we're almost ready to light up the screen with 40 new super 8 films!  Our fingers crossed approach worked, and the films are safely now in Saskatoon processed. I haven't opened the box yet, so I have no idea of anyone got an image, but at least we've got something to put in the projector and hold our breath.

Programs are designed and awaiting printing, soundtracks have been coming in steadily (along with plans for a few live performances which is always fun!)

And we are very excited to announce we will be screening in the main theatre at the Roxy. It's a beautiful cinema and it's exciting that we get to add it to our OTS8 history. We've screened in converted old garages, unoccupied old bank buildings, lofts, churches, waffle houses but there is something special about being in a cinema that reminds you why people fell in love with going to the movies (and I mean movies in a very celluloid sense).

We'll keep you updated as our screenings approach and definitely post some pics and reviews after, but now to the nitty gritty work of splicing those reels together and getting programs folded.

See you at the super 8 movies!

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

2013 Regina & Saskatoon Participants

So here it is.... the list of filmmakers taking part in this year's events!

Saskatoon:
Amalie Atkins, Callen Diederichs, Jennifer Sparrowhawk, Dave Turcotte, Chris Fischer, Katherine Hounjet, Bryn Rawlyk, Karen Polowich, Cameron Muir, Theresa Campbell, Katherine Skelton, Alex Rogalski, Marcel Petit, Matt Voyno

Regina:
Ken Wilson, Berny Hi, Kristine Dowler, Noelle Duddridge, Sarah Huber, Amber Christensen, Gerald Saul, Colby Richardson, Ian Campbell, Gordon Pepper, Mike Rollo, Amber Goodwyn, Dianne Ouellette, Eric Hill, Charlie Hill, Luke Black, Jade Duckett, Ryan Hill, Amber Phelps Bondaroff, Adrienne Adams, Tricia Martin, Matthieu Belanger, Madeline Sheridan, Vanda Schmockel, Geremy Lague

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Projector Repairs

Well, it's June, which means we're only 10 days away from our Saskatchewan One Take Super 8 Events. While our films are still at the lab (after being held up by Fed-Ex in tornado weather in Memphis - just glad they didn't make it to OZ), it was time to tackle a long overdue project that was making me a little bit stressed.

Both of the One Take Super  8 Event projectors were due for major maintenance having serviced many events in many locations over many years. They've been jostled in cars, buses, airplanes. Crossed borders and time zones and finally were showing their age.

A couple years back I had a friend order some replacement belts off Ebay, fingers crossed that it would solve the problem (both projectors would no longer play films at speed), but when I opened up the backs of the ST-1200 and ST-600 today I really had no idea what I was doing. Thank goodness for the internet which provided me with a fantastic pdf of the original ST-1200 manual on how to replace parts, which I have now permanently saved to my hard drive for future reference. As you can see in the photo one belt (from the ST-600) was snapped and beginning to disintegrate, turning sort of jelly like. I'm glad I got it out before it got all over the inside of the project. Voila! 18fps perfection. Onto the ST-1200 which was a bit more intricate to remove the belt (turns out it was just stretched too much so wouldn't run off the motor). Thanks to the manual schematics telling me which screws to remove to get access to the belt drive, within minutes a new belt was in and VOILA again, 2 projectors running smooth as can be. If I was more tech savvy, there would be play by play pictures and videos demonstrating the process for others to reference. But I'm just not built that way.

Now just the decision, which one will make the trek to 2 cities to show at the inaugural event in Saskatoon, and the 11th Annual in Regina. (Just a hint, likely the brighter projector I have a spare bulb for :) Hope it can make the trip, but glad that I might get another 30 years use out of these 2 tanks. Elmo sure knew what they were doing when they produced these models. No cell phone will ever work this long.


Monday, May 27, 2013

Films off to lab!

Very exciting moment as all the films have been shot and we'll be shipping 40 new films to the lab as 40 collective breaths are held waiting to see if magical images will appear.

Later this week, we'll be announcing all of our participants in Saskatoon and Regina and you'll start spotting our posters hanging up around town(s).

Filmmakers are busy putting together soundtracks and we're finalizing all of our screening details and prepping our projectors.

And in fantastic news, as we started this year's OTS8 we witnessed Kodak cancelling the last colour reversal stock, but I am happy to announce that Pro8mm has revived our hopes of continuing our OTS8 events! Their 200ISO reversal stock will be available in a couple of months. Very much looking forward to shooting and showing it at future events! You can read their full press release here.

Friday, May 10, 2013

2013 poster

So we are pretty jazzed about our new poster, being screen printed as we speak and about to fly up on lightposts and supermarket bulletin boards in weeks to come. Much thanks to Merchguy for his continued solid work for our events.

Films are rolling in cameras as spring explodes in SK. With a full slate in Regina and a good first turn out in Saskatoon. A couple more weeks of shooting and we'll be seeing a bucket full of cartridges heading to the labs.

A shout out to Syracuse and Montreal for wrapping up fantastic OTS8 events in the past couple of weeks. We'll post participants and some stats here soon (and some pics if we can grab them).

Monday, April 22, 2013

Entry forms for Regina and Saskatoon

Here they are!

If you haven't already signed up you can find the forms below (if they won't print, send us an e-mail at onetakesuper8event(at)yahoo.com and we'll forward them to you as pdf files. Or just drop by the filmpool (Regina) or Paved Arts (Saskatoon) and you can fill out a form there.


Drop off your entry form and fee at the Filmpool or Paved Arts by the 30th (or before 25 other people beat you to it in each city) and start making your film!

Looking forward to this year's line up!

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Saskatchewan, bigger than ever!

Well, the time is upon us and we are thrilled to announce the return of the One Take Super 8 Event to Regina and for the first time we will be hosting an event in Saskatoon.

We'll be accepting participants starting this week. We'll post the entry form on this blog.

Filmmakers will have a few weeks to shoot their films, and then we'll be premiering the Saskatoon participants at the Roxy Theatre on June 11, and the Regina films at the RPL theatre on June 13.

We are thrilled to be creating more super 8 films in Saskatchewan than we ever have before and are very excited to be working with new partners. All of this would not be possible without the support of the Saskatchewan Arts Board, Saskatchewan Filmpool Cooperative, Paved Arts, RPL theatre and the Roxy Theatre.

Looking forward to posting more news from the events in the weeks to come.


Thursday, April 11, 2013

Syracuse coming up!

We're on the verge of Syracuse's 7th annual event with over 30 new super 8 films premiered at the Bank on April 20th. Exciting list of new and returning filmmakers to the event. Sure to be worth your $5, just for the free popcorn and soda alone.

In other OTS8 news, Jaimz and Karen Asmundson will be screening their WNDX 2012 OTS8 film Citizens Against Basswood at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival in Toronto, which is a first for an OTS8 film! Congrats to Jaimz and Karen (and a great follow up to having their film Goths! On a Bus! screened at the Telefilm Canada's market in Cannes last year). For those in Toronto, they can see the film - playing with Winnipeg feature Special Ed - about animator  (and past OTS8 participant) Ed Ackerman April 29, April 30, and May 4.

 It will be a digital transfer screening at the festival, so seeing the original film remains a privilege to those who saw it at the Gas Station Theatre during WNDX last October in Winnipeg. And for those needing more of a super 8 fix at Hot Docs, I highly recommend seeing Our Nixon by director Penny Lane. An incredible assembly of footage shot by Nixon's aides during his time in office. The transfer looks amazing, and it's a fascinating look at how super 8 really was the original iPhone when it came to constant and instant motion picture making. And for recent super 8 filmmaking, Kelly O'brien's Softening reflects on super 8 as a home movie device in her incredibly personal and beautiful family diary film.

Big news coming later this week announcing another couple of OTS8 events :)

Thursday, March 7, 2013

2013 update!

Wow, where do the months go.... Call it hibernating, but we're up from our slumber and ready to tackle 2013 with gusto.

Since we last checked in, Kodak has discontinued Ektachrome, leaving us monochromotically challenged and foraging for any color reversal stock. it's a sad day, but not all hope is lost, in a world of vinyl, polaroid and telephone books, all long since pronounced dead but then revived, we're fingers crossed that super 8 color reversal will have a second life. In the meantime, we're seeking stock for this year's event. A couple new things before a review of the last OTS8 event (from 2012). Celebrating their 7th year Syracuse is roaring ahead with it's annual event, to take place on April 20th! They've already got their 30 participants confirmed and shooting their films, so we can't wait to see them soon.



Montreal is back with another event hosted by our friends Double Negative. They're be unspooling their 30 new films at La Salla Rosa on May 2nd. They always deliver a fantastic slate of new work by some of Montreal's most exceptional film artists.

And finally, we have a lovely little wrap up remote by our most southern OTS8 event in Florida.

Last December the 1:1 Super 8 Cinema Soiree held their event and festival director Shane Eason sent us this dispatch:

December 7, 2012 Popcorn, Beer, Music & Super 8 Film @ The Bubble, Ft. Lauderdale, FL, USA 

Well the 2012 1:1 Super 8 Cinema Soirée finally hit the 5 year mark. Not sure if that's a good thing, considering the world's coming to an end, no? Anyway, we're still here at the bottom of the North American continent, making these awesome little movies on the ol' super 8 gauge, and we'll continue to do so in 2013. Hell yeah! This year's batch of films provided us with subject matter along the lines of economic struggles and political power; the happiness found in relationships; gatherings at holiday events; the desire to smoke cigarettes; Miami b-boys; pet dogs; and y'er Skunk Ape...or Big Foot, Yeti, or Sasquatch, pending where in the world you live. Footnote: It's a Skunk Ape here in Florida, and they live in the Everglades, or maybe it's the mangroves. I've never seen one, but saw two (on film) at the screening. So they must exist! 2012 filmmaker's included: Bryan Adams, David Aedo, Jennipher Aquino, Manny Estrella, Eric Fuhrmann, Mike Huet, Lacey Langlois, David Levine Ammar Marimutu, Marta Niagolova, Matt Perez, Van-Eric Prevalus, Nick Sacci, Aaron Sperling, Sean Stanley & Marlena Williams. The crowd was quite dynamic and enjoyed the films to the fullest. About 100 patrons tuned out on a cool December eve. Of course we had some competition with Art Basel. Later, the party moved from The Bubble to the Poor House, a great local music bar in downtown Ft. lauderdale. Live music was provided by some of the filmmakers and again, like every year, we got home at 4 a.m. Until next year!