Super 8, forty years young

For most people Super 8 films are the stuff of distant memories. Flickering, Technicolor images of family outings, forgotten birthday parties and relations long since gone are the romanticised legacy of one of the most important film making innovations of the last half century. Who would have thought that forty years on the home-movie would have carved an iconic niche for itself with worldwide celebrations being held it is honour?

In April 1965 the Eastman Kodak Company revolutionised film making with the introduction of the then radical Super 8 film system. Building upon their unrivaled cinematic knowledge and international market position, Kodak pushed the tried and tested principles of their existing small film products to develop an easy to use film system ­ one ideal for the largely untapped mass home market. The new 8mm system employed a cheap, simple and elegant injection molded plastic film cartridge allowing cameras to be loaded in broad daylight and used with little or no technical prowess. Simple point and shoot cameras were developed which allowed the well healed (after all it was still a relatively expensive hobby) to easily make their own home-movies. After use, cartridges were simply sent away for pre-paid processing, with film reels returning weeks later for home screenings on lounge walls everywhere. Super 8 quickly become the weapon of choice for those capturing life’s personal events.


Elsewhere, another and equally important revolution was taking place. The technical advances inherent in Super 8 had not passed the artistic community by. The easy to use film system, a bigger film frame size (for improved images) and the ability to record sound meant that filmmaking proper had suddenly become more accessible. The simplicity of the format and the beauty of its images were quickly grasped by artisans everywhere and became the de-facto standard for the low or no budget filmmaker with everything from art house shorts to low-grade porn being produced by a dedicated band of devotees.

The late sixties and early seventies were a golden age for Super 8 with technological advancements being made with cameras which allowed the filmmaker greater control over the process and both equipment and film were widely available on the high street. However, by the late seventies video loomed large and threatened to kill off the little film just as it was getting established. The core market of home-movie makers abandoned Super 8 for the relative convenience and instant gratification of videotape despite the then high cost of the new equipment. Consumer technology had simply moved on.

Whilst video eventually did kill the home movie star, Super 8 went underground. Still preferred by many for its filmic qualities and ease of use, the format continued to be vital, becoming the medium of choice for artists and filmmakers alike, including such luminaries as Britain's Derek Jarman who used it to full effect in numerous short and feature films as well as producing three seminal Super 8 based videos for Manchester’s favourite son’s, The Smiths.


In more recent times, the format has found a home in big budget Hollywood features with key segments of numerous films such Natural Born Killers, JFK and Pearl Harbour captured in its cartridges. Most notably, Spike Lee’s highly charged Summer of Sam features footage from his own Super 8 films of the 1977 riots in New York.

Inevitably, imaging technology has evolved further with video now having gone digital with high quality editing now possible using the average home computer set-up. So, Super 8 now finds itself two steps removed from its sixties roots, what now for the little film in today's digital age?

The physicality of the media, the beauty of its images and the whole ‘real film’ thrill still make it the first choice for today's more adventurous filmmaker. A dedicated industry now surrounds the medium and whilst cameras and equipment are largely out of production the second hand market is buoyant with all the necessary tools still readily available. Kodak themselves now produce a whole host of film types whilst specialists offer professional movie stock specifically formatted for the clever plastic cartridges. Super 8 has also risen to the digital challenge with numerous options available to digitize the film images for editing. Once again, the little film has found its feet.

On May 8th 2005 events were held to celebrate the entry of Super 8 into its middle age with screenings, workshops and other happenings in numerous towns and cities worldwide. Quite a Happy Birthday for Super 8, let’s hope life truly begins at forty!