Straight 8 Screenings - sounds like a really good idea

Post by **al77** » Mon Jun 09, 2003 9:11 pm

Hello,
I found out about http://www.straight8.net/straight8b.htm through this site. It sounds like a really good, fun idea to me.

Shooting 1 roll of film, sending it undeveloped & unedited to straight 8 with a soundtrack on CD & then seeing what you shot for the 1st time at the screening! Genius. It must be a real buzz waiting to see your film up there.

Has anyone here been involved with these straight 8 screenings before? I'm keen to be involved in a future one & wondered how people had found the previous screening events.

Post by **Basstruc** » Tue Jun 10, 2003 12:06 am

It's sucks, I hate straight8. The organizers of the stuff are cauld the "producers". In fact, they're guys from the publicity market who wants to make more connections betweens publicity makers and other "lick my shoe" stuff. A large majority of the cartridge given are for friends of them. The "party" is alcoohol free (like publicity parties) and the screening is nothing more than a whole mess : people talk and drink and smoke without paying any attention to the movies screened except for the one there friends did. I almost had a fight with one of the "producer" because he was standing, drunk, in front of the screen with a total no-respect for the short screened. This sucks, trust me.

Post by **CHAS** » Tue Jun 10, 2003 12:32 am

Basstruc wrote:It's sucks, I hate straight8. The organizers of the stuff are cauld the "producers". In fact, they're guys from the publicity market who wants to make more connections betweens publicity makers and other "lick my shoe" stuff. A large majority of the cartridge given are for friends of them. The "party" is alcoohol free (like publicity parties) and the screening is nothing more than a whole mess : people talk and drink and smoke without paying any attention to the movies screened except for the one there friends did. I almost had a fight with one of the "producer" because he was standing, drunk, in front of the screen with a total no-respect for the short screened. This sucks, trust me.

Christ, what a horrible experience you had!

Flicker Los Angeles (and some of the other Flickers I think) do the same thing once a year, in the Fall. You send in $25.00 plus your stock request and you have two months to film and send it back, unedited. The two I participated in were received extremely well -- very enthusiastic audiences. Last time it was held at the famous Egyptian Theater in Hollywood in front of about 500 people.
Check out http://www.flickerla.com for more details...

Post by **Basstruc** » Tue Jun 10, 2003 12:37 am

Yes, the principe are the same but not the intention, maybe not the audience too. Maybe in Flicker, Super8 is considered like an independent medium (media) but in Straight8, it's nothing more than a "hype" stuff like Lomo or Holga does.

Post by **al77** » Tue Jun 10, 2003 10:26 pm

Basstruc, thanks for the warning. It's a shame they treated you like that when you film was screening. What are the producers trying to promote? the theatre? kodak?

I must admit i'm still tempted to take part. Mainly because it would give me a deadline to aim for. I've been getting too bogged down in finding bargain cameras, shooting test reels & getting an edit setup together. I seem to have forgotten about getting people together & shooting some films. Even if the screening isn't good then at least the deadline would have spurred me in to action & got me being creative.

A couple more questions - Did you get your reel of film back after the screening? What type of film do they give you K40, tri-x?
Thanks again,

Post by **Basstruc** » Wed Jun 11, 2003 2:24 am

Basstruc, thanks for the warning. It's a shame they treated your like that when you film was screening.

I had no personnal movie screened.

What are the producers trying to promote? the theatre? kodak?

Them and there friends.

I must admit i'm still tempted to take part. Mainly because it would give me a deadline to aim for. I've been getting too bogged down in finding bargain cameras, shooting test reels & getting an edit setup together. I seem to have forgotten about getting people together & shooting some films. Even if the screening isn't good then at least the deadline would have spurred me in to action & got me being creative.

I understand what you mean. I guess I'm a bit like that too. But a bad screening is not encouraging. Forget to say that some parts of the audience were screaming things like "It sucks !" or "Remove this shit !" when they didn't liked the short. It's the most unbeleavable screening I ever seen.
Some friends of mine did something very interesting for 3 years : each month, they had to do a super8 short from a constraint. The constraints were scenaristical or technical like : a short with a 360Ã‚Â° panoramic, a short with an animal not appering in the screen, a male short, ect ... The last friday of each month, they were screening it at a friend's flat. Everybody could participate if they wanted. When it finished, most of them did continue to make movies at a similar frequency.

Did you get your reel of film back after the screening?

They did get there film back, but not directly after the screening.

What type of film do they give you K40, tri-x?

K40

Post by **dantheman** » Wed Jun 11, 2003 11:34 am

heya,

hate to be cynical, but I did have my suspicions - especially after I saw their "Hall of Fame". Notice Jim Threapleton's name - billed in the press as a "Film Director", but actually famous at nothing other than having been married to Kate Winslet.

Basstruc, you should've punched that producer! How did the situation diffuse??? Surely there msut have been quite a few people who were also disgusted by their behaviour?

Daniel