Scratch animation

[Thierry]

Hi,

I would like to do some scratch animation and I wanted to use a video file transform it into super 8 strips , print it on paper and use the printed sheets as master sheet to draw on the super 8 film.

Is there a programme to transform video into super 8 stips ?

I have photoshop and FCP on a Mac, maybe a macro ?

Thierry

[jpolzfuss]

Hi,

one of your programs might be able to convert a complete video into single frames (AFAIK FCP should be able to do this - or do you have to manually select each of the frames...?). And one of your programs (e.g. photoshop) might be able to resize a "bunch of files" (e.g. to 5,69 mm × 4,22 mm ). And another program might be able to print a "bunch of files" on a A4-sheet (or letter-sized sheet when you're in the UK/USA/whatever). That's probably the best you can get without writing your own macros.

Jörg

[richard p. t.]

Hello Thierry
have a look at this clip made by a friend and customer of mine:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45A00Tqi3KU
she did the very thing you are suggesting, except on 16mm unprocessed film. Some of the colours (browns in particular) are achieved through not scratching the entire emulsion off.
There was an advantage of using unprocessed film; by running the film through a projector whith its very bright light, frames (and hence frame lines) are effectively burnt-in to the unprocessed film such that they become clearly visible without procesing. This gives you a frame line as a reference for each frame.
She spent 2 years on this clip. She had to perfect the whole printing out frames using one or other software program.
There were other issues such as once she had worked out the frame spacing in photoshop or whatever she used, she then discovered that she needed to use the same printer each time - different printers would result in frame creep.
My advice, if you are going to scratch detailed stuff, at least use 16mm if not 35. She developed severe wrist pain in doing this.
good luck with it,
richard

[robbie]

been doing this form animation for years and i use illustrator and photoshop.
mostly photoshop where i pre-design a graph to arrange each 16mm size frame in succession. easy, but tedious and time consuming.

[Thierry]

Impressive work !!

I will have a team working with me on the project and it is Super8 so less to scratch per frame