> the vast majority of artists working in 16mm from the '40s through the '60s > did in fact use Kodachrome and Ektachrome. Color negative didn't even exist > in 16mm until 1964, and very few "experimental filmmakers" used it much until > the later '70s or even early '80s.
'Amateur' making was all reversal, as home movie makers always projected their camera original. My experience with film only dates back to the mid-70s, and I didn't use 16mm until 1979, in grad school at UW-Madison. All we used was 'professional' 16mm color reversal stock, which was all one form of Ektachrome or another: the VNF stocks mostly, 7240 (nice) and 7250 (yuchh) for 16mm, and 7244 for S8. (There may have been some people using ECO, I don't remember…) We got all our stock and supplies from the schools AV bureau, and it was processed by the Com Arts Dept. in the basement of Vilas Hall. (Mark Webber ran the lab…) Of course, the 16mm Ektachrome had edge numbers... There was a consumer camera store on State Street that still carried Kodak 16mm reversal stock boxed in 100' daylight spools, as well as S8. I'm pretty sure they carried some form of 16mm Ektachrome, but I think it was only daylight, and wasn't the same, or as nice, as what we could get at school. But I could have that confused with the S8 stock. But this store definitely had tungsten Kodachrome, because I used it a film I made '80-'81. Very student-filmy: I used 4 different stocks, to give different sections different looks. I actually got the idea from stumbling across the Kodachome in the store, having gone in there for something else, and remembered Lipton had written about Fleshapoids being shot in Kodachrome. I don't think anyone at UW knew this store carried it, and afaik no one else at school had used Kodachrome 16mm for anything. The store was the only place I could get the Kodachrome, and the only way to get it processed (of course) was dropping it at the store, which sent it to Kodak. And I couldn't get edge numbers. I asked, because I knew I was going to get work print, then conformed the original and have a print made. So, when the Kodachrome original came back from the camera store, I ran it through a synchronizer, and scratched in edge markings every so many feet (a sort of roman numeral code, as I couldn't scratch tiny arabic numerals). Then I'd send it out for the work print, getting something I could conform later. I think the instructors and other students thought I was nuts to go through all that. Ahh, thems were the days… ________ Jeff wrote: > Kodak worked hard to shoot themselves in the foot (their area of expertise) > and kill off color reversal. Amen to that. At UFVA conferences in the early '00s, when Kodak was till a big sponsor, I spent many hours trying to explain this to their head Education Division guy, but they never showed any interest or even awareness of either experimental work or the kind of liberal arts or fine arts programs that taught it. They were all about the big industry-feeder schools, and their only concept of production education was 'cinematography', and as far as they were concerned that was BW reversal for 'intro' classes, and color negative after that. Their big Education initiative was reformulating 7266 to be more eco-friendly, instead of dropping it altogether. The came to UFVA all super-pleased with themselves, like 'we did this just for you, even though we won't make good money on it' and previewed a slick advertising and promotion campaign supposed targeted to 'indie' folks (you know, people who use Bolexes) that was so clueless I winced. They had t-shirts with one of the ad slogans: "Craft services is for wussies." And I said, guys, the market that needs reversal, and you need for reversal, and that BW reversal stocks that were doesn't even know what 'craft services' means… In the early 00s, I could still find color reversal short ends for my small biennial 16mm experimental class. By, I dunno '08 or so, Kodak no longer came to UFVA at all, and the only was my students could shoot color was to pool their funds and order 400' of 100D on cores, which I'd spool off onto 100' daylight spools so they could put it in our MOS 16mm cameras... _______________________________________________ FrameWorks mailing list [email protected] https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
