Thursday, September 28, 2006

The end of Super 8

While I’m on this obsolescence jag: The end of the Reel for Super 8 (Guardian, UK): The closure of the last European-based processing plant that develops Kodachrome/Super-8 film. [via dangerousmeta]

What is more surprising is that the Lausanne lab’s closure coincides with the biggest boom in Super 8 usage since its 70s heyday. The Widescreen Centre in London is shifting more than 250 reels a week, and its clients include the BBC, independent production companies, pop-video directors and even a few amateur-movie enthusiasts, who shoot the film and have it transferred to digital format. In California, the Burbank-based Pro8mm company is supplying Hollywood with reconditioned cameras and Super 8 stock, as more and more directors succumb to the film’s grainy allure.

(well, if I shot super-8, that wouldn’t be a problem. Burbank is not far. But still. This marks the end of an era.)

Summer is over, winter is coming, some media formats are dwindling.

Posted by Susan A. Kitchens in • Longevity
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