Super-8 Filmmaking: The Next Generation

Yeah, I’ll keep harping on this theme.

Because it alternately excites me and frustrates me.

I come from this age:

Director Robert Rodriguez is a bit younger than me but he tried to start out with Super-8 film too. He quickly found out it wasn’t — to use modern parlance — cost-effective. Man, all of it was expensive and took money. Man, it ate money.

What made it possible for him to advance at all?

The home video revolution.

Thanks to Sony pioneering the home video market, he was able to get his hands on one of the first consumer video cameras (they weren’t camcorders back then; the camera plugged into a recording deck you could carry). Unlike film, video could be erased and used over and over again. Making mistakes cost nothing!

And now here we are in the 21st century and everyone has video recording capability in their pocket.

Casey Neistat sums up the state of things in his recent video:

FILMMAKING IS A SPORT

“But that’s Casey Neistat!” you object. (And don’t deny it! I heard you think it!)

Well, here’s someone you’ve likely never heard of unless you’re a regular and god help you complete reader of this blog: Tishawn Fahie.

Tishawn documents electric transport group rides in New York City. What could that ever lead to?

Listen to Tishawn. Let him tell you himself.

How I Got Sponsored – Here’s some motivation for you!

Do you get it yet? Neistat started out using a smartphone. Fahie started out using a pocket camera.

That’s exciting as hell.

The frustrating part for me is that where did all of the enthusiasm that created the Super-8 Filmaker magazine go?

People back then weren’t interested in filming themselves. They wanted to create movies, tell stories.

So why the hell isn’t YouTube flooded with things like that?

Just about 100% of the stories I come across on YouTube are CGI. Where’s the stuff with human beings — about human beings? Things that take place today and not in some CPU-conjured SF cartoonery?

If anyone can point me to such things, do so in Comments! I haven’t been able to find it. And we’ve already established how much YouTube Search sucks.

In the meantime, rev up your camera. Be the next Robert Rodriguez!