Here's what happens when I invert the negative image...

Digitising the Super 8 film

I've spent most of the day digitising all the Super 8 film that the Undercurrents group shot and processed.

There's some absolutely gorgeous footage in there. The film comes out in negative when processed using the coffee and soap method...like the images below...

5.4.14 - Arts Award Catch-up Session

We had a good planning session today and caught-up on everyone's progress towards their Arts Award Challenges.
It was good just to have chance to touch base with everyone and listen to their thoughts and ideas as the last two film processing sessions have been a bit hectic. Next time we meet we'll go to Thompson Park and everyone will have a series of mini Art Tasks to complete that involve drawing, sculpture, photography, poetry and film. The outcomes of these activities will help flesh out their Arts Award work as well as form the basis of another wonderful Undercurrents exhibition and film screening.

We finished the session by projecting all the Super 8 films they'd shot and processed and there were so many gorgeous bits of footage.

I'm really looking forward to editing the film with them!

Unfortunately we had a bit of a blip during the session as Molly realised she had misplaced her phone. So she was naturally quite upset and distracted so the session ended on a bit of a low which was a shame.

22.3.14 A few photos I forgot I had...

22.3.14 More Super 8 processing with Me and Martha

Another great day processing and dyeing film at The Crib today!
Martha came for round two of the Super 8 Film processing and we managed to get all the films processed and dyed. It was a really relaxed yet productive session with everyone having chance to try the various steps, dipping in and out and sharing the work.
Martha and I also showed a couple of our Super 8 films and it was good for the group to see what's possible with the medium.
I brought all the processed film reels home so that I can start to film them digitally and the group will be able to edit what they have shot. Really looking forward to seeing the results!
Unfortunately I didn't capture any photos today as we were constantly busy but here are some links to Martha's films:

https://vimeo.com/81730795

https://vimeo.com/70400094

Black Roses

On Wednesday this week we went to see Black Roses at Burnley Youth Theatre.  It was amazing, really moving and very well performed by the 2 actors. 

The piece is based on real life events from several years ago, when 20 year old Sophie Lancaster was beaten unconcious in her local park in Bacup, and died from her injuries days later in hospital. Her story is told by using the verbatim words of her mother, Sylvia Lancaster, interwoven with poetry written by Simon Armitage, which is written in Sophie's "voice".
 
Its a very powerful story because of who Sophie was as a person, and the fact that she was killed purely because she choose to look different.  Since her daughters death, Sylvia Lancaster has campaigned for "Hate Crime" to include attacks against goths and other members of subcultures. 

Sylvia Lancaster joined the cast for a Q and A after the show and spoke a little bit about her work. 

The whole experience made me think a lot about difference, and how we are all different in our own way, and we choose how we express those differences.  Everyone is going to review the show for their Arts Award, so we'll hopefully share some of the reviews from the group here on the blog. 

Black Roses is produced by Royal Exchange, Manchester. Find out more about the play here.

15.3.14 Super 8 processing with Martha Jurksaitis

What an exciting day we had today! We were all really pleased to welcome special guest Martha to the group, an analogue film maker and one of my heroes! Martha makes Super 8 and 16mm films from her studio at East Street Arts in Leeds. (Take a look at the updated 'Artist' page to find out more about her...) Martha had brought her projector and some Super 8 film reels to show us, so we started the session looking at some of those.  She also showed us some film which had been dyed and painted so that we could see what was possible to do on our own footage.

Martha then talked us through how we were going to process our Super 8 film shot during the previous session. Amazingly, we were able to do this using household products and a bit of elbow grease!

We used: 

• Instant Coffee (very important that the coffee is caffeinated and low quality)
• Washing Soda Crystals (Home Bargains £1.00!)
• Vitamin C Powder
• Hot Water

We made up the formula in a big bucket and then started the business of getting the film out of the plastic film cartridges. We had to do this in darkness and using photography tubs, so Martha had brought a special bag that we could 

put the film and tub inside, zip it closed but then put our hands in through the light-tight arm-holes. This was a little tricky as you have to do everything by touch alone and being careful to not let any light creep into the bag.

We slowly pulled the film out of the cartridge which took awhile as there is 50ft altogether and we were doing this a bit at a time with our hands inside the bag. Once all the film was out we had to stuff the scrambled mess into the tub and put the light-tight lid on. Once this was done we could take the tub out of the bag. We then poured the developing formula into the tub and set the timer for 22minutes. Then we had to agitate the film inside the tub for the whole 22 minutes.

When the time was up we hot-footed it to the Library staff room and poured the developer back into the bucket. We then rinsed the film whilst still in the tub for a minute and then added photographic fixer and agitated for another 5 minutes and the  after fixing we rinsed with water again. After all this we took out the film and dried it off...we were then ready for adding a bit of ink and paint!

We learned a lot today, and for the group it was a window into a world that is disappearing in these digital times.