ROARING 40s, FURIOUS 50s AND SCREAMING 60s, with Super8, slide and Instax film!!!

ROARING 40s, FURIOUS 50s AND SCREAMING 60s, which I filmed in Super8 and photographed with Polaroid-type instant film Fujifilm Instax!

In my navigation from New Zealand to the South Magnetic Pole, I discovered that the terrible winds have names: from 40 degrees of latitude they are known as "the roaring forties", from 50º they are "the furious fifty" and from 60 degrees south "the screaming sixty". I have never experienced something so terrifying in my life, nor do I think I will ever experience it again: a combination of relentless wind that blew mercilessly without any land to hinder its force around the planet, blowing from all points of the compass!

Between the 48º and 61º South, these winds drive the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC). This is the greatest current in the world, with a flow equal to more than a hundred times that of all the world's rivers put together, wich extends to depths of 2000-4000 meters, and can be as wide as 2000 km.

Apart from Kodak Super 8 film and Kodak and Fujifilm slide film, I also carried Fujifilm Instax instant photographic film to use with my Mint camera. My initial Instax material consisted of only 80 photographs, but, as I found these types of cartridges in a store in Invercargill, I used up all the local stock!!!, taking 10 packages of 20 photographs each, knowing that I was not going to have any more have to go through any major X-ray inspection.

It is possibly the first one someone had photographed with this type of material in Antarctica!  I have a good part of this Instax photographs displayed on the cork here in my office, and, like everyone who comes, it catches their attention, I´m designing an exhibition that combines Instax photographs, Kodak Ektachrome slides that would work in continuous projection and motion picture film loops as well,  together with the cameras used and other material, in what would be a didactic experience to complement non-theatrical projections of "Perfect Antarctic Madness " in 16 mm with the projector in situ, between the audience.

There has never been a project like this in Antarctica, entirely photochemical, combining Super-8 manually recharged in Single-8 chassis, film slides and instant film. And it was carried out not from London or Los Angeles, but from the antipodes of New Zealand, in this end of the world that is Galicia. What do you think, friends?

ANTARCTICA AND ITS TERRORIFIC PLACE NAMES.

During the month and a half that I was filming on the continent of desolation the full lengh film feature "Perfect Antarctic Madness" many place names caught my attention, devastating to the spirit, such as Deception Island, Danger Islets, Cape Disillusionment, Bay of Exasperation, but, above all , Mount Terror and Mount Erebus, the southernmost active volcano on the planet.

"Terror" and "Erebus", in Latin, were named in honor of the two ships with which James Clark Ross made the famous expedition in which one of the objectives was to find the south magnetic pole.

Erebus, in Latin, comes from Greek, and in Spanish it translates as "érebo", "erebo" or "érebos": it is synonymous with hell, very appropriate for the sensations felt there, at -35 degrees Celsius and an inclement wind.

This feat is narrated at greater length in the feature-length documentary filmed in Super-8!, for the first time in these forgotten lands of the hands of God.

FILMING WITH THE ZC1000N IN ANTARCTICA: REASONS FOR A CHOICE (PART 2: the secret of rock-steady picture with the ZC1000 REVEALED!!!)

(Coming from Part 1 -clic here-)

In this second post of the series, I explain the reasons why the ZC1000N can shoot with supreme steadiness for the picture.

The Super-8 cartridge works perfectly in normal filming situations, but in conditions as extreme as those filming "Perfect Antarctica Madness", with several days at temperatures of -35 degrees Celsius -or lower-, its coaxial, single-axis design is not the technical the most appropriate solution for this special situation.

In the upper cartridge, Super-8, you can see the double loop that the film must stick 12 frames before the window. In Single-8 (the lower cartridge) the path is more direct and, in addition, cameras has a proper pressure pad

Among other reasons to be considerate, the loss of flexibility of the film, at such low temperatures, made me trust more in the Single-8 cartridges, with two axes, and a direct path, from upper roll to lower roll.

There is another factor that decided me to load film into Single-8 cartridges: avoiding the "damned" frame.

Photograph by my friend Luigi Petrin

WHAT IS THE "DAMNED" FRAME?

There is, when shooting 8 mm type film with a Super-8 cartridge, a "damned" frame: the -12, that is, the one located 12 frames before the exposure window, right where the convoluted coaxial design forces the film to rotate on itself to move from one axis to the other.

If the Super-8 cartridge is left in the camera with filming interrupted for a while, the triacetate film base (not the poliester one) takes shape on that axis (a problem that becomes more accentuated as the hours go by, in certain conditions of temperature and humidity or with very open f apertures): As the Super-8 lacks a a proper in-camera pressure pad, this -12 frame will often be blurry and will even produce some unesteady in the images immediately before or after (with movements that, although they can be stabilized in post-production, are nevertheless visible in direct projection of the reversal film original).

This problem at frame -12 is accentuated the thicker the triacetate base is, such as that of some film that come cut from photographic emulsions. The ZC1000N completely avoids this drawback as the camera, like all Single-8 cameras, has a pressure pad built on the camera itself.

ZC1000 double claw after pull down: frames + 3 and + 4 (photo from IB Cinema archive)

THE SECRET FOR PERFECT PICTURE STEADINESS WITH THE ZC1000N REVEALED: A PROPER PRESSURE PAD AND DOUBLE CLAW BELOW THE GATE WINDOW.

Due to the technical demands of the coaxial arrangement, all Super-8 cameras contradict those of the professional world in one thing: the pull-down movement is done by a single claw BEFORE the window itself, PUSHING the film down starting at the perforation -3 and ending at -2.

But it´s very different in the ZC1000N has not one, but TWO CLAW, and these pull the film, not push it down, BELOW the exposure window, at frames +2 and +3 through +3 and +4 . This feature, together with the availability, in the camera, of a true built-in pressure pad (articulated in three parts), is able to shot at image     with rock-steady perfect steadiness, which is the best using reversal film, because the camera film original is projected. If projection is done with a professional Fumeo or Heuertier professional projectors , with the double claw AFTER the window gate, as was always, and still is, the norm in professional motion picture film, steadiness in projection is incredible steady.

The ZC1000N also has a third drive claw, before the window, to shoot in reverse (along the entire cartridge!), without changes in the frame line of the picture.

The two secrets, then, of the supreme steadiness of the ZC1000 are: 1)  a double claw under the window gate; and 2) a pressure pad built in the camera.

Single-8 cartridge in a Z800 camera by Luigi Petrin

Note: in projection, my reversal originals provide perfect steadiness;  however, I cannot match it in digital version due to the telecine scan I´m using. But I'm an independent filmmaker and I have to make do with what I have.

• More information about the claw to gate distance in S8: CLICK HERE

(to be continue)

• IMPORTANT NOTICE FOR THOSE FILMMAKERS WHO WISH TO INCORPORATE SUPER-8 INTO THEIR PROFESSIONAL PORTFOLIO:

For those readers in the professional field who believe it is convenient to offer Super-8 in their service portfolio, I always recommend Pro 8mm, the same provider used by Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee or J.J. Abrams.

My recommendation is proven: it certainly makes me proud to work with Phil and Rhonda Vigeant, whose efforts on Super-8 have been recognized by the ASC.

At Pro 8 mm they serve in Spanish and English, in the following link, and shipping to Europe takes only 3 days!

The complete catalog of products and services can be seen at the following link:

PRO 8MM

FILMING WITH THE ZC1000N IN ANTARCTICA: REASONS FOR A CHOICE (PART 1: ergonomic handgrip and three points of rest)

In a documentary like "Perfect Antarctic Madness," virtually all of the footage is shot handheld, without a tripod. When shooting with real S8 film, there is no digital stabilizer: the image recorded indelibly and without the possibility of modification must be filmed as firmly as possible.

For this, the ZC1000N is the best camera option: its (detachable) grip is the most ergonomic of all cameras in the different 8 mm type S formats (Super-8, Double Super 8 or, as is the case, Single-8). What a difference with the Leicina Special, with which I filmed "Odyssey in Greenland", whose grip seems designed by a kind of Reinhard Heydrich to torture cameramen!

(Photograph: Annette Schmitz)

Another vital point of the ZC1000N, for filming without a tripod, is that the rubberized battery holder is located at the top rear of the camera body, allowing the operator to rest the camera against their front. This feature is vital to me, and so when I'm not shooting with the ZC1000N because I need to use Super-8 cartridges, I choose cameras with a similar type of forehead rest, like the aforementioned Leicina Special or the never-enough-valored Bauer A512 Mark II.

With the camera well supported on my forehead, perfectly held in my hand thanks to the ergonomic handgrip, I usually grab the body or the lens with the other hand, to give the whole more firmness, with three points of rest.

(to be continue)  PART TWO CLICK HERE

(Photograph: Annette Schmitz)

• IMPORTANT NOTICE FOR THOSE FILMMAKERS WHO WISH TO INCORPORATE SUPER-8 INTO THEIR PROFESSIONAL PORTFOLIO:

For those readers in the professional field who believe it is convenient to offer Super-8 in their service portfolio, I always recommend Pro 8mm, the same provider used by Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee or J.J. Abrams.

My recommendation is proven: it certainly makes me proud to work with Phil and Rhonda Vigeant, whose efforts on Super-8 have been recognized by the ASC.

At Pro 8 mm they serve in Spanish and English, in the following link, and shipping to Europe takes only 3 days!

The complete catalog of products and services can be seen at the following link:

PRO 8MM

THE SIXTY ROARES AND ST. ELMO FIRE, SHOOT IN SUPER-8 FOR "PERFECT ANTARCTIC MADNESS"

One of the worst situations I experienced in polar seas was the one I suffered when accessing Antarctica through the southwest passage, from New Zealand. The Drake Passage, in the northern pass, which I would cross weeks later, is, by comparison, like a kind of placid Round Oval lake, where Princess Diana's body is found: the southern pass is really "the blender", and not Drake's!

On my route to the mythical South Magnetic Pole, it was, for me,  frightening walk stumble along the ship,  with the bowels of the steel hull groaning, beaten with cruel persistence, both bow and starboard, by colossal waves, instigated by the Sixty Roarers, as the winds are called once we exceed 60 degrees latitude.

Heading to Ross Island,  I was able to film, with Kodak Vision 200T film loaded in the ZC1000N, a rarely seen, absolutely terrifying,  natural phenomenon called St. Elmo's Fire, which I knew about thanks to the writings of Jules Verne and Herman Melville who, en “Moby Dick”, which I always have at hand, he wrote (sic): “The masts seemed to be burning completely. Saint Elmo's fire, have mercy on us!"

Pity: grain missing with the upload to the blog

Experiencing St. Elmo's Fire, with a colossal iceberg as a background, is one of those experiences that mark people's retinas for the rest of their existence, and that I was fortunate to shoot, indelibly, with Kodak Super-film. 8, probably for the first and last time in history, or is there someone else who can embark on a project like “Perfect Antarctic Madness” entirely in film? Friends, only the texture of the photochemical image, with its random grain, has the power to transmit to the viewer the fury of unforgiving nature in the face of the mortal insignificance of those of us who were there.

"PERFECT ANTARCTIC MADNESS" will be finished with Spanish narration and English subtitles at the end of 2023 or early 2024,  blow up to 16 mm. 

Festivals interested to book the film, please, write to me: WRITE HERE.   Sorry, not digital prints, ONLY REAL FILM PRINTS.

 

Contact lenses frozen!

• IMPORTANT NOTICE FOR THOSE FILMMAKERS WHO WISH TO INCORPORATE SUPER-8 INTO THEIR PROFESSIONAL PORTFOLIO:

For those readers in the professional field who believe it is convenient to offer Super-8 in their service portfolio, I always recommend Pro 8mm, the same provider used by Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee or J.J. Abrams.

My recommendation is proven: it certainly makes me proud to work with Phil and Rhonda Vigeant, whose efforts on Super-8 have been recognized by the ASC.

At Pro 8 mm they serve in Spanish and English, in the following link, and shipping to Europe takes only 3 days!

The complete catalog of products and services can be seen at the following link:

PRO 8MM

EUMIG NAUTICA 24 F.P.S. VERSION: EUREKA, IT´S ALREADY FIXED!!! (PART 2 OF 3)

I am very fond of my Eumig Nautica, in its rare 24 f.p.s. version, which has been providing reliable service for more than forty years. Therefore, I was very sad when, this summer, after a dive, it stopped working.

Will I have to throw the camera away? Will I put it to a display case? No!, it's a job for Super José Manuel, and his magical hands. If the camera can be fixed, he will make it!

Disassembling a Nautica is not an easy task since the camera, once assembled, must withstand immersion of up to 50 meters, without a housing.

Once dismantled (see the previous post, HERE) José Manuel was able to repair it and, in the process, make a modification so that the camera can film without having to press the shutter release, a very important virtue not only when diving, but also in situations such as fixing the camera on a surfboard or others.

For those who dare to disassemble a Nautica, a piece of advice: first of all, you must dismantle the battery holder.

• IMPORTANT NOTICE FOR THOSE FILMMAKERS WHO WISH TO INCORPORATE SUPER-8 INTO THEIR PROFESSIONAL PORTFOLIO:

For those readers in the professional field who believe it is convenient to offer Super-8 in their service portfolio, I always recommend Pro 8mm, the same provider used by Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee or J.J. Abrams.

My recommendation is proven: it certainly makes me proud to work with Phil and Rhonda Vigeant, whose efforts on Super-8 have been recognized by the ASC.

At Pro 8 mm they serve in Spanish and English, in the following link, and shipping to Europe takes only 3 days!

The complete catalog of products and services can be seen at the following link:

PRO 8MM

GUÍA DE A CORUÑA DE EMILIA PARDO BAZÁN, de José María Paz Gago

Fruto de la alergia por la lectura que se ha expandido durante los últimos lustros, hay coruñeses que creen que Marineda es el nombre de un centro comercial, en lugar de el topónimo inventado por la extraordinaria Emilia Pardo Bazán para designar, en seis de sus novelas y numerosos cuentos, a la ciudad que tanto amó: la inigualable, la única, la nunca suficientemente ponderada La Coruña.

La escritora coruñesa cambia, en su imaginaria Marineda, los nombres de las calles, sociedades, fábricas, comercios y hasta personas, pero el autor de esta obra, Chema Paz Gago, catedrático universitario y escritor -entre otras muchas cosas que hacen de él un personaje insustituible para la cultura de Galicia-, descifra cada uno de ellos en una especie de guía, "emiliana coruñesa",  no sólo interesante para los entusiastas de doña Emilia, que somos legión en la inmensidad del mundo, en su inmensa e inabarcable redondez (que, mas o menos, escribiría ella),  sino para los coruñeses que gusten de conocer la historia y evolución de la ciudad a finales del siglo XIX y principios del XX.

De mi querida calle familiar de San Andrés, San Efrén en el mundo de doña Emilia, escribe Chema Paz Gago (sic): "...se componía en su origen de casas terrizas de un solo piso pues se trataba de humildes moradas de pescadores, como demuestra la capilla de San Andrés que allí se encuentra y da nombre a esta importante vía de la ciudad. En efecto, el empuje del progreso y la industria convertirán a esta calle en una de las principales arterias de la activa Ciudad Moderna, con la construcción de altas casas de varios pisos así como abundantes comercios y almacenes, con vistosos escaparates, en competencia con la calle Real. Allí se encuentran las mejores tiendas de moda y novedades, los mas afamados gabinetes fotográficos, como el de Jose Sellier..."   Se completa el capítulo  dedicado a San Andrés con otras interesantísimas informaciones, amén de una fotografía, posiblemente decimonónica, coloreada.

El libro de Paz Gago, como suele ser habitual con el sello Hércules de Ediciones,  se encuentra magníficamente encuadernado con tapas duras, e impreso en lujurioso papel de buen gramaje y, sorprendentemente, en cuatricromía, lo cual se agradece pues la amena prosa se interrumpe, ocasionalmente, con valiosas ilustraciones,  alguna de ellas, como los planos, que sólo se pueden consultar en archivos especializados. 

Es un libro pensado para perdurar en una biblioteca, no sólo por la calidad de su edición, sino debido a que la investigación de Paz Gago es exhaustiva y definitiva.  Sólo un párrafo se salta esta redacción concebida para la inmortalidad: "Corresponde a Inés Rey, al frente del Concello de A Coruña hoy...", que desconcertará a los que consulten la obra dentro de unos lustros. Por cierto, que el autor se refiere a Marineda con su nombre en gallego, cuando la RAE recomienda escribir los topónimos en español si se redacta, como aquí,  en este idioma (por ejemplo, Londres y no London). 

"Guía de A Coruña de Emilia Pardo Bazán" me fue servido a domicilio por Librería Arenas. ¿Qué coruñés necesita de Amazon teniendo a esta librería con mas de medio siglo en la ciudad?  Recibí el libro el sábado por la mañana y, aunque tendría que esperar su turno en mi mesilla de noche, al hojear sus páginas, ojeando aquí y allá interesantísimos párrafos que, literalmente "me atrapaban", seduciendo mis retinas,  no me pude resistir, y, como si fuera una golosina, lo devoré ayer domingo. Es, esta guía "emiliana coruñesa", un volumen imprescindible en los anaqueles de todas las bibliotecas personales coruñesas. Mi recomendación mas encarecida. 

ESPIRAL DE LIMPIEZA QUÍMICA DE ÁNGEL CARO PARA "PERFECTA LOCURA ANTÁRTICA"

Para la filmación de "Perfecta locura antártica" empleé nada menos que ¡¡¡14 tipos de emulsiones cinematográficas distintas!!!, la inmensa mayoría de Kodak (incluyendo un rollo de la Double X que Kodak fabricó ex profeso para "Oppenheimer" de Nolan), que tuve que traspasar, en cuarto oscuro,  bien: 

1) de los cartuchos de Súper-8 a cargadores de Single-8; o bien 

2) tras cortar la película de DS8 (16 mm de ancho) a la mitad de su anchura y luego en tiras de diez metros a cartuchos de Single-8; ¡¡¡una auténtica locura de cinematografía artesanal!!! que asombró en mi conferencia en Nueva Zelandia a los miembros de la Sociedad Fotográfica de Invercargill  (lea usted aquí), en una proeza, digna del espíritu de Shackleton y Scott,  que fue imprescindible para poder rodar con la gloriosa cámara ZC1000N.

¡Álex et moi quedamos asombrados de la calidad del acabado de la espiral!

¿Por qué filmé con tantos tipos de emulsiones? Según mi manera de cinematografíar, no sólo empleo una u otra película determinado por la luz, sino en función de la impresión que me causa aquello que filmo o lo que voy a querer transmitir con el guion. Por ejemplo, comencé a filmar en color, con Kodak Vision, el frente de hielo de la Barrera de Ross, de quince a veinte metros de alto durante kilómetros (una inmensa superficie de hielo mas o menos del tamaño deEspaña, y en la que murió de hambre Scott tras regresar del Polo Sur), pero, para transmitir al espectador la sensación de insignificancia frente a la magnitud de la gélida desolación, inmediatamente cambié para la referida emulsión que Kodak fabricó para Nolan, la Kodak Double X, que revelé no como negativa, sino como inversible (lo que proporciona una imagen positiva tras el procesado, con una gama de tonalidades grises diferente a lo que se puede obtener con negativo).  Este tipo de exquisiteces, desafortunadamente, en España, sólo hay un puñado de personas capaces de apreciarlas y valorarlas, la mayor parte en Catalunya (y por eso, en un determinado momento, acaricié la idea de narrar la locución en catalán). Al término de esta entrada indico el único lugar del mundo donde se puede obtener la Kodak Plus X en cartuchos de Súper-8 (si bien, filmé con ella en Single-8 traspasándola, en cuarto oscuro).

Tecnología española para sustituir a la soviética

Una de las varias ocasiones en que nos tuvimos que enfrentar a un temporal, en mi recorrido de mes y pico entrando a la Antártida a través del paso de Suroeste (desde Nueva Zelandia) hasta el del Noroeste, en el Mar de Hoces (como gallego, con un Drake que destrozó mi ciudad, La Coruña, me niego a llamarlo Pasaje de Drake pues, además, el español Francisco de Hoces lo descubrió y atravesó medio siglo antes que el corsario inglés), con olas "tipo batidora" de mas de doce metros y los terribles vientos "sesenta bramadores", esas imágenes las filmé, también con revelado inversible,  con la Kodak Tri X e, incluso, para la secuencia con mayor dramatismo, con la Kodak MFX: 

"60 bramadores", con película Kodak MFX de Súper-8 en cartuchos de Single-8

su blanco y negro,  con el grano que la caracteriza, ¡es fundamental! para transmitir mi vivencia de impotencia, casi mística,  frente a la furia de los elementos, imposible de reflejar con la asepsia de una imagen digital.

Precisión milimétrica

Una de las filmaciones que tuve que llevar a cabo, en la Antártida,  en helicóptero,  la rodé con la llorada, de gratísimo recuerdo en las retinas de muchos cineístas, película Fujichrome R25N, la mejor emulsión inversible de color para cine  jamás fabricada en el Japón. Sólo disponía de cuatro preciados rollos, obsequio de mi casi centenario amigo Shigeo Mizukawa, el diseñador de la ZC1000, y que fue un honor que siguiara paso a paso esta aventura, comentándola en Facebook.

Todas las piezas encajan como si fueran alemanas

Esta Fujichrome R25N, de la última partida, fabricada en 2012 (y siempre guardada por Shigeo en su congelador), presenta actualmente una dificultad añadida para el revelado: en el Fujichrome N la capa antihalo, o remjet, con los años, se vuelve dura como el granito y resulta imposible de limpiar con los químicos habituales sin dejar residuos en la propia película. Sólo es posible hacerlo si para el agua del revelado se usa aquella procedente del rio de Belelle recogida a su paso por la villa de Neda, rica en sustancias albicantes.

Angel Caro cuida los detalles

Con el agua de Neda,  estos preciados cuatro rollos de R25N que, en cuanto a exposición y foco (la ZC1000 es una cámara de enfoque y diafragmado manual), resultaron casi perfectos (pese a la latitud de menos de medio diafragma y a que la película fue recargada artesanalmente), pero, desgraciadamente, en esta ocasión, ¡le quedaron restos de capa antihalo!  No queda otra que intentar removerlos químicamente con la misma formulación química que empleaba Fuji en Japón, mejorada por mi amigo el director y docente cinematográfico Marc Martí. 

¡30 metros de capacidad!

Para esta limpieza especial, mi también amigo, de lustros, Ángel Caro, diseñó y fabricó (imprimiéndola en 3D), una espiral especialmente concebida para el proyecto "Perfecta Locura Antártica": como admite 30 metros de metraje, Álex et moi podremos llevar a cabo la función de remover el remjet con sólo dos tandas. 

Filos totalmente lisos

Cuando recibí esta espiral (artesanal, como todo el proyecto), quedé mudo de asombro por la calidad de su acabado: ¡parece un producto industrial!, de precisión teutónica. ¡¡¡Muchas gracias, querido Ángel,  por diseñar y manufacturar ex profeso este artilugio ultra especializado!!! que, tal vez, sólo se use para esta ocasión (aunque puede ser que lo adapte en el futuro para revelados, pues es mas cómodo que mi vieja espiral para menos metraje, que, además, ya vio días mejores). 

Y las cajas de película de 35 mm sirven de recipiente para los químicos

¿Conseguiré eliminar la capa antihalo totalmente? De no lograrlo, usaré ese metraje de todas formas, explicando durante la narración la razón de las manchas en esa secuencia, como aconseja, sabiamente, el bueno del amigo Javier.  

Ya va viendo el lector de esta bitácora que este proyecto fílmico, "Perfecta locura antártica",  es, realmente,  una auténtica locura cinematográfica, única en el mundo. 

La película Kodak Double X sólo se puede obtener, en Súper-8, a través de Pro8mm. La dirección está al final de este artículo.

• IMPORTANTE PARA QUE AQUELLOS CINEÍSTAS QUE DESEEN INCORPORAR EL SÚPER-8 EN SU OFERTA PROFESIONAL: 

Para aquellos lectores del ámbito profesional que crean conveniente ofrecer Súper-8 en su portafolio de servicios, siempre recomiendo Pro 8mm, el mismo proveedor que usan Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee o J.J. Abrams.

Mi recomendación se demuestra fundada: ciertamente produce orgullo trabajar con Phil y Rhonda Vigeant, cuyo esfuerzo por el Súper-8  se ha visto reconocido por la ASC.

En Pro 8 mm atienden en español e inglés, en el siguiente enlace, ¡y el envío a Europa demora sólo 3 días! 
El catálogo completo de productos y servicios, se puede ver en el siguiente vínculo:

PRO 8MM