[Frameworks] Tips on projecting S-8 for digital recording?

[Dave Tetzlaff]

I agree that off-the-wall DIY transfers can be quite good, though I’ve mainly done 16mm, not S8.

The two main things are: 

1. The camera has to be capable of running at the same frame rate as the projector. (e.g. 24fps, for 16mm). You may or may not need the frame sync feature in the camera that can fine tune the speed down to a fraction. 

2. The projector must be capable of hoilding its speed steady. This is often an issue with S* projectors, especially those with a mechanical variable speed nob.

NOTE: for S8 especially, you aare unlikely to get the camera and projector to sync up at the speed the film was shiot at (e.g. if its 18fps as most are, not 24fps). As long as you can get sync at any speed (e.g. 24fps), you transfer at that speed – in effect undercranking the video copy – and then shift it back to the proper speed in FCP, AE, or whatever. The frame blending usually isn’t noticable to most viewers, and no more a detrement than the old school 24-into-30 of 5 blade telecines.

As far as physical setup:

> I then shot it onto a movie screen which has high reflectivity, and projected it so the image size was about 1 foot x 1 foot, to make a nice bright image.  

You do want a small bright image, but screem material designed for a larger image isn’t necessarily the best projection surface. You want a matte white surface with no visible texture. I just got a nice big white paper sheet at an art store.

You should set things up in as close to complete darkness as possible. I used to do it in my basement after blocking the little windows.

> I had the camera back away from the screen on a longer lens so it was as close to the projector angle as possible.

The problem with that is light bleed from the projector bouncing into the camera lens. You want the fromt of the camera lens barrel in front of the projector lens barrel. Putting the camera as close as possible to the right side of the projector generally eliminates any objectionable keystoning. Mounting the camera on a three-way still-photo head makes for easiest adjustment of squaring things up. It’s hard to get viideo heads into the right horizen plane.