Kodak Not Down for the Count Yet, Announces a New Super 8mm Stock to Prove It
Maybe things aren’t looking that bad for Kodak after all? The company looked like they were on the verge of collapse not too long ago, and by closing down some of its businesses and shuffling others around, it seems they may once again be solvent. Early last month they made a deal for interim and exit financing to continue functioning and finish reorganization (and leave Chapter 11) by the first half of next year. They’ve also introduced a brand new Super 8mm film stock — though you’ll have a difficult time actually finding a place to develop said film.
If you didn’t see it, here’s how the company is staying in business (at least for the time being):
[Kodak] has entered into a commitment letter to secure $793 million in Junior Debtor-in-Possession Financing with Centerbridge Partners, L.P., GSO Capital Partners LP, UBS and JPMorgan Chase & Co. to provide the company with additional case financing and establishes the ability to convert a substantial part of the facility into exit financing, enhancing its liquidity and securing a major component of the company’s exit capital structure. This financing is a key element in the steps to enable the company to successfully execute its remaining reorganization objectives and emerge from Chapter 11 in the first half of 2013.
Here’s a little bit from their press release about the Super 8mm film:
Kodak is making its KODAK VISION3 50D Color Negative Film 7203 available in the Super 8 mm format. This fine-grained, daylight-balanced stock will be available in January 2013, giving filmmakers more options and flexibility for shooting on location. KODAK VISION3 50D film was introduced last year in the 35mm and 16mm formats. It is a low-speed color negative optimized for capturing images in natural or simulated daylight conditions…“There are a wide range of Super 8 users around the globe, and this gives them another stock for their toolbox,” says Kodak’s Mike Ryan, director of film technology for the Entertainment Imaging Division. “Now filmmakers turning to the small gauge format can take advantage of the finest grain motion picture technology on the market to craft the distinctive look they desire from a film captured image.”…With this addition to the Kodak Super 8 film portfolio, filmmakers can choose from three color negatives ranging in speeds from EI 50 to 500, or the KODAK TRI-X Black & White Reversal Film 7266.
With how grainy Super 8mm footage actually is when you’re blowing it up, a stock like this will be good for mixing in with more higher resolution film stocks or digital due to the smaller grain size. Not many of you out there will still be shooting on Super 8mm (let alone any film at all), but for specialty productions, this should prove to be a fantastic-looking daylight film.
It’s clear that the company is going to be relevant as long as major films are still being shot on celluloid. Kodak has so far survived on diversification, but many of the businesses that used to be a part of the company are now being shut down to make way for a leaner and meaner Kodak in 2013. I’m not really sure even with this debt financing how long Kodak will be able to continue their operations, but if things go as planned, they will still be making film well into (and through) next year.
Film is becoming less relevant the less it’s used by major productions, and it won’t be long before even the unconverted take a peak at digital and never turn back. If you’ve never touched the stuff before, now might be a better time than any, as labs are closing down operations left and right. For example, there aren’t many labs still processing Super 8mm — which is just another sign of the times. Motion picture film may not disappear tomorrow, but its future is entirely reliant on those high-end productions still using it.
What do you think of Kodak’s situation, and that of film in general? Do you think you might be shooting on this new film stock? If not, have you shot film before?
Links:
[via Creative Cow]
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58 COMMENTS
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Patrick on 12.14.12 @ 9:18AM
Besides having more colours and making a variety of skin tones all look beautiful without much work, film has a few practical benefits.
Only a little while ago a client whose music video I made with 8mm film contacted me desperately because his hard drive crashed and the tape backup of his video had gone north (magnetically speaking). Fortunately I still had the camera originals which he had rescanned to HD to redo his music video.
If you would like to see what 8mm film can look like with out the scratches and jumps ect go to
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-M-n8objeA&feature=share&list=UUmLD708Vo9SUXldsKV7EzzQ
This video of the Egyptian museum was shot entirely on a variety of Kodak 8mm film stocks and transferred to DVCAM. In 2003 HDV or HD for small operators was not a viable option then.
The beauty of having your origination on film is that it can be rescanned to HD today.
Yes it is more expensive initially and can be quite scary to work with at first but I would hate to see it gone forever -
Josh on 12.15.12 @ 7:21AM
It may be inevitable, but the demise of film is sad. It’s as if watercolor paint was slipping away – forever. Tarantino recently announced that he’d prefer to quit filmmaking then be forced into digital. And I can kind of see why.
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Frank on 12.16.12 @ 9:54AM
Well, folks,a brief moment of reflection would allow you to notice that Vision 500 is an EXISTING neg stock in 35 & 16mm, so slitting it down and perforating it with existing S8 production facilities IS actually a cost effective way of introducing a “new” S8 stock.
Color reversal stocks are gone, but Kodak is wisely making the best of a bad situation in this instance.
I thought myself a few weeks ago that they were finished, but when they announced their willingness to spin-off the film division from the parent company, hope was renewed.
How, or why, the continuation of film profoundly disturbs some people is a total mystery to me. Film will stand or fall on its own econonomic and aesthetic merits, but to paint this simplistically as an issue of nostalgia and technophobia is absurd.
The most skilled technicians I know value both film and digital and are highly skilled in both mediums. They produce “moving images” and don’t bring the level of discourse down to fashionable techno-bashing, but use the tool that works the best to deliver their message to the masses.
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RR thomas on 12.17.12 @ 5:21PM
cinegrain is a nice alternative, not as good as kodak but still a good option
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Whilst this new stock is a good thing, its a real shame Kodak never made a decent attempt to market reversal colour properly for years. People remained in dis-belief that such a thing still existed in the last decade until i turned up with the stuff and filmed with it. When you look at the clever marketing behind ‘lomography’ I really think its a shame that Kodak missed a trick. Now that colour-reversal is gone, i really dont think i am ever going to use this negative stuff – its just too expensive to get onto a screen.
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This 50D for small format cinematography is great news for the many still-loyal film shooters out there, and there are many. Just try buying a decent Super 8 or 16mm camera on Ebay, only to discover that there are a number of other interested parties, usually with more than sufficient funds to ruin your day!
I’ve already gotten hold of several rolls of 50D, and I can’t wait to try it out. HD scans of of properly shot Super 8 footage burned to Blu-Ray can yield amazing results on 16×9 TVs.
Never mind nostalgia, FILM is still the highest resolution capture format in existence. For dynamic range and color gamut, film leaves even high-end DSLR sensors in the dust. Thanks to the mass exodus of mid-tier filmmakers to embrace digital, even once astronomically-priced 35mm motion picture cameras are now within reach of aspiring FILMmakers everywhere.
For mere hundreds, not tens of thousands, I was able to purchase a perfectly-functioning 35mm camera, along with 5 accompanying lenses. For a mere fraction of the cost of a pricey HD cam or DSLR, I’m finally realizing my long-time dream of shooting 35mm footage. Presently, I’m stocking up on low-cost Kodak and Fuji motion pictures stocks that are readily available via Craigslist & Ebay, in preparation for shooting my first micro-budgeted feature.
For those who have always dreamt of shooting the real thing, a rare window of opportunity has opened up that may not stay open very long. Take the plunge. The sheer exhilaration of hearing that film racing through the camera is something that simple words cannot express. If you’re bored of running with the pixelated pack, see what Welles, Ford, Peckinpah and Kubrick found so utterly intoxicating.
Film might just be the fix you’re looking for…
4 pingbacks
yesssssssssssssssssss!
Kodak we love you!
I’ll be using it.