Movie Film (Reg. 8 mm or Super 8) to Digital
Conversion
Workshops will Show You How
The first step in converting your movies to a digital format is
to attend a Movie Conversion Workshop session for your type of film (either Regular 8 or Super 8).
Attendance is limited to three persons and can be scheduled with the help of a monitor using the
workshop option on the Classie Computer. We schedule workshops based on the interest level over
time.
The workshop sessions will cover both film preparation and the conversion process. After you
have attended a workshop you may reserve the equipment by writing your name on an empty Regular 8
or Super 8 time slot on the conversion calendar. The equipment is available for use any time the
Lab is open. Members should limit their time to give all members a chance to use the equipment.
Assistance will be available during your first few conversion sessions. As you become more familiar
with the equipment and the process we will ask that you be available to assist other new users for
their first few sessions.
Preparing Your Film for Conversion
Some preparation is required before your film is ready for the conversion process. The following
link leads to a description of the preparation process -
Film
Preparation
We have detailed instructions for preparing your film. Here is the link -
Detailed
instructions for film preparation [
This is an Adobe .pdf file. Get the free Adobe Reader at www.adobe.com]
Converting Your Film to Digital
The Club's movie film conversion equipment has been upgraded by replacing the WorkPrinter XP
with the newer DV8 Sniper model. The host PC and associated software have also been upgraded. The
capture time has been reduced by a factor of two.
The new equipment has been tested and new step-by-step instructions have been written. The
instructions are available as a .pdf document by
clicking
here. All users will need to attend a workshop session before signing up to use the new
equipment.
The new Sniper unit can handle either Regular 8 or Super 8 movie film. The changeover
requires changing out the projector lens. Since users will not be allowed to change the lens
we have decided to set up the Sniper for Regular 8 or Super 8 on alternating weeks. Users
will sign up for time slots that match the type of film they have. The workshop sessions will also
be for one type only. New workshop session sign-up sheets are now available in the Lab.
Editing Your Captured Digital Movie Files
Most members will probably want to purchase a video editing program to use on their home
computers. Mac users will likely have iMovie already on their computer. PC users will need a
program such Adobe's Premiere Elements. This is an entry level video editing programs that lists
for under $100. We will also have one or two copies of this program loaded on Lab computers for
members to use. However, be advised that video editing is a time consuming process and the Lab
environment is not ideal for this work.
Some of the things that you may want to do with your video files is clip and rearrange
sequences, add titles, add a music sound track and maybe voice narration. You can also adjust
brightness and contrast on the portions that need improvement. All of this is possible with these
programs.
Archiving Your Movie Files
You should give some careful thought on how you will archive your digital movie files. The AVI
format is the best choice since digital versions of all the movie frames are present. These AVI
file can be saved on a data format DVD. MPEG 2 format DVDs are not a good choice for archives
because the MPEG compression technique uses frame to frame compression where many of the frames
contain only information that is changed from the previous frame. MPEG files are nearly impossible
to edit should you want to do so at some time in the future. MPEG 2 DVDs are an excellent choice
for use in making copies for viewing and where future editing is not likely. The original AVI
format DVDs may be saved just as the material was captured, or you may choose to copy the files to
your hard drive and use a video editing program to edit and rearrange the files before saving them
as AVI files on data format DVDs.
Once you have enhanced your video material by adding audio and clipping as desired, you will
want to make DVDs for use in viewing on your living room DVD player and for distribution to others.
Here the MPEG 2 format is appropriate. You may want to save a copy as an AVI file on a DVD in case
you want to do additional editing at some future time.