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This was one of my summer projects for 2004. I had decided to shoot a short film on real film, using a wind-up camera and Super 8mm film stock. The original script called for a much longer piece dealing with writer's block--a piece with a more traditional narrative. However, lack of money and time meant that we only had two rolls of film and were never able to order more.

The movie was shot with a Krasnogorsk Quarz clockwork Super 8mm movie camera running at the "home movie standard" frame rate of 18 frames per second (rather than the standard 24fps) to conserve film. We had two fifty-foot rolls of K40 Kodachrome, a film stock which was discontinued mere months after we shot this. That's a real shame, because this footage is just gorgeous. The transfer really doesn't do it justice. I'd say that the footage of Evan in the city is some of the nicest-looking footage I've ever shot.

Anyway, the production was put on hold once we used up our two rolls of film, and the prints just sat in the can for a year and a half, waiting. When it came time for me to put together a portfolio, I wanted to include these great visuals, so I reviewed the footage and realized that a narrative could be constructed from the footage we had. I had the thing cut in a jiffy, and scored with audio gathered from a recording of the film projector doing its thing. This would be my first "experimental" short.

Nothing can match the aesthetic of film, and especially the character of 8mm film. Oh, the things I would do now if only I could afford a decent supply of film…

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-Andrew Gingerich

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