Why should you trust this guide?

Well, to put things simply: Echo Park Film Center is the real deal.

Established in 2001, Echo Park Film Center is a non-profit media arts organization committed to providing equal and affordable access to film/video resources via a community-curated microcinema featuring experimental and documentary screenings with filmmakers in attendance, free and nominal-cost workshops for all ages, a comprehensive film/video equipment and resources shop, a fleet of eco-friendly mobile cinema/film schools, local and international artist residencies, and touring festivals featuring local emerging and established filmmakers.

EPFC feels that it is imperative that more members of media-marginalized populations become active participants in the creation and dissemination of experimental and documentary film in order to truly reflect the many voices and visions that make up the fabric of contemporary American life. Using community cinema as catalyst, EPFC strives to provide programs and services that inspire, educate, and activate.

WHY BOTHER SHOOTING ON FILM?

Process

When you have a limited amount of film available, each second you shoot is precious. In the digital era, you can photograph everything and anything but then sorting through it all can be a mess and often you realize what you shot wasn't as planned out as it could have been. With film you have to really decide what and when to shoot. I find that the process of being limited often changes the end product into something more thoughtful. I believe if you shoot on film it will make you a better digital filmmaker as you can take the lessons of patience and careful decision-making with you on your digital projects.

Aesthetic

With Super 8 and 16mm film, a grainy quality is added to your image. Some people mess with the processing to give the film a more DIY or distorted feeling. There is a lot of texture you can gain by shooting on film over shooting on pixels.

Tactility

You can touch film, grasp it, scratch it, cut it, draw on it, collage with it, tape things on it! The tangible quality of film is my favorite part as it’s something I understand. I don’t truly understand what a pixel is and the ways you manipulate them are done in codings that distance the filmmaker from the film. With physical film, every action you do to it will be seen through the projector. The possibilities are really endless. You don’t even need a camera to make a film on film. Stan Brackage, an experimental filmmaker from the 60’s, made Moth Light by pasting parts of dead moths he found in his house onto a clear roll of celluloid. This process shows you exactly how moving image works; the light, the movement and the shadows are all present and that's what films are composed of!

Animations

You can also draw on film to make direct animations. If you draw an image per frame 24 times onto clear leader (the plastic base that film emulsion is coated on), that will give you 1 second of that image. Altering each image slightly gives the illusion of movement; this is the heart of how movies work and a really fun technique to try for yourself. You can also draw or write on top of a film you have already shot on or “found footage” you may come across at thrift stores, garage sales or the family attic.

FILM CAMERAS

THE BOLEX

16mm film cameras come in all shapes and sizes but a classic favorite amongst student filmmakers and experimental filmmakers is the Bolex. The Bolex is a Swiss-manufactured 16mm camera invented in the early 1930s. It has the ability to shoot 100 feet of film (about 2 minutes and 45 seconds at 24 frames per second) with 30 seconds of shooting available at a time. It is a hand cranked camera with no battery; all you have to do is wind it up and you’ll be ready to shoot. Unlike the super 8 cameras which have limited settings for shooting – usually you just adjust for distance to your subject and the type of light you’re shooting in – the Bolex allows you to alternate between three lenses, adjust the speed you're shooting at for slow motion or time lapse effects, you can do stop motion, rewind the film to make double exposures, adjust the aperture, fade in and fade out, and of course adjust the focus.

16mm cameras are a bit bigger and they are heavier too. You will want to have a sturdy tripod with you that you can set up your shot on. You also will need a light meter as Bolex cameras don’t have one built in. In order to look through the lens to focus on your shot, you have to open up the aperture to let light in so you can see. Once you're ready to shoot, read the light on your subject with the light meter and then make sure to close down the f stop on the lens to allow the correct amount of light to come in.

SUPER 8

When you go out to shoot with a Super 8 camera, the fun part is that it is designed to be portable, hand held and super easy to use. It’s great for shooting single frames and creating a stop motion/time lapse blur of the events around you. It’s a light and unintimidating format that you can take anywhere and you don’t even have to worry about adjusting the settings too much because these cameras read the light and set the aperture for you automatically.

Both cameras have a foot/meter counter that tells you how much film you have left to shoot. Remember, you will have to hand crank the Bolex after each 30 seconds you shoot, but the Super 8 cameras are battery powered so you can shoot the whole roll non-stop if you want.

Dagies Brundert's Caffenol Recipe

Dagie Brundert is a Berlin-based Super 8 filmmaker; see more of her work here.

You will need 4 buckets, and make sure to label them based on what is in them. Some film speeds allow a red safety light to be on in which case you can see your buckets and what you’re doing, but often as in the case of using tri-x film you cannot have a red light on so you will be completely in the dark! Make sure you choose a space where you can fit all 4 buckets in and not allow any light to enter the room.

To make the caffenol developer, you will need to dissolve each of these ingredients in a bucket:

• 1 liter water

• 54 grams of washing soda

• 15 g vitamin c powder

• 40 grams cheap instant coffee @ 20 – 21 degrees celsius

1. Place film in water rinse – 1 minute (bucket 1)

2. Place film for 15 minutes into developer (bucket 2)

3. Move film to water bucket for 5 minutes (bucket 3)

4. Move film to commercial fix bucket for 5 minutes (bucket 4)

5. The film is now no longer sensitive to light as the fixer has removed all the unused silver particles. You may place it in a fresh bucket of water outside the dark room in the light for at least 10 minutes (bucket 5)

You can choose to go eco all the way and create an eco fix instead of using the commercial fix. This process will take longer.

To make an eco fix you will need: 250 g salt and 250 ml water dissolve.

Leave film for 3 days in the bucket in a dark room. After that hang to dry, then re spool onto a film spool and set it up on your projector. It’s ready to go!

This process will give you a film negative. This means your light and your shadows will be reversed. However if you are developing reversal film you can use bleach to flip your film into a positive image. If you choose to leave it as a negative you can digitize the film and flip it to positive in a film editing software.

If you choose to bleach your film into a positive there is an eco bleach you can try, but in our experience at EPFC it's a bit of a wild card as it doesn't always work great.

Ricardo Leite's Eco Bleach for Reversal Film

Ricardo Leite is a Portuguese filmmaker working in a variety of formats. Check out his work here.

• 800 ml hydrogen peroxide (9% solution)

• 200 ml lemon or lime juice

• Distilled water up to 1000 ml. Mix with lemon or lime juice. PH should be around 2-3 at 24 degrees celsius.

The first part is similar to how you would develop your film without reversing:

1. Place film in water @ 28 – 30 degrees celsius – 1 min

2. Develop in caffenol @ 28-30 celsius – 17- 20 min

3. Rinse film in new water – 10 min

4. Place film in eco bleach @ 38 degrees celcius – 11.5 min

5. Water rinse 5 min

6. Re-exposure of film to light, you can bring it out to the sunshine in a water bucket for 2.5 min

7. THEN you got back to the caffenol to do a 2nd developer – 20 minutes

8. Water rinse 10 min

9. Hang to dry, project, enjoy!

Optional

1. Fix film for 5 min in commercial fix

2. Final rinse

*reversal film will already be fixed by bleaching process so this final fix isn’t necessary

Nicole Ucedo

Nicole Ucedo is currently pursuing her MA at UCLA in Cinema and Media Studies. She holds a BA in Film Production from Bard College and is an active instructor and co-op member at the Echo Park Film Center. Her personal films focus on investigating our movements through spaces and places with a focus on Los Angeles.