SUPER 8 FILMMAKING WORKSHOP (w/ guest Mark Mikolas)

Mark Mikolas is the National Motion Picture Specialist for Bell & Howell/Mamiya Company. For six years previously he was a principal in Super 8 Film Group – a New York based Super 8 film production company. He is editorial consultant to “Super 8 Filmmaking Magazine,” co-author of the “Handbook of Super 8 Production,” and has published numerous articles in a variety of publications. His Super 8 consulting and educational services have been utilized worldwide.Mikolas' views on his craft: “Super 8 has brought the power of filmmaking into the hands of everyone in the world who never had access to it before. Consequently, each individual is able to go off and make the film of his dreams for little more than the price of film and processing. Previously, large film budgets have required some sort of mass appeal to justify the making of film. Super 8 makes possible a world of individual films, of single-purpose films and films of a documentary nature on subjects for which large funding is nonexistent. The capability to produce many small films inexpensively and personally represents a breakthrough in the ecology of media and has applications in education, business, science, anthropology, politics, cable TV etc.”There is a lot more to Super 8 than just home movies. Super 8 can be used to document community events, allow a school group to make its own film, or make an industrial, training or promotional film for a small company. Scientific research can be recorded, especially studies involving motion, as well as plant growth, surgical techniques, anthropological and sociological data, and time-motion studies of all types. Anyone can make his or her own dramatic film, or just about any other kind of film you might want to create.”While being technically oriented, these two companion programs are accessible to those unfamiliar with filmmaking and still photography. They are as entertaining as they are informative.