Cheapest film to use

S

SkepticalMetal

I plan on making a heavily low-budget feature in the future, and because of it's noirish style, I need to shoot it black-and-white on some sort of film. I was thinking 16 mm, but I've recently heard some things about how that's expensive. Any recommendations of what sort of wallet-friendly film there is out there, and how I can get it?

Thanks.
 
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It really depends on what you classify 'wallet-friendly', as well as what you already have access to.

If you already have a S16 camera, it's going to be much cheaper and easier than if you have to rent one, for example.

Film is not cheap, but it's not as expensive as high end digital these days, it's just accompanied by the hassles surrounding loading and processing and telecine. But, you also get the great look and feel of the film.

You can get short ends pretty cheap around, and if you call up your local lab, you can try and swindle a cheap deal. Call up your local rental company and ask about shooting 16. Say you have no money, but you'd love to shoot 16. Some rental companies will give you a film camera really cheap, because it's getting no use otherwise.

Maybe try Kodak too, they're really looking to get people shooting on film, and sometimes they'll give students and others a free roll or two to entice them to shoot film.
 
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FernandoAndre said:
I can't help, but why not a decent digital camera, and some hard work on post-production to make it look the way you need?
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I've thought about that, and it would definitely be possible. This particular film however calls for an "organic" and "gritty" look, and I wanted to make sure it looked that way from it's very core.

@ jax_rox

Thanks! Where do I go to see if Kodak can help me out that way?
 
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Give them a call. Call Kodak, call your local lab, call your local rental place. These people want to help you shoot films, they're not in the business of preventing you from shooting.

You'd be surprised how many are willing to help you. Just make sure you repay the favour once you do have a budget (ie, if a rental company gives you a full camera package for a week for half a day's rental price, allowing you to shoot the movie that gets you noticed, when you have a budget don't then decide to rent from their direct competition).

The worst they can say is 'no' and then you're no worse off than you are now. The best they can say is yes.

Look around for short ends, 16mm short ends are harder to come by but there are some around. Even if you can talk Kodak into giving you their student pricing, that's still only ~$100/roll, and a 400ft roll of 16mm gives you ~10 minutes of shooting time.
 
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8mm will look like 8mm.

If you want it to look like you've dug up the film out the ground from the early 70's, then great. But otherwise, I'd suggest against it.

You can make S16 look as good as 35mm, and you make it look as degraded as 8mm. You can't make 8mm look like anything other than 8mm.
 
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jax_rox said:
8mm will look like 8mm.

If you want it to look like you've dug up the film out the ground from the early 70's, then great. But otherwise, I'd suggest against it.

You can make S16 look as good as 35mm, and you make it look as degraded as 8mm. You can't make 8mm look like anything other than 8mm.
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Well this film is indeed going to be done in black and white. I'll probably have to re-dub the entire thing, right?
 
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Hey dude, just for the case you decide to shoot it in a digital way, I remembered of filmconvert. It's a very good emulator which uses complex algorithms to convert the digital footage into a filmic look of different types of specific films, including black and white.

If it help you, this is the site: http://www.filmconvert.com
 
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