Just Super

Vintage Super 8 cameras can turn any wedding video into high art

By Danielle Robinson
CTW Features

When bride Manda Bednarczyk decided to get hitched, she made the decision to have her wedding filmed with a vintage Super 8 video camera. Popular in the ’60s and ’70s for home videos, Super 8 is a far cry from the high-def film used to shoot video today, but the film produces a grainy, imperfect image that some brides simply love.

“Timeless is probably the best word to describe it,” Bednarczyk says. “When my parents first saw the trailer, they couldn't turn the sound on because they were at work. Their co-workers gathered around, thinking they were watching a classic black and white movie! Everyone was stunned and amazed that it was a wedding shot in 2009.”

Bednarczyk’s videographer, Travis Shields, owner of Shields Films in Portland, Ore., has been shooting Super 8 film for nearly a decade. “I love that Super 8 looks a little rough, jumpy and scratchy – much like our memory of events,” he says. “There is something so authentic about using vintage cameras to create modern wedding films, a style that video just can’t replicate.”

Videographer Michelle Walker, owner of Layer Cake Films, which operates in Los Angeles and New York, made the decision to create her own Super 8 video business after years of working as a wedding video editor.

“Some would clock in at an hour and a half and I would always think, ‘No one is going to watch this whole thing ever again,’” she says. But occasionally, she’d come across a film shot in Super 8. “It immediately conveyed feeling that video did not. The films are short, fun, sentimental, and the texture of the film is usually just so lovely, making everything feel sweet and emotional.”

But while Super 8 produces undeniably romantic images, the higher price point, may be a turn-off for some brides. “Most Super 8 films will start at around $2,000 to $3,000, and you can get videographers for as low as $250 to $500! So there is a big difference,” Walker says. The jump in price is due to the high cost of the film itself, in addition to a more complex editing process.

Which leads to the next major difference between Super 8 and standard videography: the length of the final product. “Super 8 is much more expensive than video, so unless you have a huge budget, an hourlong film of just Super 8 is quite costly,” Walker says. As such, these films are usually short and sweet.

“Brides are enjoying the softer more nostalgic look and feel of film included in their wedding packages,” Shields says. “Images are grainy and colors look muted and rich. Somehow everything manages to look more romantic and ethereal.”

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