"The heartening thing about all this is that it was possible for a total novice at filmmaking
                of any description to create, with his first film, a viable and powerful statement about the
                beauty still visible in America today. Bristow discovered that his personal style of film-
                making, though rough around the the edges, could create a strong bond of identification
                with audiences. They would relate to the subject matter and the style of shooting in a way
                that made the film more real to them than many expensively budgeted travel films. And this
                immediacy seemed to be the strongest asset of the Super-8 format."¹

        Mark traveled to Las Vegas, New York, St. Michael's Sioux Indian Reservation in North Dakota, remote regions of Oregon, and all roads in between. At the time the article was written, Mark had grossed over $20,000 in College bookings, which kept his VW bus running with gas, his groceries stocked, and his Bolex 160 loaded with film. The bookings kept him travelling, which kept him filming, which in turn allowed him to keep showing his evolving travelogue to new audiences. Mark was the quintessential Super-8 filmmaker, evolving his own technique within the amateur format and sharing his discoveries to a wide audience that only film can provide.

(Four Bolex Super-8 projectors ready to show "Mark's America" to an audience)

        Another article titled Mother Is A Film Freak, also shared a filmmaker's evolving style. The article, written by then housewife and mother Elinor Stecker, was about the making of her own Super-8 film; "Red Is A Very Pretty Color". She filmed all sorts of objects that were red: vegetables, fire engines, umbrellas, clothing, extreme close-ups of lips covered with red lipstick. She took her Super-8 camera with her every time she left the house. While adults thought this whole concept rather strange, children embraced it immediately and soon were introducing her to many red items.
        But more than objects were filmed. She panned the vertical slats of a sun washed fence to create an oscillating effect of light, put a red gelatin over the lens to tint the entire image, and masterfully edited the transformation of red lights and objects. Then when the twenty-minute film was near completion, she decided, much like Mark Bristow's presentation, to re-edit the film as two simultaneously running ten-minute shows. In this way, the image on the left screen could be edited to correspond in some way to the image on the right screen. All that was needed were two projectors and two screens, or one large white wall.
        Over the years, Elinor Stecker, now known as Elinor Stecker-Orel, became a very successful freelance writer and author and has written hundreds of articles about 35mm SLR cameras, video camcorders, and digital imaging since her Super8 Filmaker days. I do not know whatever happened to Mark Bristow.
        The beauty surrounding both of these stories is that the creativity didn't stop with the shooting of the film, but entered into the presentation as well. And the costs of the presentation was nominal -- only the cost of additional projector(s). With the low cost of used Super-8 projectors and screens today, a multi-screen presentation could be made on a very miniscule budget. The same could not be said for today's video. Projection TVs are still expensive, and transporting them would be a headache in itself. Movie screens and projectors transport exceedingly well, weigh very little, and can entertain a fairly large audience.
        There are still avenues for the Super-8 enthusiast, and amateur filmmaker. Movies were meant to be shared, and any kind of presentation will look better when projected on a large screen with a nice bright sharp picture, than on a television screen. A multi-screen presentation is rare and unique enough to give the Super-8 filmmaker an even greater edge over his/her modern video or digital contemporaries. The concept is not new, but the results will no doubt fascinate and enchant an audience that has been confined to television style presentations for the last twenty years.
        One of the many pleasures of amateur filmmaking is the constant learning process, the aspect of making discoveries through experimentation and sometimes by accident, and the trials and errors that comes from testing new creative ideas. For me, this also includes the satisfaction of setting up the movie screen, and sharing the final finished film with an audience, and reading about other amateur filmmakers' efforts as well.

                "As I sit surrounded by yards of Super-8 film, I wonder why I remain so mesmerized
                by filmmaking. How did I ever get so caught up in what started out as a mere hobby?
                How is it that every spare moment I have is now spent in filming, editing, or reading
                about it? Even the sight of a film shipping case manages to excite me. And, of course,
                when I think back to the successes like 'Red is a Very Pretty Color,' I can see that
                much of my effort is rewarded."²

---  Chris Cottrill
        E-mail:  ^{chris_cottrill@yahoo.com}
 

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