From IMDB.com –
Outstanding example of how Super 8mm can be used to shoot the right feature, 20 February 2012
8/10 stars
Author: mattstevens from United States
For current youth ‘Super8′ is a movie directed by that guy who gave us LOST and ALIAS. But Super8 is a film format,
one that still exists and in some places, thrives, despite the
onslaught of the digital world. For the most part it is an amateur
format and when used professionally, relegated to music videos or artsy
projects. Because of its short shooting time of just two and a half
minutes per film cartridge, few have dared to shoot a feature film under
such constraints. Almost ten years ago some daredevils succeeded with
the psychological piece called SLEEP ALWAYS, but their master was
scanned and finished in standard definition.
Writer/Director Scott
Di Lalla has pushed the 8mm format into the modern age and delivered a
technically impressive feature film debut that also accomplishes
something few ultra low budget directors are capable of: delivering a
film worth watching.
I had the privilege of seeing I AM ZOZO’s first public screening at the NJ Film Festival,
which specializes in showcasing shorts, documentaries and feature
length films shot on digital video and super8. The evening did not start
off on a high note as the short films presented ranged from snooze
inducing to embarrassingly bad. My spirits sunk. It didn’t help matters
that the exhibitor had somehow screwed up the settings on their
projector, giving us a slightly squished image (which they never fixed).
Thank
the Maker that once the feature started, amateur night was over.
Beginning with a chilling docu-feel shot of a possession (complete with
the 8mm camera sound coming from the speakers), the tone was set for
what turned out to be an exceptionally directed little horror film. The
ensemble cast of unknowns surprised and rarely veered into obvious
acting territory. Their banter seemed fresh and spontaneous and I tended
to believe their friendships. Lead actress Kelly McLaren was
particularly impressive with a performance that defies her complete lack
of acting credits.
The standout sequence is the late at night, ill advised use of a Ouija board
and here the filmmakers show more skill than most Hollywood directors.
Using long takes, perfect lighting and terrific writing, I AM ZOZO
succeeds in forcing you to literally stop breathing as you anticipate
what is going to happen and then, with sudden brilliance, feeds you a
line that will cause you to laugh out loud and then, moments later,
makes you hold your breath yet again. Frankly, I wanted to applaud the
filmmakers at the conclusion of that sequence because it was more than I
could have hoped for. Low budget films are not supposed to be so good
at manipulating their audience.
That is not to say things were
perfect. Films have this need to be 90 minutes and I feel that Scott Di
Lalla should defy that rule and make some trims. If he were to lose just
five or six minutes of extraneous footage I believe he would find the
pacing improved and a wider audience available. The ending is also quite
obscure and I wonder what a Harvey Weinstein would do with it were he
to get his hands on the negative (of course, today they use digital
intermediates, but I’ll get to that in a minute).
Remember, I give
this film an 8 out of 10. I need to mention the flaws, which are
limited. Few films are perfect, but let’s also understand that few films
are this good. How many Hollywood films have you seen in recent years
that deserve such high marks?
Technically, the choice of filming
in 8mm was certified brilliance. I shoot with super8 all the time and
actually own the same camera ‘I AM ZOZO’ was shot with. The Canon 1014
XL-S is one of the three or four best super8′s ever made, but it’s flaw
is going soft at low light. Major kudos need to go to Scott and his
camera crew for somehow using Kodak’s lower speed (and therefore, lower
grain) Vision3 200T stock and finding the lighting sweet spot to give
them maximum sharpness. At times only candles or a flashlight were used
for illumination and yet the image retained sharpness and detail. This
is due to the incredible improvements in film stocks and also the
ability to scan 8mm negatives at High Definition (or even 2k), retaining
every single ounce of detail in the image. When Sam Raimi and Bruce
Campbell shot ‘WITHIN THE WOODS’ on 8mm, they attempted to blow it up to
16mm and found the grain so obvious, the image was unwatchable. How
times and technology has changed. Super8 is now so good that it
resembles 16mm stocks of the 60′s and 70′s.
In a day when DSLR’s
and their ultra clean look are all the rage, some grainy super8 is here
to show you what horror films are supposed to look like. The look of a
film establishes a tone and had the filmmakers opted to shoot on a DSLR
(and that would have saved them money) I believe ‘I AM ZOZO’ would be
incapable of standing out from the crowd of low budget horror films.
My
hope for these guys is they get picked up by a smaller studio or even
HDNet. This film deserves to be seen. And super8 deserves a second look
by anyone out there hoping to create something special on film.
Ouija movie
