(2020)

“The Death of a Super 8 Camera”

Before our 1st proper test reel, there was an earlier effort to shoot on film with a 70s ‘Boots’ branded Bell & Howell Compact 2000 that we’d picked up for £1.02 off eBay. We weren’t expecting it to work at all, given the meagre sum we paid, but to our surprise we found it was in full working order initially.

The camera even performed well for the majority of the shoot but then succumbed to old age suddenly and went to ‘Ye Olde Camera Shoppe in the sky’ – it just wouldn’t have been economical to repair.

This ultimately forced us to source another Super 8 camera in order to complete filming but presented here is some of the footage captured with the ‘Boots’ camera before it exposed it’s last ever frame.

This footage was taken during the later part of the initial national lockdown when restrictions were beginning to ease and traveling for recreation was permitted.

Captured with our newly acquired Bolex camera, we filmed general scenes in and around Ely as the sun was beginning to set.

It actually took three attempts across three consecutive evenings to fully expose the cartridge of film as the film itself failed to transport through the gate – this was rectified with a light tap on the cartridge and advancing a small amount of the acetate by hand.

The focus is consistently soft throughout the film unfortunately which is entirely down to us (not a fault of the camera or the film material). The result is no less enjoyable however.

The 1st part of footage was filmed during our time with Stuart Leithes (ITV News Anglia) at Stretham Old Engine.

It was a bright but windy day and Drew was to appear on camera for a news story they were running. Rather than fake a demonstration of the camera, we opted to do it for real and captured a handful of shots (including one of the reporter for added authenticity).

The Fenland Flag (on which the Fenland on Film logo is inspired) also makes a cameo appearance purely by coincidence.

The film then moves to a Spitfire flyover at Witchford to mark the 72nd birthday of the NHS and, what was said to be, the final ‘Clap for our Carers’.

The Spitfire made a couple of passes at around 5pm before heading towards Cambridge. Immediately after the flypast a few people came out of their homes to take part in a national gesture of thanks to all carers and key-workers during the pandemic.

The final section of film was captured in and around Littleport as we used up the remainder of the film cartridge.

These scenes were captured the first weekend after Covid-19 Lockdown restrictions had been eased; allowing people to return to pubs and restaurants.

Normality was beginning to resume (albeit for the duration of summer) and a sizeable proportion of the public threw caution to the wind to make up for lost time socialising.

We had the pleasure of joining Jane and Tim Frost from FrostArt Willow Workshops to undertake filming centric to their activities in Littleport.

The film begins at Woodfen Labyrinth and moves to the village allotments where Jane provides a willow basket making demonstration.

Tim provides the music that accompanies Jane’s commentary making this film a truly organic production from start to finish.

The magic of Christmas through the magic of film!

Filmed at the extraordinary Christmas lights display put on by Helen and John Attlesey of Julius Martin Lane in Soham, Cambridgeshire. They collect donations which are distributed to three charities: East Anglia Children’s Hospices, Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity and Dreamflight.

We were fortunate to have Santa Claus visit too and we managed to catch him on camera whilst he admired the display – as expected, he was a popular figure with many children who happened to be visiting also.

We’d like to offer our profound gratitude to the following for their generosity, support and assistance, without which this film wouldn’t have been possible: Helen and John Attlesey, Mark Windsor-Hampton & Miranda II, Robert J Dalby, Lindsay Winters, June Berry, Richard Thomas and Susan Rowell.