+ TELL ME ABOUT FRAME RATES.
the standard frame rate for super 8 is 18fps (frames per second). for the main straight 8 competition all films are projected at 18fps, and so they last 3 min 15 secs maximum.
if you want to shoot slomo, you neeed to run film through quicker (overcrank). this burns more film and is how you s-t-r-e-t-c-h time when your film is played back at 18fps. so shooting at 24fps will mean that shot play back 33% slower. some cameras go higher than 24fps - 54fps and 80fps are really cool but at 80fps a shot lasting 20s in your film will be filmed in just 4.5 seconds. youll burn through film but the shots look ace! life's full of trade offs right?
NB - for our straight 8 shootout (company competition) our base speed is 24fps so you'll need a camera that does 24fps if you want to shoot in real time. that's why those films are max length 2m30s as opposed 3m15s for our annual straight 8 comp.
and of course if your camera runs at 12 or 9 frames you get a sped up effect, like cheap cop programmes when they had car chases. people sometimes use 9 or 12 frames per second in extremely low light like filming a band in a dingey venue. and then they transfer or project it at the same speed it was shot. this helps with exposure and creates an interesting effect. here's an example by our pal jamie in sweden. it also saves on film! it's not relevant if you're shooting for a straight 8 competition as we never adjust scan speeds for individual films.
then there's stop frame. one frame at a time either in your own time with each press of the trigger/press of a cable release, or in a timelapse with a frame taken every second/minute/hour/year/etc - some cameras have a built in intervalometer with usually three interval settings for your different speed timelapses - like fast sunset, super fast sunset, woah shit - was that the sunset?!