As someone who often says “no” to things it’s hard to think of many situations I’ve said yes to without being absolutely physically and spiritually prepared. I suppose there was this one time where I and my roommate signed up for the Georgetown Super 8mm Film Festival. I had never even touched a super 8 before and the entry cost alone made the whole prospect dubious, but my old roommate had a way of getting me to do things. So off I went and to pay the entry fee. We got a good introduction from the ladies who run the festival about the cameras and their proclivities and how to go about writing a successful film. I retained about half of what they told me if I’m being generous. Well, I story boarded my first story board and I wrangled some friends into being actors. Off we drove to Georgetown looking around for alleyways and side streets to film in. I blocked my first shot, and directed my first actors. I climbed in a dumpster to get a shot I thought was just genius. I had big ideas, those were the salad days. I didn’t know a thing about film exposure but I just rolled with the punches and figured it would all work out in the end. Of course when the end did roll around the film had awful exposure, terrible contrast and candidly some of the shots lingered too long. When the films were displayed in public I was a bit embarrassed at my amateurish bastard child, but overhearing someone call it cute made me think there might be a little something in the thing. Anyway, I ended up learning a bit about how not to shoot super8. I’ve had the itch to shoot on some modern equipment ever since, something that isn’t so sensitive to exposure. I guess what I learned from my experience is the only thing you have to lose when taking on a new project is time, money and dignity. I’m already short on two of them, so I guess I shouldn’t be THAT apprehensive. Here’s the short, if you’re interested: