Regular visitors will know that I’m working on a project called Super8Kings through my company Warehouse Transmedia (which a good pal of mine refers to as Pear Tree Productions…)
As part of this project I’ve spent an almost obscene amount of money on a camera that has been out of production since the late 80s.
When I left school (age 16) I started work as a sales assistant at a camera shop in Leeds called Bentleyfilms. In the camera shop they had (all boxed) a Bauer A512 Super 8mm cine camera.
I lusted after this camera (which was very expensive) for a couple of weeks before it was sold.
The Bauer A512 was a ‘professional’ standard Super 8mm camera. A beautiful piece of kit. When I started the Super8Kings project I decided that it would be nice to see if I could get hold of one of these cameras to use.
So, I set up Google alerts and Ebay alerts to see if and when any would come onto the market to buy.
One did, I snapped it up, and had it shipped from a seller in France. The camera came complete – the full kit, in almost mint condition.
A few weeks ago, I spent an hour or so, running a test roll of Pro8mm film through it. I’m still waiting on the results.
If the camera is still in working order, it will be used heavily in my next project, a fully financed low budget horror film – Markham. Which I will be blogging about over the next few months, and releasing online and for streaming in 2019.
Below, are some pictures of me testing the camera. These cameras were rare even when I lusted after the one in the shop where I worked when I was 16 – I remember the guy who bought the one I wanted (was he European? French possibly…hmm?)
Matthew Cooper has been a script writer for hire for over 20 years. He’s written for most of the UK soaps, including writing award winning episodes of Emmerdale, EastEnders, Hollyoaks and Family Affairs and has been BAFTA shortlisted and Royal Television Society nominated as a script writer. He’s also a leading UK script consultant. You can find some of his broadcast credits on the IMDb. You can get in touch with Matthew on matcoop23@yahoo.co.uk or hire him on Peopleperhour