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By Dominique Le Guennec and François Juszezak
Started in 2001, “La vie c’est super 8” is a great ongoing adventure that still nourishes and entertains us.
In 2004, several artistic ideas come out and by 2006, the project is well under way. Some 40 projectors tested in September 2006 allow us to face any situation.
The super-8 format appeared in 1965 replacing the 8mm format that had made the home movie-making popular.
During 15 years, this little cinema found a place in every home, only to be ousted in the 80’s by home video-making. Though the super-8 format is often considered as outdated, it is still used and chosen by many artists for either aesthetic and/or economical motives.
We wanted to shoot our daily life in super-8 and depart from the traditional world of cinema projection.
We started from a simple idea:
e wanted to shoot our daily life in super-8 and depart from the traditional world of cinema projection.
We started from a simple idea:
The shooting of short films – from 10 second to 1 minute length.
The writing of brief scenarii for actors or for animation films.
Those films tell the story of the object.
The projection of these films on specific supports turning into screens.
For example: the postman is projected on a letterbox, the opera singer is projected on a score, the army is marching upon a flag…
Loop projections offer a particular vision of the film since the end of a story necessarily implies its beginning.
In a world dominated by digital image, it is still surprising for the public to watch an image that is projected on a support different from a screen.
50 scenarii means 50 different projection supports and 50 projectors, at least…
The viewing of more than 30 projectors working, the sound and the smell carry the spectator in our particular world.
The visit is on your own but can also be guided.
In any case, four actors-projectionists and usherettes are in charge of welcoming the spectators and ensuring the good course of the visit.
From the beginnings on:
The 18th of June 2000 in Orleans (France), 18 projectors at the “théâtre du Parc Pasteur”.
The 19th of May 2001 in Ghent (Belgium), 30 super-8 and 16mm projectors in a convent. The projection lasts from 10pm to 2am.
From the 25th to the 27th of May 2001 in Valréas (France), 35 projectors in the town hall rooms, 2 stairs without any elevator.
From the 15th to the 18th of August 2001 in Orleans (France), 40 projectors and a storm in the “Campo Santo”.
A climax was reached at the festival « Aux Tombées de la nuit » from the 6th to the 9th of July 2005 in Rennes where 92 projectors were installed in a 1000 m2 underground car park.
The Super-8 movie team, who’s who ?
Actor, filmmaker and a super-8 movie fanatic, Dominique Le Guennec thought up « La vie c’est super 8 » to fill his long winter nights.
Actor, filmmaker and a super-8 movie fanatic too, François Juszezak co-designed « la vie c’est super 8 » to give his friend a hand with film rolls and sellotape.
Puppeteer and movie fan, Annie Korach contributes to the development of the project and aspires to become an usherette.
The lighting engineer Renaud Fouquet contributes to the construction of the scenery that he lovingly lights up afterwards. Renaud, however, stands in the shadow.
Lionel Poullin, technician, took up the torch, sometimes assisted by Arnaud Boudeau.
Here are the enthusiastic actors who contributed to the development of this project and will continue to :
Aimée Leballeur, Daniel Prat, Mathieu Meunier, Alona Kocheleva, Andrès Merchan, Yolaine Corbin, Dominique Le Guennec, François Juszezak, Annie Korach, Alain Bridonneau, Christophe Thébault, Zoïa, Sophie Beaudeuf, Krista Fromet, Géraldine Godemert« Gégé », Jérôme Marin, Frédéric Chamsseddine...
This list is on no account exhaustive
Our performances:
To launch our project, some organizers trusted us to present the first draft of « la vie c’est super 8 » in their respective town.
Ghent (Belgium) on the 19th of May 2001 from 10pm to 2am. Indoors-outdoors installation in the small cloisters of an ancient convent. 30 super-8 movie projectors and 8 16mm movie projectors installed on a 200m2 surface area for 6 commissioned projections and films about Ghent.
Organizer: Fabien Audooren
Valréas (France) from the 25th to the 27th of May 2001.
A 160 m2 installation inside the town hall.
35 projectors and use of the furniture inside the 3 exhibition rooms (table, chest, piano…)
Organizers: Pascal Larderet, the Cacahuète Cie, « La Valse des As » festival.
Orleans (France) from the 15th to the 18th of August 2001.
200 m2 half-outdoors installation, sheltered under 8 m high archways covered with black legs.
40 projectors during 4 days.
Organizers: Gilles Flouret, the city of Orleans, the “Images Imaginées” festival.
In residence
Our possible realizations in residence.
In residence we can propose another vision of your town or your neighbourhood. We are interested in getting involved in a town project or a cultural project (for a special event or not) and then adapt our installation.
We personalize each projection.
The spectator will thus be even more surprised and charmed by the looped stories if he or she recognizes some places of his or her town.
We can then imagine a rewriting of the town’s history in relation to the poetical image we convey in our projections.
« La vie c’est super 8 ! » is another way of approaching daily life. To do so, we take time to discover the place of residence in order to scout for shooting locations. For instance, we observe which buildings, statues, monuments of the town or other original and interesting places could be animated and diverted from their initial function. Several scenarii are written, shot in super 8 or 16mm and then projected along the tour or around the installation.
The number of loop films specially made for residency programs will vary according to technical and financial conditions. Residencies also permit to fit the super-8 movie project in another approach to image and its use as it becomes part of the collective city life.
Our participation in a festival or an event allows us to carry our cinema universe to popular, everyday and unusual places. Therefore we are thinking of various and more intimate performances in shops: « le super 8 en boutique » (“Super-8 movies in shops”).
Each shop, bakery, butcher’s shop, grocer’s shop etc… becomes the location of a performance, the setting of a short super-8 fiction. We can imagine a tour by groups from 15 to 20 spectators for each shop, guided by the projectionist inviting them to follow him in those various places. We present a poetical and humorous treatment of shops and shoppers – becoming settings and actors – by provoking a direct contact between them and the spectators.
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