Check Out These Wild Straight 8 Films from Japan

As the industry favourite Straight 8 brings its analogue film competition to Japan, it seemed like a perfect time to showcase some of the previous entries from the country.

The Straight 8 shootout challenge is simple: make a two-and-a-half-minute short film created purely in-camera on one cartridge of Super 8mm film. No editing. No fixing in post. No checking that the audio syncs up. Nail-biting stuff – and an exercise in ingenuity and spontaneity.

While this is the first Japanese Straight 8 shootout, it’s not the first time that Japanese teams have entered other competitions. And the films these teams have created are pretty special.

Forever Idol - a Straight 8 film by Tohokushinsha Film Corporation for Ciclope 2017

 

 

Time Stop - a Straight 8 film by Taiyo Kikaku for Cannes 2018

 

Still Life - a Straight 8 film by Taiyo Kikaku for Cannes 2018

Production company Taiyo Kikaku, which entered two teams at the Cannes 2018 shootout said of the experience: "This challenge reminded us of an aspect of videos/films, which is 'capturing the moments which never come again'. As no editing is allowed once we shot our film, that was it. Nothing we could do to add or change the images. Shooting under that pressure was good experience for us who often use digital cameras and it reminded us of the difficulty and enjoyment of filming."

There are 20 spaces for Japanese ad industry teams – and places are going on a first-come, first-serve basis. The Tokyo premiere is scheduled for early December. Enter here.