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Amateur usage of Super 8 has been largely replaced by video, but the format is sometimes used by professionals trying to imitate the look of old home movies, or create a stylishly grainy look. Many independent filmmakers such as Derek Jarman have made extensive use of 8mm film with remarkable results, and it appears to have made something of a minor comeback in both the art and experimental film world. Oliver Stone, for example, loves to use it in his more recent films, such as The Doors Natural Born Killers, Nixon, U Turn , and JFK where his DP Robert Richardson employed it to evoke period or to give a different look to setups within a scene.

Until 1999For the album by Prince, see 1999 (album 1999 is a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar), and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the UN. Events Kosovo War Former child star Gary Coleman files for bankruptcy Y2K prep, the University of Southern CaliforniaThe University of Southern California (also known as USC or Southern Cal , Southern California's oldest private research university, is located in the urban center of Los Angeles, California. University of Southern California Motto''Palmam qui meruit fera's famous School of Cinema-TelevisionThe University of Southern California's School of Cinema- Television is the oldest film school in the United States, established in 1929 as a joint venture with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Notable professors include Drew Casper, the A required students to shoot their initial projects using Super 8, but the dwindling availability of equipment and processing facilities eventually forced the school to switch these classes to Digital Video. However the film is still used elsewhere by film students who wish to learn the basics of shooting film.

Super 8 is supplied in a light-proof cartridge, the design of which allows it to be inserted into a camera without directly threading the film, while notches cut into the plastic cartridge automatically adjusts a camera's ISO settings and filters, two developments that made the format even more user-friendly.

There were two variants of Super 8: the original silent film, and a sound film introduced in late 1973. The sound film had a magnetic soundtrack, and came in larger cartridges than the original, to accommodate a longer film path (required for smoothing the film movement before it reaches the recording head), and a second aperture for the recording head. Sound cameras were compatible with silent cartridges, but not vice versa. Kodak discontinued the production of Super 8 sound film in 1997, citing environmental regulations as the reason.

Kodak (as of 20042004 is a leap year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 2004 calendar), and has also been designated the: International Year of Rice International Year to Commemorate the Struggle against Slavery and its Abolition Elections are to be held in 73 co) still manufactures several color and black-and-white Super 8 reversal film stocks, and even introduced new emulsions since year 20022002 is a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). 2002 was the first palindromic year since 1991 and the last until 2112. 2002 was also designated: International Year of Ecotourism and Mountains National Science Year in the United Kingdom. The most popular Kodak stocks usually have been either Kodachrome, a fine-grain color reversal stock or Ektachrome , and usually tend to be quite slow, usually around ISO 25, although there are known stocks that go up to ISO 100 and higher. Ektachome was discontinued by Kodak in 2004, again citing environmental reasons. At about that time, Kodak introduced a Super 8 negative stock, ISO 200. Kodak also reformulated the emulsions for the B&W reversal stocks Plus-X (ISO 100) and Tri-X (ISO 200), in order to give them more sharpness.

The Japanese company Fujifilm produces another variant called Single-8. The film is exactly the same dimensions as Super 8, but uses a mylar base, and a different design of magazine, and can only be shot on Fujica cameras, although it can be projected on any Super 8 projector.