North Koreans shoot 16mm News Footage

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...-Jong-Il-meets-Dmitry-Medvedev-in-Russia.html

What's interesting about this is in the video.

The North Korean "news" unit is still shooting the news in 16mm film. They are using a 1960's film camera. Can't quite tell what it is. Maybe Arri or FSU copy?

They must be using Chinese-made film. Or maybe there's a native North Korean film industry??

NK film industry? You must be kidding. All they make there is fake Viagra and $100 bills.
 
NK dictator also starve his population to death and completly aleanate them.
I think its about time the poeple in NK moves-on.
 
By the looks they are either shooting a 35mm Arri, or a Bolex 16 Pro - or some clone thereof.
 
NK dictator also starve his population to death and completly aleanate them.
I think its about time the poeple in NK moves-on.

Great idea. Well, we've had an Arab Spring, but there's no Asian Spring.

Chinese and North Korean Dictators are still firmly in control of their populations.

Dictator or no, you still gotta love 16mm news footage from 2011.
 
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It looked like an Arri nameplate on the film magazine, the camera is newer than 60's vintage.

The hub on coaxial Arri 16SR magazines is off-centre, and the other Arri 16mm cameras as well as Mitchells and Eclairs look entirely different, having top or tangential magazines. it might be 35mm, the Arri 35BL can be configured to look quite similar, but 35mm for news is weird - maybe the news coverage on a living god is asking for a bigger format? My guess is a Bolex 16 Pro - though I am surprised that that should have made it to North Korea, it was designed (in the seventies) for a West German TV network, and few, if any, were sold elsewhere.
 
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Interesting to hear what others think the equipment is.

I read elsewhere that most of the North Korean news footage is also shot on film.

I'd prefer to keep this thread on the topic of film and cameras, and not on political ideology.
 
I'd prefer to keep this thread on the topic of film and cameras, and not on political ideology.
Agreed, but the reason they use 1960 technology is because of the sanctions put upon them because of their political ideology. So it can be sort of tough to separate the two.
 
Does anyone know if there is domestic television news in North Korea, or is distribution via cinema newsreel style productions? If the latter then I suppose film makes sense, after all, a pro-am video rig doesn't cost much. Or maybe they were trying to impress the Russians?!
 
Agreed, but the reason they use 1960 technology is because of the sanctions put upon them because of their political ideology.

Unlikely - they do have more recent technology when it comes to mid- and long-range rocket construction, and far more recent technology when it comes to all the NK located factories producing for the Western market. And a German Arri or Bolex (the 16 Pro was Munich made) was/is not under any lesser embargo than a current prosumer HD ENG camera. It is more likely the starvation budget on which they keep everything except the military...
 
If I remember right, the North Koreans (masquerading as South Koreans or Japanese) are kind of well known with rental companies for renting and skipping town with motion picture equipment.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...-Jong-Il-meets-Dmitry-Medvedev-in-Russia.html

What's interesting about this is in the video.

The North Korean "news" unit is still shooting the news in 16mm film. They are using a 1960's film camera. Can't quite tell what it is. Maybe Arri or FSU copy?

They must be using Chinese-made film. Or maybe there's a native North Korean film industry??
 
I recall someone going to NK to photograph and only taking film because of his country's prohibition on taking technology (laptops) to NK.
I suspect they're using film because of lack of electronic/electric infrastructure -- in the field, and at their news station.
NK may have investment in military, but at the cost of everything else.
 
actually i believe the nutball himself is a big fan of cinema. has a large collection and works on making films (and apparently authoring books as well). this would lead to me thinking it was done intentionally.
 
I should get in touch with the North Koreans.

Maybe they'd be interested in buying my old Werra rangefinder and my Praktica MTL-3...
 
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