North Koreans shoot 16mm News Footage

oilman930 said:
The camera looks like Beaulieu News 16 with a mighty big lens stuck on the front of it.
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Unlikely. The Beaulieu has no coaxial mag, and is (apart from the integral shoulder grip) roughly modelled after the Arri 16s. It could of course have been modified, but once we assume that, it could be everything...

Another camera with coaxial mags is the Aaton XTR, or its predecessors - but I don't know whether its lineage goes as far back as that one, the ones I've rented in the past decade were visibly more modern.
 
emraphoto said:
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.
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Well, I am saddened when I think that anybody, apart from the regime dictator and close familly/friends "in love with film" in NK can actually use film as a hobby as we do in most countries.
There must be poeple in NK who love photography but who can actually have fun with it?
The other reason they are shooting news in 16mm could be that they want 100 % control and prevent copy/paste like one could easily do with digital.
 
It's 35mm.
Look at the big lens.
Compare to a universal 16 lens, French Angie 12-120 is tiny.
You can't shoot the great leader w a weenie 16,
Anyone came up w the 16 idea will be jailed, hard labor 20 years, for disrespect to the great leader. No parole.
This will be footage for a documentary of the great KJI. Yes, a western movie fan.
If you know the evils nk did, heart wrenching stories of kidnapping young Japanese men and ladies to nk, people suffered up to today.
Not to mention nk agents bombing Korean Airline and Rangoon bombing...
100 time worse than Gaddafi
16? That's student stuff.
 
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I still have a Kodachrome Super8 cartridge laying around. Perhaps I could send it to North-Korea for processing.
 
It would be very interesting to interview that NK cameraman and see a compilation of his best footage.

Probably can never happen under the present regime, but maybe in the future.

The previous thread was interesting but perhaps there was some new information that could come to light here.
 
I Love Film said:
It would be very interesting to interview that NK cameraman and see a compilation of his best footage.

Probably can never happen under the present regime, but maybe in the future.

The previous thread was interesting but perhaps there was some new information that could come to light here.
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It is interesting.
Remember Laura Ling (a Taiwanese American) and Euna Lee?
'Unintentionally' entering nk?
Even if they entered nk
At this time or near future, no nk people dares to talk to westerners without permission, even if they do talk, the 'love for Kim' will be the ONLY topic or answers from them. One wrong word, you disappear.
There is an excellent 50 mins documentary film by A Chinese,
'Return to the Border' was very very moving,
I caught it twice on TV,
http://www.pbs.org/itvs/globalvoices/return-to-the-border.html
It's in English and showed on PBS.
May be you can find the whole movie, If you're interested
 
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I wonder if there's a color vs. B&W debate? Has anybody seen any images in B&W out of modern North Korea?

Makes ya think! ;)
 
When you're honestly worried about where you're gonna eat your next meal, I don't think these conversations are relevant. Except for the government officials, I think that accurately typifies the N. Korean population. I hope there's an eternal, very warm place waiting for their leaders.
 
The point is: the government controls everything there, and we should all be grateful to have our banal and silly "debates", because in other places that could get you into very very very hot water.
 
KJL in glorious 35mm. Yes, an early Arri 35BL (I or II) with a 400 ft coaxial mag and an Ang 25-250mm lens. Came out in the '70s. Very heavy, but back then you couldn't handhold a Mitchell BNC. Probably from one of the rental companies long ago. A Swedish friend directed a horror film a few years ago and was invited to show it at a NK film festival. He went and said it was a bizarre experience. Starvation and... movies.
 
I suspect that the NK regime spends as much as it can on its propaganda machine. So their expenditures on film and film technology may be high relative to GDP. Perhaps just below bomb and missile making.
 
btaylor541 said:
KJL in glorious 35mm. Yes, an early Arri 35BL (I or II) with a 400 ft coaxial mag and an Ang 25-250mm lens. Came out in the '70s. Very heavy, but back then you couldn't handhold a Mitchell BNC. Probably from one of the rental companies long ago. A Swedish friend directed a horror film a few years ago and was invited to show it at a NK film festival. He went and said it was a bizarre experience. Starvation and... movies.
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Well if it's a 35BL it should produce some damn fine footage. I wonder if they were shooting with sync'd sound.
 
emraphoto said:
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.
Click to expand...

I believe he kidnapped a director to make a Godzilla-like film (spfx from the Godzilla Toho crew...) Hold up, Googling... Yes, it's called Pulgasari and was a North Korean giant monster flick produced in 1985. According to Wikipedia: "It was produced by South Korean director Shin Sang-ok, who had been kidnapped in 1978 by North Korean intelligence on the orders of Kim Jong-il, son of the then-ruling Kim Il-sung... Teruyoshi Nakano and the staff from Japan's Toho studios, the creators of Godzilla, participated in creating the film's special effects."

I recall seeing bits of this and it's fairly fascinating from a political and historical perspective. Available on-line (like everything else) somewhere, if interested.
 
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