In the late 1970’s, when I was still a kid, I really got into making Super 8 movies – and learning all about stop-motion animation and special-effects (well, in-camera ones!)

My Dad borrowed various cameras for me from Mount Lawley Teachers College (now Edith Cowan University), where he was Head of the Art Department. I scrimped and saved to buy cassettes of Super 8 film – black and white and colour Ektachrome. They would vanish off in the post and magically return weeks later with the results of my experiments.

After 36-odd years I’ve finally got around to digitising these early masterpieces and present them here for your viewing pleasure.

They were projected from Super 8 at 24fps, shot on an Canon 5D MII at 24fps, and down-sampled to 18fps (75%) in FCPX, with a few edits, retiming and colour balancing. The originals were shot at 18fps in BW Super 8.

Memory 1977 Op.1 from Peter Morse on Vimeo.

ARMAGEDDON : PreViz (1977) Op.2 from Peter Morse on Vimeo.

This final black and white movie is, basically, the previsualisation test for my unfinished super 8 epic colour movie ‘Armageddon’ – that I’ll get round to posting here once I’ve finished fixing it up.

As far as I recall, the special effects were inspired by Star Wars, Terry Gilliam’s Monty Python animations and Douglas Trumbull’s effects in ‘2001: A Space Odyssey.’ With some passing references to Dr Who. And, of course, Vincent Price. All the important stuff!

I’ll detail the amusing story of it’s production some other time: but you have to imagine a 13-year-old-boy doing stop-motion in his bedroom, with a giant black starfield made from canvas and lights behind it, ‘re-imagined’ Airfix models moving in, um, ‘Plan 9 from Outer  Space’ ways, along complicated contraptions of fishing-line and coat-hangers that one kid could operate whilst filming.

All a bit mad, but great fun. And it all led me to where I am today, strangely enough.