But it also serves as a reminder that the film format - remembered for its grainy, slightly out-of-focus images - is less used and less valued than it once was.
"In a way, Super 8 is going out with . . . silver-based film. They'll pretty much go out together," said Phil Solomon, an experimental filmmaker and film studies professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder who began his work with Super 8.
"I think there's something missing in digital cinematography. . . . It's so crisp and clear and automatically beautiful, but the digital image still feels like a recording. It doesn't feel like an emblazoned image."
Introduced in 1965 by Kodak, Super 8mm cameras were easier to use and more affordable than 16mm cameras. The 1973 model could record sound, unlike a regular 8mm camera. Prices ranged from $300 to $1,000, with film costing $5 to $12 in the heyday of the 1970s, said Toni Treadway of Brodsky & Treadway, a Massachusetts film transfer studio that has handled Super 8 film since 1975.
But the medium started fading in the 1980s as Hi8 and VHS offered better sound and ease. Today, Super 8, which requires projection, is sold only in a few specialized stores across the country, or online.
"You have tons of options now, but there's always an industry standard that everyone goes to. You'd be silly now to not make a movie in high-def," said Glenn Holsten, a Philadelphia-based documentarian.
Many music videos are shot in Super 8 to save money but are then transferred to a digital format, said Rhonda Vigeant, director of marketing at Pro8mm, a California business that processes, scans, repairs, and sells film products and helped Abrams' film with its Super 8 work.
