Determine how you want your film to look and choose a film stock. The most commonly used stock is black and white reversal such as Tri-X or Plus-X, which can be lit for high-contrast shooting. Color negative 8mm film stocks give the clearest and most natural look. Color reversal stocks will slightly exaggerate some colors and wash out others, giving your film a somewhat surreal look.
Create a lighting plan. For all film stocks, you will need a lot of light in order to get good results. Use a good light meter and do not “trust your eye.” If you intend to shoot outdoors with natural light, scout the location a few times to observe the amount of sunlight. Then plan your production for the time of day with the most sun, and to avoid lighting obstacles such as shadows from buildings. If you intend to use professional film lights, shoot a test reel of film in your location to make sure you have enough lighting to get the image you want.
On the day of shooting, check your exposure several times. The “measure three times, cut once” rule is an excellent approach for film production. Check the amount of light in the areas of highlight, shadow, and the center of the subject and carefully set your aperture. With 8mm film, it can be a good idea to err on the side of overexposing the film slightly.
Shoot your film. Make sure to give yourself options, for example by changing exposures between shots, shooting a number of different angles and shot compositions, and getting as many takes as you can.
Process the film stock. Processing is getting the film developed. Most people will process at a lab, as it involves using a darkroom and many different chemical baths. If there is no lab that processes 8mm in your community, send it by mail to a lab. There are many Web sites for 8mm film aficionados that list popular labs. It is possible to process 8mm film stock at home, but it is complicated and requires great skill and experience and specialized equipment.
If you plan to edit on computer, get your film transferred to digital video at the lab after the processing. Digitize your footage into the computer, view it and make your cuts using editing software.
If you plan to edit your film by cutting it by hand, once your film is processed you need a splicer and splicing tape. You need to view the footage in the splicer, find the precise frame for each cut, and then physically cut the film with a razor blade. Then you splice your cut film pieces together using special 8mm splicing tape. This edited film will be extremely fragile and can only be viewed on an 8mm projector.