I think you're onto something. I've always felt that if you picked the right subject, one where the stylistic qualities of Hi-8mm matched your subject, you could get away with Hi-8 for a feature. (I transferred 1" video to 35mm dolby surround for a feature on The Beach Boys in 1986. We premiered it in The Director's Guild Theater in Los Angeles for over 600 press and not a single person wrote "Hey, that's not a film, that's video!!" which was my greatest fear. Please let me know what you find out about this subject. Well worth exploring for low budget filmmakers. Thank you.