35mm movie film
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35 mm film is a
film gauge Film gauge is a physical property of photographic film, photographic or Film stock, motion picture film stock which defines its width. Traditionally, the major movie film gauges are 8 mm film, 8 mm, 16 mm film, 16 mm, 35 mm movie film, 35 mm, an ...
used in
filmmaking Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a Film, motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screen ...
, and the film standard. In
motion pictures A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...
that record on film, 35 mm is the most commonly used gauge. The name of the gauge is not a direct measurement, and refers to the nominal width of the 35 mm format
photographic film Photographic film is a strip or sheet of transparent film base coated on one side with a gelatin photographic emulsion, emulsion containing microscopically small light-sensitive silver halide crystals. The sizes and other characteristics of the ...
, which consists of strips wide. The standard image exposure length on 35 mm for movies ("single-frame" format) is four
perforations A perforation is a small hole in a thin material or web. There is usually more than one perforation in an organized fashion, where all of the holes collectively are called a ''perforation''. The process of creating perforations is called perfor ...
per frame along both edges, which results in 16 frames per foot of film. A variety of largely proprietary gauges were devised for the numerous camera and projection systems being developed independently in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, along with various film feeding systems. This resulted in cameras, projectors, and other equipment having to be calibrated to each gauge. The 35 mm width, originally specified as inches, was introduced around 1890 by
William Kennedy Dickson William Kennedy Laurie Dickson (3 August 1860 – 28 September 1935) was a British- American inventor who devised an early motion picture camera under the employment of Thomas Edison. Early life William Kennedy Dickson was born on 3 Augu ...
and
Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February11, 1847October18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventions, ...
, using
120 film 120 is a film format for still photography introduced by Kodak for their '' Brownie No. 2'' in 1901. It was originally intended for amateur photography but was later superseded in this role by 135 film. 120 film survives to this day as the onl ...
stock supplied by
George Eastman George Eastman (July 12, 1854March 14, 1932) was an American entrepreneur who founded the Kodak, Eastman Kodak Company and helped to bring the photographic use of roll film into the mainstream. After a decade of experiments in photography, he ...
. Film 35 mm wide with four perforations per frame became accepted as the international standard gauge in 1909, and remained by far the dominant film gauge for image origination and projection until the advent of digital photography and cinematography. The gauge has been versatile in application. It has been modified to include sound, redesigned to create a safer
film base A film base is a transparent substrate which acts as a support medium for the photosensitive emulsion that lies atop it. Despite the numerous layers and coatings associated with the emulsion layer, the base generally accounts for the vast majorit ...
, formulated to capture color, has accommodated a bevy of widescreen formats, and has incorporated digital sound data into nearly all of its non-frame areas.
Eastman Kodak The Eastman Kodak Company, referred to simply as Kodak (), is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in film photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorporated i ...
,
Fujifilm , trading as , or simply Fuji, is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, operating in the areas of photography, optics, Office supplies, office and Biomedical engine ...
and
Agfa-Gevaert Agfa-Gevaert N.V. (Agfa) is a Belgian-German multinational corporation that develops, manufactures, and distributes analogue and digital imaging products, software, and systems. The company began as a dye manufacturer in 1867. In 1925, the comp ...
are some companies that offered 35 mm films. As of 2015, Kodak is the last remaining manufacturer of motion picture film. The ubiquity of 35 mm
movie projector A movie projector (or film projector) is an optics, opto-mechanics, mechanical device for displaying Film, motion picture film by projecting it onto a movie screen, screen. Most of the optical and mechanical elements, except for the illuminat ...
s in commercial
movie theater A movie theater (American English) or cinema (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), also known as a movie house, cinema hall, picture house, picture theater, the movies, the pictures, or simply theater, is a business ...
s made 35 mm the only motion picture format that could be played in almost any cinema in the world, until digital projection largely superseded it.


History and development


Early history

In 1880,
George Eastman George Eastman (July 12, 1854March 14, 1932) was an American entrepreneur who founded the Kodak, Eastman Kodak Company and helped to bring the photographic use of roll film into the mainstream. After a decade of experiments in photography, he ...
began to manufacture
gelatin Gelatin or gelatine () is a translucent, colorless, flavorless food ingredient, commonly derived from collagen taken from animal body parts. It is brittle when dry and rubbery when moist. It may also be referred to as hydrolyzed collagen, coll ...
dry photographic plates in
Rochester, New York Rochester is a city in and the county seat, seat of government of Monroe County, New York, United States. It is the List of municipalities in New York, fourth-most populous city and 10th most-populated municipality in New York, with a populati ...
. Along with W. H. Walker, Eastman invented a holder for a roll of picture-carrying gelatin layer-coated paper.
Hannibal Goodwin Hannibal Williston Goodwin (April 30, 1822 – December 31, 1900), patented a method for making transparent, flexible roll film out of nitrocellulose film base, which was used in Thomas Edison's Kinetoscope, an early machine for viewing m ...
then invented a
nitrocellulose Nitrocellulose (also known as cellulose nitrate, flash paper, flash cotton, guncotton, pyroxylin and flash string, depending on form) is a highly flammable compound formed by nitrating cellulose through exposure to a mixture of nitric acid and ...
film base A film base is a transparent substrate which acts as a support medium for the photosensitive emulsion that lies atop it. Despite the numerous layers and coatings associated with the emulsion layer, the base generally accounts for the vast majorit ...
in 1887, the first transparent, flexible film. Eastman also produced these components, and his was the first major company to mass-produce such film when, in 1889, Eastman realized that the dry-gelatino-bromide
emulsion An emulsion is a mixture of two or more liquids that are normally Miscibility, immiscible (unmixable or unblendable) owing to liquid-liquid phase separation. Emulsions are part of a more general class of two-phase systems of matter called colloi ...
could be coated onto this clear base, eliminating the paper. With the advent of flexible film,
Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February11, 1847October18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventions, ...
quickly set out on his invention, the
Kinetoscope The Kinetoscope is an early motion picture exhibition device, designed for films to be viewed by one person at a time through a peephole viewer window. The Kinetoscope was not a movie projector, but it introduced the basic approach that woul ...
, which was first shown at the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences on May 9, 1893. The Kinetoscope was a film loop system intended for one-person viewing. Edison, along with assistant
William Kennedy Dickson William Kennedy Laurie Dickson (3 August 1860 – 28 September 1935) was a British- American inventor who devised an early motion picture camera under the employment of Thomas Edison. Early life William Kennedy Dickson was born on 3 Augu ...
, followed that up with the Kinetophone, which combined the Kinetoscope with Edison's cylinder
phonograph A phonograph, later called a gramophone, and since the 1940s a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogue reproduction of sound. The sound vibration Waveform, waveforms are recorded as correspond ...
. Beginning in March 1892, Eastman and then, from April 1893 into 1896, New York's Blair Camera Co. supplied Edison with film stock. Dickson is credited as the inventor of 35 mm movie film in 1889,652 when the Edison company was using Eastman film.653–654 The company still received film from Blair after this; at first Blair would supply only film stock that would be trimmed and perforated at the Edison lab to create gauge filmstrips, then at some point in 1894 or 1895, Blair began sending stock to Edison that was cut exactly to specification. Edison's
aperture In optics, the aperture of an optical system (including a system consisting of a single lens) is the hole or opening that primarily limits light propagated through the system. More specifically, the entrance pupil as the front side image o ...
defined a single frame of film at four
perforations A perforation is a small hole in a thin material or web. There is usually more than one perforation in an organized fashion, where all of the holes collectively are called a ''perforation''. The process of creating perforations is called perfor ...
high. Around 1896, a 35mm projector known as a "photo-rotoscope" was made by W. C. Hughes in
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, which advanced the film by means of a "dog" motion. For a time, it had been generally assumed that Dickson was following cinematography formats established by Eastman in producing the film, but Eastman had produced film in sheets that were then cut to order.652–653 Dickson used the film supplied for
Eastman Kodak The Eastman Kodak Company, referred to simply as Kodak (), is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in film photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorporated i ...
cameras in 1889, a transparent 70 mm celluloid film, in his development of a more suitable
film stock Film stock is an analog medium that is used for recording motion pictures or animation. It is recorded on by a movie camera, developed, edited, and projected onto a screen using a movie projector. It is a strip or sheet of transparent pl ...
, and "simply slit this film in half";653–654 it was initially developed for the Kinetoscope, a one-person viewer, not to be projected.658 The image was still of high quality, even when magnified, and was more economical than 70 mm film (and more economical than any other gauge, as cutting the 70 mm to size would have created waste).654 35 mm was immediately accepted as standard by the
Lumière brothers Lumière is French for 'light'. Lumiere, Lumière or Lumieres may refer to: Buildings * Lumière, a building used by the Bibliothèque publique d'information in Paris, France * Lumiere (skyscraper), a cancelled skyscraper development in Leeds, ...
, and became the main film used in the UK because it was the stock sold to these filmmakers by the Blair company.653 Edison claimed exclusive
patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...
rights to the design of 35 mm motion picture film, with four sprocket holes (perforations) per frame, forcing his only major filmmaking competitor, American Mutoscope & Biograph, to use a 68 mm film that used friction feed, not sprocket holes, to move the film through the camera. A court judgment in March 1902 invalidated Edison's claim, allowing any producer or distributor to use the Edison 35 mm film design without license. Filmmakers were already doing so in Britain and Europe, where Edison did not file patents. At the time, film stock was usually supplied unperforated and punched by the filmmaker to their standards with perforation equipment. A variation developed by the Lumière brothers used a single circular perforation on each side of the frame towards the middle of the horizontal axis.Lobban, Grant. "Film Gauges and Soundtracks", BKSTS wall chart (sample frame provided). ear unknown/ref>


Becoming the standard

When films began to be projected, several projection devices were unsuccessful and fell into obscurity because of technical failure, lack of business acumen on the part of their promoters, or both. The Vitascope, the first projection device to use 35 mm, was technologically superior and compatible with the many motion pictures produced on 35 mm film. Edison bought the device in 1895–96; the Lumiere's 35 mm projection
Cinematograph Cinematograph or kinematograph is an early term for several types of motion picture film mechanisms. The name was used for movie cameras as well as film projectors, or for complete systems that also provided means to print films (such as the ...
also premiered in 1895, and they established 35 mm as the standard for exhibition.658 Standardization in recording came from monopolization of the business by Eastman and Edison, and because of Edison's typical business model involving the patent system: Eastman and Edison managed their film patents well656 – Edison filed the 35 mm patent in 1896, the year after Dickson left his employ657 – and so controlled the use and development of film.656 Dickson left the Edison company in 1895, going on to help competitors produce cameras and other film gauges that would not infringe on Edison's patents. However, by 1900, filmmakers found it too expensive to develop and use other gauges, and went back to using the cheap and widely-available 35 mm.657 Dickson said in 1933: Until 1953, the 35 mm film was seen as "basic technology" in the film industry, rather than optional, despite other gauges being available.652 In 1908, Edison formed "a cartel of production companies", a trust called the
Motion Picture Patents Company The Motion Picture Patents Company (MPPC, also known as the Edison Trust), founded in December 1908 and effectively terminated in 1915 after it lost a United States v. Motion Picture Patents Co., federal antitrust suit, was a trust (19th century), ...
(MPPC), pooling patents for collective use in the industry and positioning Edison's own technology as the standard to be licensed out.656 35 mm became the "official" standard of the newly formed MPPC, which agreed in 1909 to what would become the standard: 35 mm gauge, with Edison perforations and a 1.3:1 (4:3)
aspect ratio The aspect ratio of a geometry, geometric shape is the ratio of its sizes in different dimensions. For example, the aspect ratio of a rectangle is the ratio of its longer side to its shorter side—the ratio of width to height, when the rectangl ...
(also developed by Dickson).652The gauge and perforations are almost identical to modern film stock; the full silent ratio is also used as the film gate in movie cameras, although portions of the image are later cropped out in post-production and projection. Scholar Paul C. Spehr describes the importance of these developments: When the MPPC adopted the 35 mm format, Bell & Howell produced cameras, projectors, and perforators for the medium of an "exceptionally high quality", further cementing it as the standard.659 Edison and Eastman's form of business manipulation was ruled unlawful in 1914, but by this time the technology had become the established standard.657 In 1917, the new Society of Motion Picture Engineers (SMPE) "acknowledged the de facto status of 35mm as the industry's dominant film gauge, adopting it as an engineering standard".659


Innovations in sound

When film editing was done by physically cutting the film, editing the picture could only have been done on the frame line. However, the sound was stored for the whole frame between each of the four sprocket holes, and so the sound editors could cut on any arbitrary set of holes, and thus get -frame edit resolution. With this technique, an audio edit could be accurate to within 10.41  ms."1–2 A limitation of analog optical recording was the audio frequency would cut off, in a well-maintained theater, at around 12 kHz.4 Studios would often record audio on the transparent film strips, but with
magnetic tape Magnetic tape is a medium for magnetic storage made of a thin, magnetizable coating on a long, narrow strip of plastic film. It was developed in Germany in 1928, based on the earlier magnetic wire recording from Denmark. Devices that use magnetic ...
on one edge; recording audio on full 35 mm magnetic tape was more expensive.5 Three different digital soundtrack systems for 35 mm cinema release prints were introduced during the 1990s. They are:
Dolby Digital Dolby Digital, originally synonymous with Dolby AC-3 (see below), is the name for a family of audio compression technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories. Called Dolby Stereo Digital until 1995, it is lossy compression (except for Dolby Tr ...
, which is stored between the perforations on the sound side;
SDDS is a cinema sound system developed by Sony, in which compressed digital sound information is recorded on both outer edges of the 35mm film release print. The system supports up to eight independent channels of sound: five front channels, two ...
, stored in two redundant strips along the outside edges (beyond the perforations); and DTS, in which sound data is stored on separate
compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. It employs the Compact Disc Digital Audio (CD-DA) standard and was capable of hol ...
s synchronized by a
timecode A timecode (alternatively, time code) is a sequence of numeric codes generated at regular intervals by a timing synchronization system. Timecode is used in video production, show control and other applications which require temporal coordinatio ...
track on the film just to the right of the analog soundtrack and left of the frame. Because these soundtrack systems appear on different parts of the film, one movie can contain all of them, allowing broad distribution without regard for the sound system installed at individual theatres. The analogue optical track technology has also changed: in the early years of the 21st century, distributors changed to using
cyan Cyan () is the color between blue and green on the visible spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a predominant wavelength between 500 and 520 nm, between the wavelengths of green and blue. In the subtractive color system, or CMYK c ...
dye optical soundtracks instead of applicated tracks, which use environmentally unfriendly chemicals to retain a silver (black-and-white) soundtrack. Because traditional incandescent exciter lamps produce copious amounts of
infrared light Infrared (IR; sometimes called infrared light) is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than that of visible light but shorter than microwaves. The infrared spectral band begins with the waves that are just longer than those o ...
, and cyan tracks do not absorb infrared light, this change has required theaters to replace the incandescent exciter lamp with a complementary colored red
LED A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits light when current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy in the form of photons. The color of the light (corresp ...
or
laser A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word ''laser'' originated as an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radi ...
. These LED or laser exciters are backwards-compatible with older tracks. The film '' Anything Else'' (2003) was the first to be released with only cyan tracks. To facilitate this changeover, intermediate prints known as "high magenta" prints were distributed. These prints used a silver plus dye soundtrack that were printed into the magenta dye layer. The advantage gained was an optical soundtrack, with low levels of sibilant (cross-modulation) distortion, on both types of sound heads.


Modern 3D systems

The success of digitally projected 3D movies in the first two decades of the 21st century led to a demand from some theater owners to be able to show these movies in 3D without incurring the high capital cost of installing digital projection equipment. To satisfy that demand, a number of systems had been proposed for 3D systems based on 35 mm film by
Technicolor Technicolor is a family of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes. The first version, Process 1, was introduced in 1916, and improved versions followed over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black-and ...
,
Panavision Panavision Inc. is an American motion picture equipment company (law), company founded in 1954 specializing in cameras and photographic lens, lenses, based in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, Woodland Hills, California. Formed by Robert Gottschalk a ...
and others. These systems are improved versions of the "over-under" stereo 3D prints first introduced in the 1960s. To be attractive to exhibitors, these schemes offered
3D film 3D films are motion pictures made to give an illusion of three-dimensional solidity, usually with the help of special glasses worn by viewers. 3D films were prominently featured in the 1950s in American cinema and later experienced a worldwide r ...
s that can be projected by a standard 35 mm cinema projector with minimal modification, and so they are based on the use of "over-under" film prints. In these prints a left-right pair of 2.39:1 non-anamorphic images are substituted for the one 2.39:1 anamorphic image of a 2D "scope" print. The frame dimensions are based on those of the
Techniscope Techniscope or 2-perf is a 35 mm motion picture camera film format introduced by Technicolor Italia in 1960. The Techniscope format uses a two film- perforation negative pulldown per frame, instead of the standard four-perforation frame ...
2-perf camera format used in the 1960s and 1970s. However, when used for 3D the left and right frames are pulled down together, thus the standard 4-perf pulldown is retained, minimising the need for modifications to the projector or to long-play systems. The linear speed of film through the projector and sound playback both remain exactly the same as in normal 2D operation. The Technicolor system uses the polarisation of light to separate the left and right eye images and for this they rent to exhibitors a combination splitter-polarizer-lens assembly which can be fitted to a lens turret in the same manner as an anamorphic lens. In contrast, the Panavision system uses a spectral comb filter system, but their combination splitter-filter-lens is physically similar to the Technicolor assembly and can be used in the same way. No other modifications are required to the projector for either system, though for the Technicolor system a silver screen is necessary, as it would be with polarised-light digital 3D. Thus a programme can readily include both 2D and 3D segments with only the lens needing to be changed between them. In June 2012, Panavision 3D systems for both 35 mm film and digital projection were withdrawn from the market by DVPO theatrical (who marketed these system on behalf of Panavision) citing "challenging global economic and 3D market conditions".


Decline and resurgence

In the transition period centered around 2010–2015, the rapid conversion of the cinema exhibition industry to digital projection saw 35 mm film projectors removed from most of the projection rooms as they were replaced by digital projectors. By the mid-2010s, most of the theaters across the world had been converted to digital projection, although a small percentage (under 10% overall) continued running 35 mm projectors, mostly indie theaters or those in more economically-challenged regions. However, it continued as a niche market for enthusiasts and format lovers. In the
2020s The 2020s (pronounced "twenty-twenties" or "two thousand ndtwenties"; shortened to "the '20s" and also known as "The Twenties") is the current decade that began on 1 January 2020, and will end on 31 December 2029. The 2020s began with th ...
, 35 mm has seen some resurgence in usage. The resurgence comes from those who find 35 mm to be more visually pleasing and evoke nostalgic feelings, as well as a desire from young
Millennials Millennials, also known as Generation Y or Gen Y, are the demographic cohort following Generation X and preceding Generation Z. Researchers and popular media use the early 1980s as starting birth years and the mid-1990s to early 2000s a ...
and
Generation Z Generation Z (often shortened to Gen Z), also known as zoomers, is the demographic cohort succeeding Millennials and preceding Generation Alpha. Researchers and popular media use the mid-to-late 1990s as starting birth years and the early 2 ...
filmmakers and photographers to preserve the art. Several films such as '' Oppenheimer'' and '' Anora'' have been produced using 35 mm film. In an effort to rebuild business lost during the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, some theaters have used special event screenings of films with 35 mm film projectors to attract customers. Most of these screenings occur in large metropolitan areas.


Attributes


Color

Originally, film was a strip of cellulose nitrate coated with black-and-white
photographic emulsion Photographic emulsion is a light-sensitive colloid used in film-based photography. Most commonly, in silver-gelatin photography, it consists of silver halide crystals dispersed in gelatin. The emulsion is usually coated onto a substrate of gla ...
. Early film pioneers, like D. W. Griffith, color tinted or toned portions of their movies for dramatic impact, and by 1920, 80 to 90 percent of all films were tinted. The first successful natural color process was Britain's Kinemacolor (1909–1915), a two-color additive process that used a rotating disk with red and green filters in front of the
camera lens A camera lens, photographic lens or photographic objective is an optical lens (optics), lens or assembly of lenses (compound lens) used in conjunction with a camera body and mechanism to Imaging, make images of objects either on photographic film ...
and the projector lens. But any process that photographed and projected the colors sequentially was subject to color "fringing" around moving objects, and a general color flickering. In 1916, William Van Doren Kelley began developing Prizma, the first commercially viable American color process using 35 mm film. Initially, like Kinemacolor, it photographed the color elements one after the other and projected the results by
additive synthesis Additive synthesis is a sound synthesis technique that creates timbre by adding sine waves together. The timbre of musical instruments can be considered in the light of Fourier series, Fourier theory to consist of multiple harmonic or inharmoni ...
. Ultimately, Prizma was refined to bipack photography, with two strips of film, one treated to be sensitive to red and the other not, running through the camera face to face. Each negative was printed on one surface of the same duplitized print stock and each resulting series of black-and-white images was chemically toned to transform the silver into a monochrome color, either orange-red or blue-green, resulting in a two-sided, two-colored print that could be shown with any ordinary projector. This system of two-color bipack photography and two-sided prints was the basis for many later color processes, such as
Multicolor Multicolor is a Subtractive color, subtractive two-color Color motion picture film, motion picture process. Multicolor, introduced to the motion picture industry in 1929, was based on the earlier Prizma, Prizma Color process, and was the forer ...
, Brewster Color and
Cinecolor Cinecolor was an early subtractive color-model two-color motion picture process that was based upon the Prizma system of the 1910s and 1920s and the Multicolor system of the late 1920s and the 1930s. It was developed by William T. Crispinel an ...
. Although it had been available previously, color in Hollywood feature films first became truly practical from the studios' commercial perspective with the advent of
Technicolor Technicolor is a family of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes. The first version, Process 1, was introduced in 1916, and improved versions followed over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black-and ...
, whose main advantage was quality prints in less time than its competitors. In its earliest incarnations, Technicolor was another two-color system that could reproduce a range of reds, muted bluish greens, pinks, browns, tans and grays, but not real blues or yellows. '' The Toll of the Sea'', released in 1922, was the first film printed in their subtractive color system. Technicolor's camera photographed each pair of color-filtered frames simultaneously on one strip of black-and-white film by means of a
beam splitter A beam splitter or beamsplitter is an optical instrument, optical device that splits a beam of light into a transmitted and a reflected beam. It is a crucial part of many optical experimental and measurement systems, such as Interferometry, int ...
prism behind the camera lens. Two prints on half-thickness stock were made from the negative, one from only the red-filtered frames, the other from the green-filtered frames. After development, the silver images on the prints were chemically toned to convert them into images of the approximately
complementary color Complementary colors are pairs of colors which, when combined or color mixing, mixed, cancel each other out (lose Colorfulness, chroma) by producing a grayscale color like white or black. When placed next to each other, they create the stronge ...
s. The two strips were then cemented together back to back, forming a single strip similar to duplitized film. In 1928,
Technicolor Technicolor is a family of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes. The first version, Process 1, was introduced in 1916, and improved versions followed over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black-and ...
started making their prints by the imbibition process, which was mechanical rather than photographic and allowed the color components to be combined on the same side of the film. Using two matrix films bearing hardened gelatin relief images, thicker where the image was darker, aniline color dyes were transferred into the gelatin coating on a third, blank strip of film. Technicolor re-emerged as a three-color process for cartoons in 1932 and
live action Live action is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live action with animation to create a live-action animated feature film. Live action is used to define film, video games o ...
in 1934. Using a different arrangement of a
beam-splitter A beam splitter or beamsplitter is an optical instrument, optical device that splits a beam of light into a transmitted and a reflected beam. It is a crucial part of many optical experimental and measurement systems, such as Interferometry, int ...
cube and color filters behind the lens, the camera simultaneously exposed three individual strips of black-and-white film, each one recording one-third of the
spectrum A spectrum (: spectra or spectrums) is a set of related ideas, objects, or properties whose features overlap such that they blend to form a continuum. The word ''spectrum'' was first used scientifically in optics to describe the rainbow of co ...
, which allowed virtually the entire spectrum of colors to be reproduced. A printing matrix with a hardened gelatin relief image was made from each negative, and the three matrices transferred color dyes into a blank film to create the print. Two-color processes, however, were far from extinct. In 1934, William T. Crispinel and Alan M. Gundelfinger revived the
Multicolor Multicolor is a Subtractive color, subtractive two-color Color motion picture film, motion picture process. Multicolor, introduced to the motion picture industry in 1929, was based on the earlier Prizma, Prizma Color process, and was the forer ...
process under the company name
Cinecolor Cinecolor was an early subtractive color-model two-color motion picture process that was based upon the Prizma system of the 1910s and 1920s and the Multicolor system of the late 1920s and the 1930s. It was developed by William T. Crispinel an ...
. Cinecolor saw considerable use in animation and low-budget pictures, mainly because it cost much less than three-color Technicolor. If color design was carefully managed, the lack of colors such as true green could pass unnoticed. Although Cinecolor used the same duplitized stock as Prizma and Multicolor, it had the advantage that its printing and processing methods yielded larger quantities of finished film in less time. In 1950, Kodak announced the first Eastman color 35 mm negative film (along with a complementary positive film) that could record all three primary colors on the same strip of film. An improved version in 1952 was quickly adopted by Hollywood, making the use of three-strip Technicolor cameras and bipack cameras (used in two-color systems such as
Cinecolor Cinecolor was an early subtractive color-model two-color motion picture process that was based upon the Prizma system of the 1910s and 1920s and the Multicolor system of the late 1920s and the 1930s. It was developed by William T. Crispinel an ...
) obsolete in color cinematography. This "monopack" structure is made up of three separate emulsion layers, one sensitive to red light, one to green and one to blue.


Safety film

Although
Eastman Kodak The Eastman Kodak Company, referred to simply as Kodak (), is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in film photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorporated i ...
had first introduced
acetate An acetate is a salt formed by the combination of acetic acid with a base (e.g. alkaline, earthy, metallic, nonmetallic, or radical base). "Acetate" also describes the conjugate base or ion (specifically, the negatively charged ion called ...
-based film, it was far too brittle and prone to shrinkage, so the dangerously flammable nitrate-based cellulose films were generally used for motion picture camera and print films. In 1949 Kodak began replacing all nitrocellulose (nitrate-based) films with the safer, more robust cellulose triacetate-based "Safety" films. In 1950 the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., with the stated goal of adva ...
awarded Kodak with a Scientific and Technical
Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...
(
Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People and fictional and mythical characters * Oscar (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters named Oscar, Óscar or Oskar * Oscar (footballer, born 1954), Brazilian footballer ...
) for the safer triacetate stock. By 1952, all camera and projector films were triacetate-based. Most if not all film prints today are made from synthetic
polyester Polyester is a category of polymers that contain one or two ester linkages in every repeat unit of their main chain. As a specific material, it most commonly refers to a type called polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Polyesters include some natura ...
safety base (which started replacing Triacetate film for prints in the early 1990s). The downside of
polyester Polyester is a category of polymers that contain one or two ester linkages in every repeat unit of their main chain. As a specific material, it most commonly refers to a type called polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Polyesters include some natura ...
film is that it is extremely strong, and, in case of a fault, will stretch and not break–potentially causing damage to the projector and ruining a fairly large stretch of film: 2–3 ft or approximately 2 seconds. Also, polyester film will melt if exposed to the projector lamp for too long.
Original camera negative The original camera negative (OCN) is the film in a traditional film-based movie camera which captures the original image. This is the film from which all other copies will be made. It is known as raw stock prior to exposure. The size of a roll v ...
is still made on a triacetate base, and some intermediate films (certainly including internegatives or "dupe" negatives, but not necessarily including interpositives or "master" positives) are also made on a triacetate base as such films must be spliced during the "negative assembly" process, and the extant negative assembly process is solvent-based. Polyester films are not compatible with solvent-based assembly processes.


Other types

Besides black & white and color negative films, there are black & white and color
reversal film In photography, reversal film or slide film is a type of photographic film that produces a positive image on a transparent base. Instead of negatives and prints, reversal film is processed to produce transparencies or diapositives (abbrevia ...
s, which when developed create a positive ("natural") image that is projectable. There are also films sensitive to non-visible wavelengths of light, such as
infrared Infrared (IR; sometimes called infrared light) is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than that of visible light but shorter than microwaves. The infrared spectral band begins with the waves that are just longer than those ...
.


Common formats


Academy format

In the conventional motion picture format, frames are four perforations tall, with an
aspect ratio The aspect ratio of a geometry, geometric shape is the ratio of its sizes in different dimensions. For example, the aspect ratio of a rectangle is the ratio of its longer side to its shorter side—the ratio of width to height, when the rectangl ...
of 1.375:1, . This is a derivation of the aspect ratio and frame size designated by Thomas Edison () at the dawn of motion pictures, which was an aspect ratio of 1.33:1. The first sound features were released in 1926–27, and while
Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...
was using synchronized phonograph discs ( sound-on-disc), Fox placed the soundtrack in an optical record directly on the film (
sound-on-film Sound-on-film is a class of sound film processes where the sound accompanying a picture is recorded on photographic film, usually, but not always, the same strip of film carrying the picture. Sound-on-film processes can either record an Analog s ...
) on a strip between the sprocket holes and the image frame. "Sound-on-film" was soon adopted by the other Hollywood studios, resulting in an almost square image ratio of 0.860 in by 0.820 in. By 1929, most movie studios had revamped this format using their own house aperture plate size to try to recreate the older screen ratio of 1.33:1. Furthermore, every theater chain had their own house aperture plate size in which the picture was projected. These sizes often did not match up even between theaters and studios owned by the same company, and therefore, uneven projection practices occurred. In November 1929, the Society of Motion Picture Engineers set a standard aperture ratio of 0.800 in by 0.600 in. Known as the "1930 standard", studios which followed the suggested practice of marking their camera viewfinders for this ratio were: Paramount-Famous-Lasky, Metro-Goldwyn Mayer, United Artists, Pathe, Universal, RKO, Tiffany-Stahl, Mack Sennett, Darmour, and Educational. The Fox Studio markings were the same width but allowed .04 in more height. In 1932, in refining this ratio, the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., with the stated goal of adva ...
expanded upon this 1930 standard. The camera aperture became , and the projected image would use an aperture plate size of , yielding an aspect ratio of 1.375:1. This became known as the "
Academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...
" ratio. Since the 1950s the aspect ratio of some theatrically released motion picture films has been 1.85:1 (1.66:1 in Europe) or 2.35:1 (2.40:1 after 1970). The image area for "TV transmission" is slightly smaller than the full "Academy" ratio at , an aspect ratio of 1.33:1. Hence when the "Academy" ratio is referred to as having an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, it is done so mistakenly.


Widescreen

The commonly used
anamorphic Anamorphic format is a cinematography technique that captures widescreen images using recording media with narrower native Aspect ratio (image), aspect ratios. Originally developed for 35 mm movie film, 35 mm film to create widescreen pres ...
format uses a similar four-perf frame, but an anamorphic lens is used on the camera and projector to produce a wider image, today with an aspect ratio of about 2.39:1 (more commonly referred to as 2.40:1). The ratio was formerly 2.35:1—and is still often mistakenly referred to as such—until an
SMPTE The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) (, rarely ), founded by Charles Francis Jenkins in 1916 as the Society of Motion Picture Engineers or SMPE, is a global professional association of engineers, technologists, and e ...
revision of projection standards in 1970. The image, as recorded on the negative and print, is horizontally compressed (squeezed) by a factor of 2. The unexpected success of the Cinerama widescreen process in 1952 led to a boom in
film format A film format is a technical definition of a set of standard characteristics regarding image capture on photographic film for still images or film stock for filmmaking. It can also apply to projected film, either slides or movies. The primary ...
innovations to compete with the growing audiences of television and the dwindling audiences in movie theaters. These processes could give theatergoers an experience that television could not at that time—color, stereophonic sound and panoramic vision. Before the end of the year,
20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...
had narrowly "won" a race to obtain an
anamorphic Anamorphic format is a cinematography technique that captures widescreen images using recording media with narrower native Aspect ratio (image), aspect ratios. Originally developed for 35 mm movie film, 35 mm film to create widescreen pres ...
optical system invented by
Henri Chrétien Henri Jacques Chrétien (; 1 February 1879, Paris – 6 February 1956, Washington, D.C.) was a French astronomer and an inventor. Born in Paris, France, his most famous inventions are: * the anamorphic widescreen process, using an anamorphic ...
, and soon began promoting the
Cinemascope CinemaScope is an anamorphic format, anamorphic lens series used, from 1953 to 1967, and less often later, for shooting widescreen films that, crucially, could be screened in theatres using existing equipment, albeit with a lens adapter. Its cr ...
technology as early as the production phase. Looking for a similar alternative, other major studios hit upon a simpler, less expensive solution by April 1953: the camera and projector used conventional spherical lenses (rather than much more expensive anamorphic lenses), but by using a removable aperture plate in the film projector gate, the top and bottom of the frame could be cropped to create a wider aspect ratio. Paramount Pictures began this trend with their aspect ratio of 1.66:1, first used in '' Shane'', which was originally shot for
Academy ratio The Academy ratio of 1.375:1 (abbreviated as 1.37:1) is an aspect ratio (image), aspect ratio of a film frame, frame of 35 mm movie film, 35 mm film when used with negative pulldown, 4-perf pulldown.Monaco, James. ''How to Read a Film: The A ...
. It was Universal Studios, however, with their May release of ''
Thunder Bay Thunder Bay is a city in and the seat of Thunder Bay District, Ontario, Canada. It is the most populous municipality in Northwestern Ontario and the second most populous (after Greater Sudbury) municipality in Northern Ontario. Its population i ...
'' that introduced the now standard 1.85:1 format to American audiences and brought attention to the industry the capability and low cost of equipping theaters for this transition. Other studios followed suit with aspect ratios of 1.75:1 up to 2:1. For a time, these various ratios were used by different studios in different productions, but by 1956, the aspect ratio of 1.85:1 became the "standard" US format. These ''flat'' films are photographed with the full Academy frame, but are matted (most often with a
mask A mask is an object normally worn on the face, typically for protection, disguise, performance, or entertainment, and often employed for rituals and rites. Masks have been used since antiquity for both ceremonial and practical purposes, ...
in the theater projector, not in the camera) to obtain the "wide" aspect ratio. The standard, in some European countries, became 1.66:1 instead of 1.85:1, although some productions with pre-determined American distributors composed for the latter to appeal to US markets. In September 1953, 20th Century Fox debuted CinemaScope with their production of '' The Robe'' to great success. CinemaScope became the first marketable usage of an anamorphic widescreen process and became the basis for a host of "formats", usually suffixed with ''-scope,'' that were otherwise identical in specification, although sometimes inferior in optical quality. (Some developments, such as SuperScope and
Techniscope Techniscope or 2-perf is a 35 mm motion picture camera film format introduced by Technicolor Italia in 1960. The Techniscope format uses a two film- perforation negative pulldown per frame, instead of the standard four-perforation frame ...
, however, were truly entirely different formats.) By the early 1960s, however,
Panavision Panavision Inc. is an American motion picture equipment company (law), company founded in 1954 specializing in cameras and photographic lens, lenses, based in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, Woodland Hills, California. Formed by Robert Gottschalk a ...
would eventually solve many of the CinemaScope lenses' technical limitations with their own lenses, and by 1967, CinemaScope was replaced by Panavision and other third-party manufacturers. The 1950s and 1960s saw many other novel processes using 35 mm, such as
VistaVision VistaVision is a higher resolution, widescreen variant of the 35 mm motion picture film format that was created by engineers at Paramount Pictures in 1954. Paramount did not use anamorphic processes such as CinemaScope but refined the ...
, SuperScope, and
Technirama __NOTOC__ Technirama is a screen process that has been used by some film production houses as an alternative to CinemaScope. It was first used in 1957 but fell into disuse in the mid-1960s. The process was invented by Technicolor and is an anamor ...
, most of which ultimately became obsolete. VistaVision, however, would be revived decades later by
Lucasfilm Lucasfilm Ltd. LLC is an American film and television production company founded by filmmaker George Lucas in December 10, 1971 in San Rafael, California, and later moved to San Francisco in 2005. It is best known for creating and producing th ...
and other studios for special effects work, while a SuperScope variant became the predecessor to the modern Super 35 format that is popular today.


Super 35

The concept behind Super 35 originated with the Tushinsky Brothers' SuperScope format, particularly the SuperScope 235 specification from 1956. In 1982, Joe Dunton revived the format for ''
Dance Craze ''Dance Craze'' is a 1981 documentary film about the British Two-tone (music genre), 2 Tone music genre. The film was directed by Joe Massot, who originally wanted to do a film only about the band Madness (band), Madness, whom he met during th ...
'', and
Technicolor Technicolor is a family of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes. The first version, Process 1, was introduced in 1916, and improved versions followed over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black-and ...
soon marketed it under the name "Super Techniscope" before the industry settled on the name Super 35. The central driving idea behind the process is to return to shooting in the original silent "Edison" 1.33:1 full 4-perf negative area (), and then crop the frame either from the bottom or the center (like 1.85:1) to create a 2.40:1 aspect ratio (matching that of anamorphic lenses) with an area of . Although this cropping may seem extreme, by expanding the negative area out perf-to-perf, Super 35 creates a 2.40:1 aspect ratio with an overall negative area of , only less than the 1.85:1 crop of the Academy frame (). The cropped frame is then converted at the intermediate stage to a 4-perf anamorphically squeezed print compatible with the anamorphic projection standard. This allows an "anamorphic" frame to be captured with non-anamorphic lenses, which are much more common. Up to 2000, once the film was photographed in Super 35, an optical printer was used to anamorphose (squeeze) the image. This optical step reduced the overall quality of the image and made Super 35 a controversial subject among cinematographers, many who preferred the higher image quality and frame negative area of anamorphic photography (especially with regard to
granularity Granularity (also called graininess) is the degree to which a material or system is composed of distinguishable pieces, "granules" or "grains" (metaphorically). It can either refer to the extent to which a larger entity is subdivided, or the ...
). With the advent of
digital intermediate Digital intermediate (DI) is a motion picture finishing process which classically involves digitizing a motion picture and manipulating the color and other image characteristics. Definition and overview A digital intermediate often replaces or a ...
s (DI) at the beginning of the 21st century, however, Super 35 photography has become even more popular, since everything could be done digitally, scanning the original 4-perf 1.33:1 (or 3-perf 1.78:1) picture and cropping it to the 2.39:1 frame already in-computer, without anamorphosing stages, and also without creating an additional optical generation with increased grain. This process of creating the aspect ratio in the computer allows the studios to perform all post-production and editing of the movie in its original aspect (1.33:1 or 1.78:1) and to then release the cropped version, while still having the original when necessary (for Pan & Scan, HDTV transmission, etc.).


3-perf

The non-anamorphic widescreen ratios (most commonly 1.85:1) used in modern feature films makes inefficient use of the available image area on 35 mm film using the standard 4-perf pulldown; the height of a 1.85:1 frame occupying only 65% of the distance between the frames. It is clear, therefore, that a change to a 3-perf pulldown would allow for a 25% reduction in film consumption whilst still accommodating the full 1.85:1 frame. Ever since the introduction of these widescreen formats in the 1950s various film directors and cinematographers have argued in favour of the industry making such a change. The Canadian cinematographer Miklos Lente invented and patented a three-perforation pull down system which he called "Trilent 35" in 1975 though he was unable to persuade the industry to adopt it. The idea was later taken up by the Swedish film-maker Rune Ericson who was a strong advocate for the 3-perf system. Ericson shot his 51st feature ''Pirates of the Lake'' in 1986 using two Panaflex cameras modified to 3-perf pulldown and suggested that the industry could change over completely over the course of ten-years. However, the movie industry did not make the change mainly because it would have required the modification of the thousands of existing 35 mm projectors in movie theaters all over the world. Whilst it would have been possible to shoot in 3-perf and then convert to standard 4-perf for release prints the extra complications this would cause and the additional optical printing stage required made this an unattractive option at the time for most film makers. However, in
television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...
production, where compatibility with an installed base of 35 mm film projectors is unnecessary, the 3-perf format is sometimes used, giving—if used with Super 35—the 16:9 ratio used by
HDTV High-definition television (HDTV) describes a television or video system which provides a substantially higher image resolution than the previous generation of technologies. The term has been used since at least 1933; in more recent times, it ref ...
and reducing film usage by 25 percent. Because of 3-perf's incompatibility with standard 4-perf equipment, it can utilize the whole negative area between the perforations ( Super 35) without worrying about compatibility with existing equipment; the Super 35 image area includes what would be the soundtrack area in a standard print. All 3-perf negatives require optical or digital conversion to standard 4-perf if a film print is desired, though 3-perf can easily be transferred to video with little to no difficulty by modern
telecine Telecine ( or ), or TK, is the process of transferring film into video and is performed in a color suite. The term is also used to refer to the equipment used in this post-production process. Telecine enables a motion picture, captured origi ...
or film scanners. With digital intermediate now a standard process for feature film post-production, 3-perf is becoming increasingly popular for feature film productions which would otherwise be averse to an optical conversion stage.


VistaVision

The
VistaVision VistaVision is a higher resolution, widescreen variant of the 35 mm motion picture film format that was created by engineers at Paramount Pictures in 1954. Paramount did not use anamorphic processes such as CinemaScope but refined the ...
motion picture format was created in 1954 by
Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...
to create a finer-grained negative and print for flat widescreen films. Similar to still photography, the format uses a camera running 35 mm film horizontally instead of vertically through the camera, with frames that are eight perforations long, resulting in a wider aspect ratio of 1.5:1 and greater detail, as more of the negative area is used per frame. This format is unprojectable in standard theaters and requires an optical step to reduce the image into the standard 4-perf vertical 35 mm frame. While the format was dormant by the early 1960s, the camera system was revived for visual effects by John Dykstra at Industrial Light and Magic, starting with ''
Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...
'', as a way of reducing granularity in the
optical printer An optical printer is a device consisting of one or more film projectors mechanically linked to a movie camera. It allows filmmakers to re-photograph one or more strips of film. The optical printer is used for making visual effects for motion p ...
by having increased
original camera negative The original camera negative (OCN) is the film in a traditional film-based movie camera which captures the original image. This is the film from which all other copies will be made. It is known as raw stock prior to exposure. The size of a roll v ...
area at the point of image origination. Its usage has again declined since the dominance of computer-based visual effects, although it still sees limited utilization.


Perforations


BH perforations

Film perforations were originally round holes cut into the side of the film, but as these perforations were subject to wear and deformation, the shape was changed to what is now called the Bell & Howell (BH) perforation, which has straight top and bottom edges and outward curving sides. The BH perforation's dimensions are from the middle of the side curve to opposite top corner by in height. The BH1866 perforation, or BH perforation with a pitch of , is the modern standard for negative and internegative films.


KS perforations

Because BH has sharp corners, the repeated use of the film through intermittent movement projectors creates strain that can easily tear the perforations. Furthermore, they tended to shrink as the print slowly decayed. Therefore, larger perforations with a rectangular base and rounded corners were introduced by
Kodak The Eastman Kodak Company, referred to simply as Kodak (), is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in film photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorporated i ...
in 1924 to improve steadiness, registration, durability, and longevity. Known as "Kodak Standard" (KS), they are high by wide. Their durability makes KS perfs the ideal choice for some (but not all) intermediate and all release prints, and
original camera negative The original camera negative (OCN) is the film in a traditional film-based movie camera which captures the original image. This is the film from which all other copies will be made. It is known as raw stock prior to exposure. The size of a roll v ...
s which require special use, such as high-speed filming, but not for bluescreen,
front projection A front projection effect is an in-camera visual effects process in film production for combining foreground performance with pre-filmed background footage. In contrast to rear projection, which projects footage onto a screen from behind the ...
,
rear projection Rear projection (background projection, process photography, etc.) is one of many in-camera effects cinematic techniques in film production for combining foreground performances with pre-filmed backgrounds. It was widely used for many years i ...
, or matte work as these specific applications demand the more accurate registration which is only possible with BH or DH perforations. The increased height also means that the image registration was considerably less accurate than BH perfs, which remains the standard for negatives. The KS1870 perforation, or KS perforation with a pitch of , is the modern standard for release prints. These two perforations have remained by far the most commonly used ones. BH perforations are also known as ''N'' (negative) and KS as ''P'' (positive). The Bell & Howell perf remains the standard for camera negative films because of its perforation dimensions in comparison to most printers, thus it can keep a steady image compared to other perforations.


DH perforations

The Dubray–Howell (DH) perforation was first proposed in 1932 to replace the two perfs with a single hybrid. The proposed standard was, like KS, rectangular with rounded corners and a width of , and, like BH, was tall. This gave it longer projection life but also improved registration. One of its primary applications was usage in
Technicolor Technicolor is a family of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes. The first version, Process 1, was introduced in 1916, and improved versions followed over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black-and ...
's dye imbibition printing (dye transfer). The DH perf never had broad uptake, and Kodak's introduction of monopack Eastmancolor film in the 1950s reduced the demand for dye transfer, although the DH perforation persists in special application intermediate films.


CS perforations

In 1953, the introduction of
CinemaScope CinemaScope is an anamorphic format, anamorphic lens series used, from 1953 to 1967, and less often later, for shooting widescreen films that, crucially, could be screened in theatres using existing equipment, albeit with a lens adapter. Its cr ...
by Fox Studios required the creation of a different shape of perforation which was nearly square and smaller to provide space for four magnetic sound stripes for stereophonic and surround sound. These perforations are commonly referred to as CinemaScope (CS) or "Fox hole" perfs. Their dimensions are in width by in height. Due to the size difference, CS perfed film cannot be run through a projector with standard KS sprocket teeth, but KS prints ''can'' be run on sprockets with CS teeth. Shrunken film with KS prints that would normally be damaged in a projector with KS sprockets may sometimes be run far more gently through a projector with CS sprockets because of the smaller size of the teeth. Magnetic striped 35 mm film became obsolete in the 1980s after the advent of
Dolby Stereo Dolby Stereo is a sound format made by Dolby Laboratories. It is a unified brand for two completely different basic systems: the Dolby SVA (stereo variable-area) 1976 system used with optical sound tracks on 35mm film, and Dolby Stereo 70mm nois ...
, as a result film with CS perfs is no longer manufactured. During continuous contact printing, the raw stock and the negative are placed next to one another around the sprocket wheel of the printer. The negative, which is the closer of the two to the sprocket wheel (thus creating a slightly shorter path), must have a marginally shorter pitch between perforations (0.1866 in pitch); the raw stock has a long pitch (0.1870 in). While cellulose nitrate and cellulose diacetate stocks used to shrink during processing slightly enough to have this difference naturally occur, modern safety stocks do not shrink at the same rate, and therefore negative (and some intermediate) stocks are perforated at a pitch of 0.2% shorter than print stock.


Technical specifications

Technical specifications for 35 mm film are standardized by
SMPTE The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) (, rarely ), founded by Charles Francis Jenkins in 1916 as the Society of Motion Picture Engineers or SMPE, is a global professional association of engineers, technologists, and e ...
. * 16 frames per foot ( per frame (long pitch)) * 24 frames per second (fps); per minute. is about 11 minutes at 24 fps. * vertical pulldown * 4 perforations per frame (all projection and most origination except 3-perf). 1 perforation =  in or 0.1875 in. 1 frame =  in or 0.75 in. 35 mm spherical * ''Aspect ratio'': 1.375:1 on camera aperture; 1.85:1 and 1.6:1 are hard- or soft-matted over this * ''Camera aperture'': * ''Projector aperture'' (full 1.375:1): * ''Projector aperture'' (1.6:1): * ''Projector aperture'' (1.85:1): * ''TV station aperture'': * ''TV transmission'': * ''TV safe action'': ; corner radii: * ''TV safe titles'': ; corner radii: Super 35 mm film * ''Aspect ratio'': 1.3:1 on 4-perf camera aperture * ''Camera aperture (4-perf)'': * ''Picture used'' (35 mm anamorphic): * ''Picture used'' (70 mm blowup): * ''Picture used'' (35 mm flat 1.85): 35 mm anamorphic * ''Aspect ratio'': 2.39:1, in a 1.19:1 frame with a 2x horizontal anamorphosis * ''Camera aperture'': * ''Projector aperture'':


See also

* History of the art and technique of making films * List of motion picture film formats *
List of motion picture film stocks This is a list of motion picture films. Those films known to be no longer available have been marked "(discontinued)". This article includes color and black-and-white negative films, reversal camera films, intermediate stocks, and print stocks. 3 ...
*
Original camera negative The original camera negative (OCN) is the film in a traditional film-based movie camera which captures the original image. This is the film from which all other copies will be made. It is known as raw stock prior to exposure. The size of a roll v ...


Footnotes


References


External links


American Widescreen Museum



Kodak: Cinematography

List of venues and organizations
currently running
motion picture film Film stock is an analog device, analog medium that is used for recording film, motion pictures or animation. It is recorded on by a movie camera, film developing, developed, film editing, edited, and projected onto a screen using a movie proj ...

A Brief History of the 10 Most Significant* 35mm Films Ever Made
at Southtree {{DEFAULTSORT:35mm Film Audiovisual introductions in 1889 Film and video technology Film formats Motion picture film formats Thomas Edison