There are two different meanings for the term reduction print. In cinema it is a film print reduced in size, typically for showing in smaller cinemas. In

printmaking Printmaking is the process of creating work of art, artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand proces ...

it is a (rather uncommon) form of colour printing by working the same block (so "reducing" it) in a series of print runs, each just printing one colour.

Cinema film

A reduction print is a print of a large-size format film converted to a smaller size format (for example, a 70mm print converted to 35mm). Often this is necessary because not all theatres have a screen of the size required to show a film in large format, or indeed the projection equipment. This is especially true of some screens in

multiplex Multiplex may refer to: Science and technology * Multiplex communication, combining many signals into one transmission circuit or channel ** Multiplex (television), a group of digital television or radio channels that are combined for broadcast * ...

theatres. In former days, it was true of the

neighbourhood theatre Predating Multiplex (movie theater), multiplex movie theatres, neighborhood theatres were the colloquial name given to smaller movie theatres located in local neighborhoods, as opposed to the large movie palaces located in downtown areas. Neighbo ...

s located outside of

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in American and Canadian English to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ( ...

areas. Conversely, a "blow-up print" is a regular format film converted to larger size (i.e., 35mm to 70mm). This was once often done so that "regular-sized" film would seem even more impressive on screens such as the ones in

Cinerama Cinerama is a widescreen process that originally projected images simultaneously from three synchronized 35 mm movie film, 35mm projectors onto a huge, deeply curved screen, Subtended angle, subtending 146-degrees of arc. The trademarked pr ...

theatres.

Relief printing

woodcut Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas that ...

and other forms of relief printing, a reduction print is a multicolour print in which the separate colours are printed from the same block at different stages. Usually, the lightest colour of the design is printed first, then the block is "reduced" by carving to the areas which the artist wants to print the second colour from, and so forth. The disadvantage of reduction printing as opposed to printing from multiple blocks is that once the first colour is printed, the matrix for it is destroyed in the creation of the printing matrix for the second colour. It is impossible to undo mistakes.

References

Film and video technology Printmaking Relief printing {{Printmaking-stub