cinematography

Mini Movi (mid 1960s)

The Mini Movi was a small handheld player for silent 8 mm films. Produced by Belco (Bellmann & Co) in West Germany and Austria, it seems to be been introduced in the mid-1960s after Belco moved to using plastic in its toy production.

The film transport in the player was powered by batteries, but there was no internal illumination so it needed to be held in the direction of a light source. Although the cartridge was endless-loop, it still required careful threading into the device.

Each cartridge contained around 5 meters of film (about 16 feet) for around 75 seconds of playback time.

The name ‘Mini Movi’ was also used on an unrelated handheld projector produced by Ideal Toys in the US in the late 1970s.

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Kodak Supermatic cassette (1969 – late 1970s)

The Supermatic cassette range was introduced in 1969 for use with Kodak’s Ektagraphic 120 series of cartridge film projectors.

The Ektagraphic 120 range was a silent Super 8 film projector, aimed at the industrial and education market for training and sales films, and a cartridge system meant films (once inside the cartridge) would need no threading, and wouldn’t get fingerprints or dirt on them. This was not an endless-loop system, and films still needed to be rewound at the end.

Four sizes of cassette were available, namely A (50 feet of film), B (100 feet), C (220 feet) and D (400 feet)

The Supermatic cassette range could also be used in the later Supermatic 70 projector (in this case with sound, but only capable of using the smaller cassette sizes) and also in the Supermatic Film Videoplayer VP-1, which could transit the film images to a television, and the Supermatic Film Videoplayer VP-X which was designed for broadcast use.

All four sizes could also be used in the Bolex 18-9 DUO projector, which could handle both reels or Kodak cartridges.

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Kinora (1900 – 1914)

The Kinora was a means of viewing moving images by using a flip-book technique on a series of black and white still photographs on card. They were used in a viewer machine that was designed for home use by one person at a time, and a lens enlarged the image for viewing.

Invented by the Lumière brothers in France in 1895, it wasn’t until the idea was passed to Gaumont in France in 1900 that it was commercially developed. Gaumont released around 100 reels in 1900, and then in 1902 it was launched in Britain by The British Mutoscope & Biograph Co. Ltd.

The system became popular with the middle classes, and around 600 Kinora reels were available, along with 12 different models of viewer. In 1907, a new company, Kinora Co. Ltd. was created by The British Mutoscope & Biograph Co. Ltd. to market the system, and in 1908, an amateur Kinora camera was introduced, The camera allowed people to create their own set of photographs to be processed by Kinora to create a reel. It was also possible to visit a Kinora studio to create an ‘animated family portrait’.

In 1914 the Kinora factory in Letchworth was destroyed in a fire, and since cinema was at that time becoming increasingly popular, the factory was not re-opened.

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DTS disc (1993 – )

DTS (Digital Theater Systems) discs provide digital surround sound for movie theatres, with the sound on optical discs synchronised to the 35 mm film. A DTS soundtrack was first used in 1993 for the film Jurassic Park.

When used in movie theatres using film projection, a time code is placed on the edge of the film and read by an LED reader which sends it to the DTS processor to synchronise the soundtrack. The discs themselves are CD-ROM discs, and the unique timecode on the film prevents the wrong disc from being used.

Because the soundtrack is kept separate, it is not subject to wear of the film like optical soundtrack systems or other digital systems such as Dolby Digital printed on the film. However, the discs themselves can get scratched and damaged when in transit with the film reels. If there is a problem with the DTS discs, the sound will switch over the optical soundtrack printed on the film itself.

With the decline of 35 mm film and its replacement with digital projection, the use of separate DTS soundtrack discs has also declined.

Between 1997 and the early 2000s, DTS was used for surround sound music at home in the form of the 5.1 Music Disc. These discs were based on the Compact Disc, but without the use of a DTS decoder all that would be heard is white noise when they were played on a standard CD player. 5.1 Music Discs will not play in a movie theatre DTS processor.

DTS surround sound technology is also incorporated on DVD-Video and on Blu-ray Discs, and was also used on a small number of LaserDiscs.

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IMAX 15/70 film (1970 – )

IMAX is a high-definition motion picture film format, based on 70 mm film and often referred to as 15/70 film.

The standard was first defined in the late 1960s by the Multiscreen Corporation (later the IMAX Corporation) and uses 70 mm in a horizontal configuration, with 15 perforations per frame (hence the 15/70 designation). 70 mm film has been in use since 1929 when it was briefly used by Fox, but normally 70 mm film was run through a projector vertically like other film gauges and used 5 perforations per frame.

IMAX film offers a horizontal resolution of 12K, and IMAX screens are typically huge, as are the cameras and projectors. Sound was initially on separate 35 mm magnetic film, replaced by DTS discs in the early 1990s, finally moving to hard drives in the late 1990s.

The first IMAX film, Tiger Child, was shown at Expo ’70 in Japan, but the first major films on the format were not until 2000, with Walt Disney Pictures’ ‘Fantasia 2000’.

In 2002, IMAX began offering its Digital Media Remastering (DMR) process to convert 35 mm prints to the IMAX 15/70 format via digital remastering. While not as good as films originally shot on IMAX film, the process can still offer an improvement.

Since 2008, the term IMAX has also been applied to digital and laser projection systems, and not just systems using film prints.

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9.5 mm Bing British / Bingoscope film rolls (early 1930s – 1939)

In the 1930s, a number of tiny 9.5 mm gauge film rolls of 15 foot length were produced for use in toy projectors produced under the name Bing British and later Bingoscope.

These short films (around 30 seconds long) were often extracts of films from older Pathéscope titles, and came as rolls without a spool. Like the films they came from, they were all on safety film (cellulose acetate) and were silent and monochrome. Due to their short length they had no titles. Many of the clips were animations including Mickey Mouse or Popeye, while others were mostly live action comedy clips such as Charlie Chaplin or Snub Pollard.

It appears around 75 titles were released, some in red boxes and labeled as being for Bing British safety cinemas, while others were in red or green boxes labeled as being for Bingoscope safety cinemas.

A number of projectors were made under the Bing British and Bingoscope brands, only some of which could use the 15 foot rolls and it seems unlikely that the format was marketed beyond the 1930s, though at least one new title was released in 1939.

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9.5mm film (1922 – 1960)

9.5 mm film was part of the Pathé Baby amateur motion picture film system that was introduced by the French company, Pathé Frères, in 1922. Initially, it was used to distribute commercially made films to show at home, but a camera was soon introduced to allow people to shoot their own films.

Pathé Frères had previously introduced the Pathé Kok 28 mm film format in 1912, and three strips of 9.5 mm film could be cut from the 28 mm gauge. After Pathé Kok was discontinued in 1927, 9.5 mm film was cut from 35 mm film.

A single central perforation between each pair of frames allowed more of the film to be used for the image, and to save film for non-moving sections (such as titles) a notch in the film caused the projector to project the second frame after it for 10 seconds.

Pathescope produced a large number of home versions of significant films, including Mickey Mouse and Betty Boop cartoons and comedies by such well-known stars as Laurel and Hardy and Chaplin.

Film for making home movies was usually supplied in a magazine containing 30 feet, but up to 100 feet of film was available on spools.

Optical sound was introduced for 9.5 mm in 1938, resulting in a squarer frame format, and colour film became available after WWII.

Despite being a popular format in France and England with over 300,000 projectors sold, after WWII it suffered strong competition from Kodak’s 8 mm film and in 1960 Pathescope Ltd. went into liquidation.

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35mm film (1892 – )

35mm film was the most common film gauge for cinematography, and was also used in still photography (in the form of 135 film).

The name derives from the width of the film strip. When used for motion pictures, the image is across the film and each frame usually has four perforations giving 16 frames per foot, whereas when used for photography the image is lengthways along the film and each frame uses eight perforations. In conventional motion picture film, the image is 22 x 16mm (known as the ‘Academy ratio’). The shape and frequency of the perforations differed in the early years.

The 35mm format was introduced in 1892, soon after the introduction of transparent flexible film in 1889,  at a time when a large range of different film gauges were in use. By 1909 it became accepted as the international standard gauge and remained so until largely replaced by digital cinematography. Although other gauges have been used for cinematography, 35mm remained the most popular with professional film makers as it provided a good trade-off between cost and image quality.

Until the 1950s, 35mm film was made of cellulose nitrate which was highly inflammable and difficult to extinguish once alight. It was replaced with ‘safety film’ (cellulose triacetate). From the 1990s, film stock was made with a synthetic polyester safety base.

Sound was introduced around 1926, with Warner Bros. using synchronised phonograph discs. Later sound-on-film systems include optical analogue, optical digital, and magnetic strips. DTS soundtracks use a time code printed on the film to synchronise with DTS discs.

Between 2005 and 2015, most cinemas rapidly converted to digital projection, and in 2014 Paramount Pictures announced that it would no longer supply 35mm prints of movies in the US. Whilst 35mm film is still in use for both shooting and showing movies, it is rapidly becoming a niche format.

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Single-8 (1965 – 2012)

Single-8 was an 8mm motion picture film format for amateur use, introduced by Fujifilm in 1965 as an alternative to Kodak Super 8.

Single-8 and Super 8 are not interchangeable in cameras, but as the sprocket holes and soundtrack are in the same position, it is interchangeable in projectors. The Single-8 cartridge is shaped differently due to the use of two separate spools rather than Super 8’s coaxial system, and this means Single-8 can be rewound in the camera for double exposure.

Unexposed film sits in the upper chamber, and passes over the camera’s metal film gate (Super 8 used a plastic pressure plate built into the cartridge instead) into the lower chamber. On the back of the cartridge is a circular slot, the length of which tells the camera the film’s speed (25, 50, 100, 200 or 400 ISO) by the use of pins in the camera.

Single-8 was most widely available in Japan, but was also available in the US and Europe where it never achieved the popularity of Super 8 despite being regarded as technically superior.

Fujifilm ceased manufacture of all types of Single-8 in 2012, although is still available from some specialists.

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16mm film (1923 – )

16mm film is a format for cinematography, introduced by Kodak in 1923 as a less expensive amateur alternative to 35mm film. An original selling point was the availability of films to buy or rent from the Kodascope library. 16mm film stock has always been on acetate safety film.

Sound was added by RCA in 1930 (film for sound use was perforated on one side only to make room for an optical or magnetic soundtrack), and colour in 1935 with the introduction of Kodachrome.

By the 1930s, 16mm film began to make inroads into the educational film market, and in the post-WWII years there was a huge expansion of professional filmaking for government and industry. Television production also made use of 16mm film, especially for new-gathering and exterior filming (in the UK, most exterior television footage was shot on 16 mm film from the 1960s until the 1990s). The BBC played a large part in the development of the format, working with Kodak in the 1950s and 1960s to bring 16 mm to a professional level.

Home cinematographers moved to the smaller 8mm and Super 8 formats.

Super 16 was developed in 1969 and has a larger picture area and wider aspect ratio, but this is at the expense of the space for the soundtrack so the film is optically or digitally enlarged onto 35mm film for projection.

16mm and Super 16 film is still used in television, and sometimes in film making.

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Preservation / Migration

Media Stability Rating

Media Stability Rating 5 - Very High Risk

Obsolescence Rating

Obsolescence Rating 1 - In current use or low risk