Super 16 mm on:  
[Wikipedia]  
[Google]  
[Amazon]
![USN16mmSoundtrack](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/USN16mmSoundtrack.jpg)
16 mm film is a historically popular and economical
gauge
Gauge ( or ) may refer to:
Measurement
* Gauge (instrument), any of a variety of measuring instruments
* Gauge (firearms)
* Wire gauge, a measure of the size of a wire
** American wire gauge, a common measure of nonferrous wire diameter, es ...
of
film
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
. 16 mm refers to the width of the film (about inch); other common film gauges include
8 and
35 mm. It is generally used for non-theatrical (e.g., industrial, educational, televisual) film-making, or for low-budget motion pictures. It also existed as a popular amateur or home movie-making format for several decades, alongside 8 mm film and later
Super 8 film
Super 8 mm film is a motion-picture film format released in 1965 by Eastman Kodak as an improvement over the older "Double" or "Regular" 8 mm home movie format.
The film is nominally 8 mm wide, the same as older formatted 8& ...
.
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 analogue photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorpor ...
released the first 16 mm "outfit" in 1923, consisting of a camera, projector, tripod, screen and splicer, for US$335 ().
RCA-Victor
RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also Aris ...
introduced a 16 mm sound movie projector in 1932, and developed an optical
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 ...
16 mm camera, released in 1935.
History
Eastman Kodak introduced 16 mm film in 1923, as a less expensive alternative to
35 mm film
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
for amateurs. The same year the
Victor Animatograph Corporation
The Victor Animatograph Corporation was a maker of projection equipment founded in 1910 in Davenport, Iowa by Swedish-born American inventor Alexander F. Victor.
The firm introduced its first 16 mm camera and movie projector on August 12, 1923, ...
started producing their own 16 mm cameras and projectors. During the 1920s, the format was often referred to by the professional industry as 'sub-standard'.
Kodak hired Willard Beech Cook from his
28 mm Pathescope of America company to create the new 16 mm 'Kodascope Library'. In addition to making
home movies
A home movie is a short amateur film or video typically made just to preserve a visual record of family activities, a vacation, or a special event, and intended for viewing at home by family and friends. Originally, home movies were made on ph ...
, people could buy or rent films from the library, a key selling aspect of the format.
Intended for amateur use, 16 mm film was one of the first formats to use
acetate
An acetate is a salt (chemistry), salt formed by the combination of acetic acid with a base (e.g. Alkali metal, alkaline, Alkaline earth metal, earthy, Transition metal, metallic, nonmetallic or radical Radical (chemistry), base). "Acetate" als ...
safety film
Cellulose acetate film, or safety film, is used in photography as a base material for photographic emulsions. It was introduced in the early 20th century by film manufacturers and intended as a safe film base replacement for unstable and highly ...
as a
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 majority ...
. Kodak never used
nitrate film
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 ...
for the format, owing to the high flammability of the nitrate base. 35 mm nitrate was discontinued in 1952.
Production evolution
The silent 16 mm format was initially aimed at the home enthusiast, but by the 1930s it had begun to make inroads into the educational market. The addition of
optical sound
Optical sound is a means of storing sound recordings on transparent film. Originally developed for military purposes, the technology first saw widespread use in the 1920s as a sound-on-film format for motion pictures. Optical sound eventually ...
tracks and, most notably, Kodachrome in 1935, gave an enormous boost to its popularity. The format was used extensively during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, and there was a huge expansion of 16 mm professional filmmaking in the post-war years. Films for government, business, medical and industrial clients created a large network of 16 mm professional filmmakers and related service industries in the 1950s and 1960s. The advent of
television production
A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed betw ...
also enhanced the use of 16 mm film, initially for its advantage of cost and portability over 35 mm. At first used as a news-gathering format, the 16 mm format was also used to create
television program
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, e ...
ming shot outside the confines of the more rigid
television studio
A television studio, also called a television production studio, is an installation room in which video productions take place, either for the production of live television and its recording onto video tape or other media such as SSDs, or for t ...
production sets. The home movie market gradually switched to the even less expensive
8 mm and
Super 8 mm
Super 8 mm film is a motion-picture film format released in 1965 by Eastman Kodak as an improvement over the older "Double" or "Regular" 8 mm home movie format.
The film is nominally 8 mm wide, the same as older formatted 8 ...
film formats.
16 mm, using light cameras, was extensively used for
television production
A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed betw ...
in many countries before portable video cameras appeared. In Britain, the BBC's Ealing-based film department made significant use of 16mm film and, during its peak, employed over 50 film crews. Throughout much of the 1960s-1990s period, these crews made use of cameras such as the Arriflex ST and Eclair NPR in combination with quarter-inch sound recorders, such as the Nagra III. Using these tools, film department crews would work on some of the most significant programmes produced by the BBC, including ''
Man Alive'', ''
Panorama
A panorama (formed from Greek πᾶν "all" + ὅραμα "view") is any wide-angle view or representation of a physical space, whether in painting, drawing, photography, film, seismic images, or 3D modeling. The word was originally coined in ...
'' and ''
Chronicle
A chronicle ( la, chronica, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and lo ...
''. Usually made up of five people, these small crews were able to work incredibly efficiently and, even in hostile environments, were able to film an entire programme with a
shooting ratio
The shooting ratio or "Bertolo code" in filmmaking and television production is the ratio between the total duration of its footage created for possible use in a project and that which appears in its final cut.
A film with a shooting ratio of 2:1 ...
of less than 5:1.
Beginning in the 1950s, news organizations and documentarians in the United States frequently shot on portable
Auricon Auricon cameras were 16 mm film Single System sound-on-film motion picture cameras manufactured in the 1940s through the early 1980s. Auricon cameras are notable because they record sound directly onto an optical or magnetic track on the same film ...
and, later,
CP-16 The CP-16, CP-16A, CP-16R, CP-16R/A and CP-16R/DS cameras are 16mm motion picture cameras manufactured by the Cinema Products Corporation of Hollywood, California. A range of cameras of Auricon ancestry. They were primarily intended for television n ...
cameras that were self-blimped and had the ability to record sound on film. The introduction of magnetic striped film further improved sound fidelity.
Replacing
analog video
Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying
Copying is the duplication of information or an artifact based on an instance of that information or artifact, and not using the process that originally generated it. With analog f ...
devices,
digital video
Digital video is an electronic representation of moving visual images (video) in the form of encoded digital data. This is in contrast to analog video, which represents moving visual images in the form of analog signals. Digital video comprises ...
has made significant inroads in television production use. Nevertheless, 16 mm is still in use in its Super 16 ratio (see below) for productions seeking its specific look.
Format standards
Perforations
Two
perforation
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 ...
pitches are available for 16 mm film. One specification, known as "long pitch", has a spacing of and is used primarily for print and reversal film stocks. Negative and intermediate film stocks have perforations spaced , known as "short pitch". These differences allow for the sharpest and smoothest possible image when making prints using a
contact printer A contact copier (also known as contact printer), is a device used to copy an image by illuminating a film negative with the image in direct contact with a photosensitive surface (film, paper, plate, etc.). The more common processes are negative, w ...
.
Film stocks are available in either 'single-perf' or 'double-perf', meaning the film is perforated on either one or both edges. A perforation for 16 mm film is with a radius curve on all four corners of . Tolerances are ±.
Standard 16 mm
The picture-taking area of standard 16 mm is , an
aspect ratio of 1.37:1, the standard pre-widescreen
Academy ratio
The Academy ratio of 1.375:1 (abbreviated as 1.37:1) is an aspect ratio of a frame of 35 mm film when used with 4-perf pulldown.Monaco, James. ''How to Read a Film: The Art, Technology, Language, History and Theory of Film and Media''. Rev. ...
for 35 mm. The "nominal" picture projection area (per SMPTE RP 20-2003) is 0.380 in by 0.284 in, and the maximum picture projection area (per SMPTE ST 233-2003) is 0.384 in by 0.286 in, each implying an aspect ratio of 1.34:1.
Double-perf 16 mm film, the original format, has a perforation at both sides of every
frame line
A frame line is the unused space that separates two adjacent images, or film frames, on the release print of a motion picture. They can vary in width; a 35mm film with a 1.85:1 hard matte has a frame line approximately high, whereas both a ...
. Single-perf is perforated at one side only, making room for an optical or magnetic
soundtrack
A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...
along the other side.
Super 16 mm
![16mm and super16](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/16mm_and_super16.png)
The variant called Super 16 mm, Super 16, or 16 mm Type W is an adaptation of the 1.66 aspect ratio of the "Paramount format" to 16 mm film. It was developed by Swedish cinematographer
Rune Ericson
Rune Ericson (29 May 1924 – 4 February 2015) was a Swedish cinematographer. At the 20th Guldbagge Awards he won the Special Achievement award. He worked on more than 60 films and television shows between 1947 and 1991. In 1969, Ericsson ...
in 1969, using single-sprocket film and taking advantage of the extra room for an expanded picture area of .
Super 16 cameras are usually 16 mm cameras that have had the film gate and ground glass in the
viewfinder
In photography, a viewfinder is what the photographer looks through to compose, and, in many cases, to focus the picture. Most viewfinders are separate, and suffer parallax, while the single-lens reflex camera lets the viewfinder use the main ...
modified for the wider frame, and, since this process widens the frame by affecting only one side of the film, the various cameras' front mounting plate or turret areas must also be re-machined to shift and re-center the mounts for any lenses used. Because the resulting, new, Super 16 aspect ratio takes up the space originally reserved for the 16mm soundtrack, films shot in this format must be enlarged by
optical printing
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 special effects for motio ...
to
35 mm for sound-projection, and, in order to preserve the proper 1.66:1, or (slightly cropped) 1.85:1 theatrical aspect ratios which this format was designed to provide. And, with the recent development of
digital intermediate
Digital intermediate (typically abbreviated 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 intermediat ...
workflows, it is now possible to digitally enlarge to a 35 mm sound print with virtually no quality loss (given a high quality digital scan), or alternatively to use high-quality video equipment for the original image capture.
In 2009, German lens manufacturer Vantage introduced a series of
anamorphic lenses under its HAWK brand. These provided a 1.33× squeeze factor (as opposed to the standard 2×) specifically for the Super 16 format, allowing nearly all of the Super 16 frame to be used for 2.39:1 widescreen photography.
Ultra 16 mm
The
DIY
"Do it yourself" ("DIY") is the method of building, modifying, or repairing things by oneself without the direct aid of professionals or certified experts. Academic research has described DIY as behaviors where "individuals use raw and sem ...
-crafted Ultra 16 is a variation of Super 16. Cinematographer Frank G. DeMarco is credited with inventing Ultra 16 in 1996 while shooting tests for
Darren Aronofsky
Darren Aronofsky (born February 12, 1969) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. His films are noted for their surrealistic, melodramatic, and sometimes disturbing elements, often in the form of psychological fiction.
Aronof ...
's ''
Pi''. Ultra 16 is created by widening the left and right sides of the gate of a standard 16 mm camera by 0.7 mm to expose part of the horizontal area between the perforations. Perforation placement on standard 16 mm film at the divisions between frames accommodates use of these normally unexposed areas.
The Ultra 16 format, with frame dimensions of , provides a frame size between standard 16 mm and Super 16—while avoiding the expense of converting a 16 mm camera to Super 16, the larger lens-element requirements for proper aperture field coverage on Super 16 camera conversions, and, the potential image
vignetting
In photography and optics, vignetting is a reduction of an image's brightness or saturation toward the periphery compared to the image center. The word ''vignette'', from the same root as ''vine'', originally referred to a decorative border ...
caused by trying to use some "conventional" 16 mm lenses on those Super 16 converted cameras. Thus, almost all standard 16 mm optics can now achieve the wider image in Ultra 16, but without the above pitfalls and optical "shortcomings" encountered when attempting their use for Super 16.
The image readily converts to NTSC/PAL (1.33 ratio), HDTV (1.78 ratio) and to 35 mm film (1.66
uropeanand 1.85 wide screen ratios), using either the full vertical frame, or the full width (intersprocket) frame, and at times, portions of both, depending upon the required application.
Modern usage
The only supplier of 16 mm color reversal/negative film in 2022 is
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 analogue photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorpor ...
(
Agfa and
Fuji Fuji may refer to:
Places China
* Fuji, Xiangcheng City (付集镇), town in Xiangcheng City, Henan
Japan
* Mount Fuji, the tallest mountain in Japan
* Fuji River
* Fuji, Saga, town in Saga Prefecture
* Fuji, Shizuoka, city in Shizuoka Prefectur ...
closed their film manufacturing facilities in the 2010s). B&W films are still produced by
Foma
Freedom of Mobile Multimedia Access (FOMA) is the brand name of the W-CDMA-based 3G telecommunications services being offered by the Japanese telecommunications service provider NTT DoCoMo. It is an implementation of the Universal Mobile Tel ...
and ORWO/Filmotec, with ORWO/Filmotec having announced to also produce color negative film „soon“.
16 mm film is used in television, such as for the ''
Hallmark Hall of Fame
''Hallmark Hall of Fame'', originally called ''Hallmark Television Playhouse'', is an anthology program on American television, sponsored by Hallmark Cards, a Kansas City-based greeting card company. The longest-running prime-time series in t ...
'' anthology (it has since been produced in 16:9
high definition) and ''
Friday Night Lights'' and ''
The O.C.
''The O.C. '' is an American teen drama television series created by Josh Schwartz that originally aired on the Fox network in the United States from August 5, 2003, to February 22, 2007, running a total of four seasons. "O.C." is an initiali ...
'' as well as ''
The Walking Dead'' in the US. In the
UK, the format is exceedingly popular for television series such as ''
Doc Martin
''Doc Martin'' is a British medical comedy drama television series starring Martin Clunes as Doctor Martin Ellingham. It was created by Dominic Minghella after the character of Dr Martin Bamford in the 2000 comedy film '' Saving Grace''. The ...
'', dramas and commercials. The
British Broadcasting Corporation #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
(BBC) played a large part in the development of the format. It worked extensively with Kodak during the 1950s and 1960s to bring 16 mm to a professional level, since the BBC needed cheaper, more portable production solutions while maintaining a higher quality than was offered at the time, when the format was mostly for home display of theatrical shorts, newsreels, and cartoons, documentary capture and display for various purposes (including education), and limited "high end" amateur use.
the format is frequently used for student films, while usage in documentary has almost disappeared. With the advent of
HDTV
High-definition television (HD or HDTV) describes a television system which provides a substantially higher image resolution than the previous generation of technologies. The term has been used since 1936; in more recent times, it refers to the g ...
, Super 16 film is still used for some productions destined for
HD.
Some low-budget theatrical features are shot on 16 mm and super 16 mm such as
Kevin Smith
Kevin Patrick Smith (born August 2, 1970) is an American filmmaker, actor, comedian, comic book writer, author, YouTuber, and podcaster. He came to prominence with the low-budget comedy buddy film ''Clerks'' (1994), which he wrote, directed, co ...
's 16 mm 1994 independent hit ''
Clerks
A clerk is someone who works in an office. A retail clerk works in a store.
Office holder
Clerk(s) may also refer to a person who holds an office, most commonly in a local unit of government, or a court.
*Barristers' clerk, a manager and administ ...
,'' or ''
Man Bites Dog
The phrase man bites dog is a shortened version of an aphorism in journalism that describes how an unusual, infrequent event (such as a man biting a dog) is more likely to be reported as news than an ordinary, everyday occurrence with similar cons ...
'', and ''
Mid90s
''Mid90s'' (stylized as ''mid90s'') is a 2018 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film written and directed by Jonah Hill, in his feature directorial debut, inspired by Hill's own childhood in the mid-1990s. It stars Sunny Suljic, Lucas Hedges ...
''.
Thanks to advances in film stock and digital technology—specifically
digital intermediate
Digital intermediate (typically abbreviated 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 intermediat ...
(DI)—the format has dramatically improved in picture quality since the 1970s, and is now a revitalized option. ''
Vera Drake
''Vera Drake'' is a 2004 British period drama film written and directed by Mike Leigh and starring Imelda Staunton, Phil Davis, Daniel Mays and Eddie Marsan. It tells the story of a working-class woman in London in 1950 who performs illegal abor ...
'', for example, was shot on Super 16 mm film, digitally scanned at a high resolution, edited and color graded, and then printed out onto 35 mm film via a laser
film recorder
A film recorder is a graphical output device for transferring images to photographic film from a digital source. In a typical film recorder, an image is passed from a host computer to a mechanism to expose film through a variety of methods, hi ...
. Because of the digital process, the final 35 mm print quality is good enough to fool some professionals into thinking it was shot on 35 mm.
In Britain most exterior television footage was shot on 16 mm from the 1960s until the 1990s, when the development of more portable television cameras and videotape machines led to video replacing 16 mm in many instances. Many drama shows and documentaries were made entirely on 16 mm, notably ''
Brideshead Revisited
''Brideshead Revisited: The Sacred & Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder'' is a novel by English writer Evelyn Waugh, first published in 1945. It follows, from the 1920s to the early 1940s, the life and romances of the protagonist Charles ...
'', ''
The Jewel in the Crown'', ''
The Ascent of Man
''The Ascent of Man'' is a 13-part British documentary television series produced by the BBC and Time-Life Films first broadcast in 1973. It was written and presented by British mathematician and historian of science Jacob Bronowski, who ...
'' and ''
Life on Earth Life on Earth may refer to:
Science
* Life
* Earliest known life forms
* Evolutionary history of life
** Abiogenesis
Film and television
* ''Life on Earth'' (film) (''La Vie Sur Terre''), a 1998 Malian film
* ''Life on Earth'' (TV series), a 197 ...
''. More recently, the advent of widescreen television has led to the use of ''Super'' 16. For example, the 2008
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
fantasy drama series ''
Merlin
Merlin ( cy, Myrddin, kw, Marzhin, br, Merzhin) is a mythical figure prominently featured in the legend of King Arthur and best known as a mage, with several other main roles. His usual depiction, based on an amalgamation of historic and le ...
'' was shot in Super 16.
As recently as 2010, ''
Scrubs
Scrub(s) may refer to:
* Scrub, low shrub and grass characteristic of scrubland
* Scrubs (clothing), worn by medical staff
* ''Scrubs'' (TV series), an American television program
* Scrubs (occupation), also called "scrub tech," "scrub nurse," o ...
'' was shot on Super16 and aired either as 4:3 SD (first 7 seasons) or as 16:9 HD (seasons 8 and 9). John Inwood, the cinematographer of the series, believed that footage from his
Aaton
Aaton Digital (formerly known as Aaton) is a French motion picture equipment manufacturer, based in Grenoble, France.
History
Aaton was founded by Eclair engineer Jean-Pierre Beauviala, whose efforts have been primarily focused on making quiet ...
XTR Prod camera was not only sufficient to air in high definition, it "looked terrific".
The
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
winning ''
Leaving Las Vegas
''Leaving Las Vegas'' is a 1995 American drama film written and directed by Mike Figgis, and based on the semi-autobiographical 1990 novel of the same name by John O'Brien. Nicolas Cage stars as a suicidal alcoholic in Los Angeles who, having ...
'' (
1995
File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...
) was shot on 16 mm.
The first two seasons of ''
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' is an American supernatural fiction, supernatural drama television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon. It is based on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer (film), 1992 film of the same name, also written by W ...
'' were shot on 16 mm and switched to 35 mm for its later seasons.
The first season of the popular series ''
Sex and the City
''Sex and the City'' is an American romantic comedy, romantic comedy-drama television series created by Darren Star for HBO. An adaptation of Candace Bushnell's Sex and the City (newspaper column), newspaper column and 1996 book anthology of the ...
'' was shot on 16 mm. Later seasons were shot on 35 mm. All three seasons of ''
Veronica Mars
''Veronica Mars'' is an American teen noir mystery drama television series created by screenwriter Rob Thomas. The series is set in the fictional town of Neptune, California, and stars Kristen Bell as the eponymous character. The series prem ...
'' were shot on 16 mm and aired in HD. ''
This Is Spinal Tap
''This Is Spinal Tap'' (also known as ''This Is Spınal Tap: A Rockumentary by Martin Di Bergi'') is a 1984 American mockumentary film co-written and directed by Rob Reiner (in his feature directorial debut). The film stars Christopher Guest, M ...
'', and
Christopher Guest
Christopher Haden-Guest, 5th Baron Haden-Guest (born February 5, 1948) is an American-British screenwriter, composer, musician, director, actor, and comedian. Guest is most widely known in Hollywood for having written, directed, and starred in ...
's subsequent
mockumentary
A mockumentary (a blend of ''mock'' and ''documentary''), fake documentary or docu-comedy is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events but presented as a documentary.
These productions are often used to analyze or comment on c ...
films, are shot in Super 16 mm.
The first three seasons of ''
Stargate SG-1
''Stargate SG-1'' (often stylized in all caps, or abbreviated ''SG-1'') is a military science fiction Adventure fiction, adventure television series within Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's Stargate, ''Stargate'' franchise. The show, created by Brad Wrigh ...
'' (bar the season 3 finale and the effects shots) were shot in 16 mm, before switching to 35 mm for later seasons.
Peter Jackson
Sir Peter Robert Jackson (born 31 October 1961) is a New Zealand film director, screenwriter and producer. He is best known as the director, writer and producer of the ''Lord of the Rings'' trilogy (2001–2003) and the ''Hobbit'' trilogy ( ...
's 1992 zombie comedy ''
Braindead'' was shot on Super 16mm, so that more of its $3 million budget could be spent on its extensive gore effects.
The 2009
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
winner for Best Picture, ''
The Hurt Locker
''The Hurt Locker'' is a 2008 American war thriller film directed by Kathryn Bigelow and written by Mark Boal. It stars Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Christian Camargo, Ralph Fiennes, David Morse, and Guy Pearce. The film follo ...
'', was shot using
Aaton
Aaton Digital (formerly known as Aaton) is a French motion picture equipment manufacturer, based in Grenoble, France.
History
Aaton was founded by Eclair engineer Jean-Pierre Beauviala, whose efforts have been primarily focused on making quiet ...
Super 16 mm cameras and
Fujifilm
, trading as Fujifilm, or simply Fuji, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, operating in the realms of photography, optics, office and medical electronics, biotechnology, and chemicals.
The offerings from th ...
16 mm film stocks. The cost savings over 35 mm allowed the production to utilize multiple cameras for many shots, exposing over one million feet of film.
British Napoleonic-era TV drama ''
Sharpe'' was shot on Super 16 mm right through to the film ''
Sharpe's Challenge
''Sharpe's Challenge'' is a British TV film from 2006, usually shown in two parts, which is part of an ITV series based on Bernard Cornwell's historical fiction novels about the British soldier Richard Sharpe during the Napoleonic Wars. Contra ...
'' (2006). For the last film in the series, ''
Sharpe's Peril
''Sharpe's Peril'' is a British TV film from 2008, usually shown in two parts, which is part of an ITV series based on Bernard Cornwell's historical fiction novels about the English soldier Richard Sharpe during the Napoleonic Wars. Unlike mo ...
'' (2008), the producers switched to 35 mm.
''
Moonrise Kingdom
''Moonrise Kingdom'' is a 2012 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film directed by Wes Anderson, written by Anderson and Roman Coppola, and starring Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, Jason Schwartzman, ...
'' was shot using super 16 mm.
Darren Aronofsky shot ''
mother!
''Mother!'' (stylized as ''mother!'') is a 2017 American psychological horror film written and directed by Darren Aronofsky, and starring Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Ed Harris, Michelle Pfeiffer, Domhnall Gleeson, Brian Gleeson, and Kr ...
'' on 16 mm.
Linus Sandgren
Linus Sandgren (born 5 December 1972) is a Swedish cinematographer, known for his collaborations with directors Damien Chazelle, David O. Russell, Gus Van Sant, and the duo of Måns Mårlind and Björn Stein. He is known for his use of unique ...
shot most of the 2018 biographical drama ''
First Man'' on Super 16.
Spike Lee
Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, has produced more than 35 films since 1983. He made his directorial debut ...
shot the Netflix film ''
Da 5 Bloods
''Da 5 Bloods'' is a 2020 American war drama film directed, produced, and co-written by Spike Lee. It stars Delroy Lindo, Jonathan Majors, Clarke Peters, Johnny Trí Nguyễn, Norm Lewis, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Mélanie Thierry, Paul Walter Hause ...
'' flashback scenes on 16 mm film. This is part of the reason cinematographer Newton Thomas Sigel was considered for an Oscar nomination. ''The Insider'' reports that Netflix was "initially concerned about having the movie's flashback scenes shot on grainy 16 mm film ... There was pushback because it opened up a lot of challenges." According to Sigel, the film stock Lee wanted to use was expensive because it is rarely used. It would be even more expensive to shoot on 16mm film while on location in Vietnam and then ship the film back to the United States to be processed at a film lab. Lee was "pretty adamant" about using 16mm for the flashbacks; Sigel said "I would never have been able to do it without such fervent support from him." Sigel had pitched to Lee the idea to shoot the Vietnam sequences using the kind of camera and film stock that would have been available during the Vietnam era.
Digital 16 mm
A number of digital cameras approximate the look of the 16 mm format by using 16 mm-sized sensors and taking 16 mm lenses. These cameras include the Ikonoskop A-Cam DII (2008) and the
Digital Bolex
Digital Bolex was a partnership between Cinemeridian, Inc. and Ienso Canada, an engineering company, to develop the Digital Bolex D16 digital cinema camera. Development was funded via a successful Kickstarter in March 2012, raising $262,661.
O ...
(2012). The
Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera (2013) and the
Blackmagic Micro Cinema Camera (2015) has a Super 16-sized sensor. The
Z CAM Z Cam may refer to:
* Z Camelopardalis
Z Camelopardalis (Z Cam) is a cataclysmic variable star system in the northern constellation of Camelopardalis. It has an apparent visual magnitude which varies between 9.8 and 14.5. This ...
E2G (2019) even offers Digital 16 mm in 4K and with a global shutter.
Cameras
Professional cameras
The professional industry tends to use 16 mm cameras from
Aaton
Aaton Digital (formerly known as Aaton) is a French motion picture equipment manufacturer, based in Grenoble, France.
History
Aaton was founded by Eclair engineer Jean-Pierre Beauviala, whose efforts have been primarily focused on making quiet ...
and
Arri
The Arri Group () is a German manufacturer of motion picture film equipment. Based in Munich, the company was founded in 1917. It produces professional motion picture cameras, lenses, lighting and post-production equipment. Hermann Simon menti ...
, most notably the Aaton Xtera, Aaton XTRprod,
Arriflex 16SR3, and Arriflex 416. Aaton also released the A-Minima, which is about the size of a video camcorder and is used for specialized filming requiring smaller, more versatile cameras.
Photo Sonics have special extremely high speed cameras for 16 mm that film at up to 1,000 frames per second.
Panavision
Panavision is an American motion picture equipment company founded in 1953 specializing in cameras and lenses, based in Woodland Hills, California. Formed by Robert Gottschalk as a small partnership to create anamorphic projection lenses during ...
has produced the Panaflex 16, nicknamed "Elaine".
Amateur cameras
For amateur, hobbyist, and student use, it is more economical to use older models from Arri, Aaton,
Auricon Auricon cameras were 16 mm film Single System sound-on-film motion picture cameras manufactured in the 1940s through the early 1980s. Auricon cameras are notable because they record sound directly onto an optical or magnetic track on the same film ...
,
Beaulieu,
Bell and Howell
Bell and Howell LLC is a U.S.-based services organization and former manufacturer of cameras, lenses, and motion picture machinery, founded in 1907 by two projectionists, and originally headquartered in Wheeling, Illinois. The company is now ...
,
Bolex
Bolex International S. A. is a Swiss manufacturer of motion picture cameras based in Yverdon located in Canton of Vaud. The most notable products of which are in the 16 mm and Super 16 mm formats. Originally Bol, the company was founded by ...
,
Canon
Canon or Canons may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base
* Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture
** Western ca ...
,
Cinema Products,
Eclair,
Keystone,
Krasnogorsk,
Mitchell
Mitchell may refer to:
People
*Mitchell (surname)
*Mitchell (given name)
Places Australia
* Mitchell, Australian Capital Territory, a light-industrial estate
* Mitchell, New South Wales, a suburb of Bathurst
* Mitchell, Northern Territo ...
, and others.
Film reproduction methods
Most original movie production companies that use film shoot on 35 mm. The 35 mm size must be converted or reduced to 16 mm for 16 mm systems. There are multiple ways of obtaining a 16 mm print from 35 mm. The preferred method is to strike a 16 mm negative from the original 35 mm negative and then make a print from the new 16 mm negative. A 16 mm negative struck from the original 35 mm negative is called an ''original''. A new 16 mm print made from a print with no negative is called a ''reversal''.
16 mm prints can be made from many combinations of size and format, each with a distinct, descriptive name:
* A 16 mm negative struck from an original 35 mm print is a ''print down''.
* A 16 mm negative struck from an original 16 mm print that was struck from a 35 mm original is a ''dupe down''.
* A 16 mm print struck directly from a 16 mm print is a ''double dupe''.
* A 16 mm print struck directly from a 35 mm print is a ''double dupe down''.
Film traders often refer to 16 mm prints by the print's production method, i.e., an ''original'', ''reversal'', ''dupe down'', ''double dupe'', or ''double dupe down''.
Color fading of old film and color recovery
Over time, the cyan, magenta and yellow dyes that form the image in color 16 mm film inevitably fade. The rate of deterioration depends on storage conditions and the film type. In the case of
Kodachrome
Kodachrome is the brand name for a color reversal film introduced by Eastman Kodak in 1935. It was one of the first successful color materials and was used for both cinematography and still photography. For many years Kodachrome was widely used ...
amateur and documentary films and
Technicolor
Technicolor is a series of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades.
Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films ...
IB (imbibition process) color prints, the dyes are so stable and the deterioration so slow that even prints now over 70 years old typically show no obvious problems.
Unfortunately, dyes in the far more common
Eastmancolor
Eastmancolor is a trade name used by Eastman Kodak for a number of related film and processing technologies associated with color motion picture production and referring to George Eastman, founder of Kodak.
Eastmancolor, introduced in 1950, was on ...
print film and similar products from other manufacturers are notoriously unstable. Prior to the introduction of a longer-lasting "low fade" type in 1979, Eastmancolor prints routinely suffered from easily seen color shift and fading within ten years. The dyes degrade at different rates, with magenta being the longest-lasting, eventually resulting in a pale reddish image with little if any other color discernible.
In the process of
digitizing
DigitizationTech Target. (2011, April). Definition: digitization. ''WhatIs.com''. Retrieved December 15, 2021, from https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/digitization is the process of converting information into a digital (i.e. computer- ...
old color films, even badly faded source material can sometimes be restored to full color through digital techniques that amplify the faded dye colors.
Technical specifications
![Fuji16mm64d](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9b/Fuji16mm64d.jpg)
* 7.62 mm per frame (40 frames per foot) for print stock—7.605 mm per frame for camera stock
* 122 m (400 feet) = about 11 minutes at 24 frame/s
* vertical pulldown
16 mm
* 1.37 aspect ratio
* enlarging ratio of 1:4.58 for 35 mm
Academy format
The Academy ratio of 1.375:1 (abbreviated as 1.37:1) is an aspect ratio of a frame of 35 mm film when used with 4-perf pulldown.Monaco, James. ''How to Read a Film: The Art, Technology, Language, History and Theory of Film and Media''. Rev. ...
prints
* ''camera aperture'': 10.26 by 7.49 mm (0.404 by 0.295 in)
* ''projector aperture'': 9.65 by 7.21 mm (0.380 by 0.284 in)
* ''projector aperture'' (1.85): 9.60 by 5.20 mm (0.378 by 0.205 in)
* ''TV station aperture'': 9.65 by 7.26 mm (0.380 by 0.286 in)
* ''TV transmission'': 9.34 by 7.01 mm (0.368 by 0.276 in)
* ''TV safe action'': 8.40 by 6.29 mm (0.331 by 0.248 in); corner radii: 1.67 mm (0.066 in)
* ''TV safe titles'': 7.44 by 5.61 mm (0.293 by 0.221 in); corner radii: 1.47 mm (0.058 in)
* 1 perforation per frame (may also be double perf, i.e. one on each side)
* ''Picture to sound separation'': sound in advance of picture by 26 frames for optical sound and 28 frames for magnetic.
Super 16
* 1.66 aspect ratio
* ''camera aperture'': 12.52 by 7.41 mm (0.493 by 0.292 in)
* ''projector aperture'' (full 1.66): 11.76 by 7.08 mm (0.463 by 0.279 in)
* ''projector aperture'' (1.85): 11.76 by 6.37 mm (0.463 by 0.251 in)
* 1 perforation per frame, always single perf
Ultra 16
* 1.85 aspect ratio
* ''camera aperture'': 11.66 mm by 7.49 mm (0.459 by 0.295 in)
* ''projector aperture'': 11.66 mm by 6.15 mm (0.459 by 0.242 in)
* 1 perforation per frame (may also be double perf, i.e. one on each side)
See also
Techniques
*
List of film formats
This list of motion picture film formats catalogues formats developed for shooting or viewing motion pictures, ranging from the Chronophotographe format from 1888, to mid-20th century Film format, formats such as the 1953 CinemaScope format, to m ...
*
Sync sound
*
Pilottone {{for, pilot tones in telecommunications, Pilot signal
Pilottone (or Pilotone) and the related neo-pilottone are special synchronization signals recorded by analog audio recorders designed for use in motion picture production, to keep sound and vi ...
Related film genres
*
Direct cinema
*
Cinéma vérité
Cinéma vérité (, , ; "truthful cinema") is a style of documentary filmmaking developed by Edgar Morin and Jean Rouch, inspired by Dziga Vertov's theory about Kino-Pravda. It combines improvisation with use of the camera to unveil truth or high ...
*
Docufiction
Docufiction (or docu-fiction) is the cinematographic combination of documentary and fiction, this term often meaning narrative film. It is a film genre which attempts to capture reality such as it is (as direct cinema or cinéma vérité) and ...
*
Ethnographic film
An ethnographic film is a non-fiction film, often similar to a documentary film, historically shot by Western filmmakers and dealing with non-Western people, and sometimes associated with anthropology. Definitions of the term are not definitive. ...
*
Ethnofiction
Ethnofiction refers to a subfield of ethnography which produces works that introduces art, in the form of storytelling, "thick descriptions and conversational narratives", and even first-person autobiographical accounts, into peer-reviewed academi ...
References
External links
Demonstration of a BBC 16mm film crew preparing to shootDiscussion and demonstration of 16mm film cameras by former BBC cameramanDemonstration of 'lacing up' a 16mm film camera written February 1, 2005, and accessed December 29, 2005.
DIY processing 16 mm– guide for DIY processing of black/white 16 mm film
Early list of films shot in Super16(
Wayback Machine
The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit based in San Francisco, California. Created in 1996 and launched to the public in 2001, it allows the user to go "back in time" and see ...
copy)
{{Authority control
Motion picture film formats