Film Formats
Now we are going to get a bit technical. Don't worry, unless you want to become a professional projectionist, memorizing the following is unnecessary. Why? Because, if you are renting a cinema venue with a resident professional projectionist, s/he will know all of this. If you are renting a space and hiring a projectionist, s/he should know all of this. Use the following to make sure that whomever you hire as a projectionist knows his/her stuff! And, of course, use it to give yourself an education in one of the most important aspects of film exhibition-even if much of what follows seems a tad esoteric. Remember, the more you know, the less likely something will go wrong on the night of your event.
35mm film:
This is the basic format for commercial cinema projection and has been the most common form of film projection since 1895 when it was used for the first time to show a film to an audience in Paris. We owe the discovery of the 35mm film format to Thomas Edison who ordered the first role of customized film for use in a film viewer called a kinetoscope. For many years 35mm film was referred to as "Edison Film". Today 35mm film is still the most common format used in commercial cinemas albeit the methods of projection have changed dramatically in the last one hundred years.
16mm film:
Sometime in the early 1920s Kodak launched the 16mm film format. Intended for the amateur market, it quickly became popular for low-budget films, educational and training uses, and student productions, eventually finding a professional niche in the television industry. Many documentaries, made-for-TV features and featurettes, shorts, experimental films and student works are still shot in 16mm. However, video formats have similar portability aspects as 16mm, and offer a much cleaner picture, significantly better sound quality, and are rapidly replacing 16mm. The cost is also far less, as no lab is needed to process and print film.
Commercially available 16mm projection is getting rare these days and rentals of good 16mm projectors are available only in the larger urban centres, and are quite pricey. In addition, most that are available are not powerful enough to give you a sufficiently big and bright picture in larger venues. Cinémathèques have the best projectors and operators since they run 16mm fairly regularly. In addition you will likely find that some independent cinemas, theatres in educational institutions, artist-run cinemas and the occasional film society still use 16mm projectors.
Specialty Formats:
- Imax: Generally, films are made specifically for this unique format. However, it is possible to run a standard 70mm print through an Imax projector; so you could have a special presentation of, for example, Lawrence of Arabia in an Imax theatre.
- Cinerama: Not many films exist in this wrap-around screen format which requires three synchronized projectors to run. However, there seems to be a growing interest in the revival of this '60s format in the US, so perhaps it is on its way to Canada.
- 3-D: You need two projectors to screen this format; and of course those nifty little red-green specs to see it. There are only a few dozen titles on film in this format, but they certainly provide novelty! For videos, DVDs and all that nifty gear, check out www.3dstereo.com. For general information on the 3-D world go to www.stereoscopy.com.
