LESSON 131
Film stocks for cinema
Gauges, negative and the last makers.
IN THIS LESSON
- What film stock is
- A short history
- The gauges
- Practice: why choose film today
What film stock is
Film stock is photographic film made for motion pictures. It is a long strip of transparent base coated with an emulsion of gelatin and tiny light-sensitive silver halide crystals. A brief exposure leaves an invisible image that development turns visible. Colour film has at least three sensitive layers, for blue, green and red, whose development by-products form coloured dyes. Most cinema film records a negative, which is printed onto another reel for projection or scanned for a digital finish; reversal film, which gives a positive directly, is the alternative.
A short history
Eastman's first motion picture stock was offered in 1889, and by 1916 separate cine types were sold. The early base was flammable nitrate; Kodak introduced a non-flammable 35 mm stock in 1909, and acetate safety film followed. Eastman Kodak's first 35 mm colour negative, Eastman Color Negative 5247, appeared in 1950, and the improved 5248 of 1952 was quickly taken up by Hollywood, replacing the expensive three-strip Technicolor process. When Fujifilm left the motion picture film business in 2013, Kodak remained the only major maker.
The gauges
Gauge means the width of the film. 35 mm, set by Edison's work in the 1890s, is the most common standard for films shot on film. Super 35 uses the same stock but extends the frame into the space once kept for the soundtrack; it became widespread in the mid-1990s. 16 mm, introduced by Kodak in 1923 as a cheaper amateur format, became the gauge of television, documentary and low-budget film, and Super 16 suits 16:9 well. 65 mm in the camera, printed on 70 mm, has a negative almost 3.5 times larger than standard 35 mm.
Practice: why choose film today
This is working practice. Film is chosen today for its look, its grain and its response to highlights, and for the discipline it brings to a set, since every take costs money. 16 mm and Super 16 give a textured, intimate image at modest cost; 35 mm gives the classic cinema look; 65 mm is for spectacle. Plan for processing and scanning in the budget, test the stock and the lab before the shoot, and treat exposed rolls as carefully as camera cards.
| Gauge | Introduced | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| 16 mm | 1923 (Kodak) | Documentary, television, low budget |
| 35 mm | 1890s (Edison) | Standard cinema |
| Super 35 | Revived 1980s, widespread mid-1990s | Cinema, cropped widescreen |
| 65 / 70 mm | Camera 65 mm, print 70 mm | Epics and spectacle |
Try it today
- 01Find out which gauge three recent films were shot on.
- 02Compare a scene shot on 16 mm with one shot on 35 mm.
- 03Note differences in grain, highlights and depth.
- 04Look up a lab near you and what processing and scanning cost.
- 05Write down which gauge would suit a short you have in mind.