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This focuses on motion picture film. For still photography film, see photographic film. Photography (fә'tɒgrәfi or fә'tɑːgrәfi (from Greek φωτο and γραφία is the process and Art of recording pictures by means of capturing This article is mainly concerned with Still photography film For Motion picture film please see Film stock.

Film stock is photographic film on which motion pictures are shot and reproduced. This article is mainly concerned with Still photography film For Motion picture film please see Film stock.

Contents

History

1889-1899

Modern motion picture film stock was first created thanks to the introduction of a transparent flexible film base material, celluloid, which was discovered and refined for photographic use thanks to the work of John Carbutt, Hannibal Goodwin, and George Eastman. A film base is a transparent substrate which acts as a support medium for the Photosensitive Emulsion that lies atop it Celluloid is the name of a class of compounds created from Nitrocellulose and Camphor, plus dyes and other agents The Reverend Hannibal Goodwin (1822-1900 an Episcopal priest at the House of Prayer in Newark New Jersey patented a method for making transparent flexible roll George Eastman ( July 12, 1854 – March 14, 1932) founded the Eastman Kodak Company and invented Roll film, helping to Prior to this, most motion picture experiments were performed using paper roll film, which made it difficult if not impossible to view the developed film as a single continuous moving image without other complex apparatuses. Furthermore, the paper film was much more fragile than celluloid.

Eastman Kodak would become the first to make celluloid film commercially available, starting in 1889; Thomas Henry Blair emerged in 1891 as the first major competitor for supplying celluloid film. Eastman Kodak Company ( is an American multinational Public company which produces imaging and photographic materials and equipment The stock had a frosted base in order to facilitate easier viewing by transmitted back light, and the emulsions from each company were orthochromatic. Orthochromatic refers to any spectrum of light that is devoid of red light By November 1891 William Dickson at Edison's lab was using Blair's stock for Kinetoscope tests, and Blair's company remained a main supplier of film to the Edison lab for the next five years. William Kennedy Laurie Dickson (3 August 1860 &ndash 28 September 1935 was an Anglo - Scottish Inventor who devised an early motion picture The Kinetoscope is an early motion picture exhibition device Though not a Movie projector —it was designed for films to be viewed individually through the window Blair's operation was also crucial to the continued development of motion picture technology through 1892 and 1893, due to temporary shutdowns at Eastman because of problems with their production setup. Eventually patent lawsuits in 1893 led to Blair leaving his American company and starting again in Britain, which allowed Eastman to gradually fill the entirety of the Edison lab's film orders. Blair's new headquarters allowed him to supply many of the key European filmmaking pioneers, including Birt Acres, Robert Paul, George Albert Smith, Charles Urban, and the Lumiere Brothers. Birt Acres ( July 23, 1854 &ndash1918 born in Richmond, Virginia, USA of English parents was a photographer and film pioneer Robert Paul (born June 2, 1937) was a Canadian Figure skater, who competed in pairs with Barbara Wagner. George Albert Smith ( January 4, 1864, Brighton England - May 17, 1959) was an inventor a stage hypnotist, Psychic Charles Urban ( 14 April 1867, Cincinnati - 29 August 1942, Brighton) was an Anglo-American film producer and distributor The American Blair company was to be short-lived, however, as by 1896 the new movie projector would demand a fully transparent film base that they had difficulty supplying. This article is concerned with technical aspects of moving film projection Eastman shortly thereafter bought the company out, thus consolidating its position as the leading supplier of film stock from then on. These developments also led Louis Lumiere to work with Victor Planchon on adapting the Lumiere "Blue Label" (Etiquette Bleue) photographic plate emulsion for use on celluloid roll film, which began in early 1896 and was brought to full production capacity by the following year.

Eastman's first motion picture film stock incorporated the same emulsion as was used for its still film, which was, like nearly all film emulsion of the time, orthochromatic-sensitive. Orthochromatic refers to any spectrum of light that is devoid of red light Film at this point did not have a strictly defined speed; rather, the orthochromatic quality of the stock allowed the film to be processed under a red safelight, while the density was checked as development was occurring. Safelight is light used in a photographic Darkroom and is designed to provide illumination without that part of the light spectrum to which the material in use is sensitive Standard practice until the end of the silent era involved tearing off several inches from the start of each shot and testing development on it. Positive stock was created that would be slower, finer-grained, and of a higher contrast than a negative; all of these characteristics remain consistent to this day.

From 1895, Eastman supplied their motion picture roll film in rolls of 65 feet, while Blair's rolls were 75 feet. If longer lengths were needed, the unexposed negative rolls could be cemented in a darkroom, but this was largely undesirable by most narrative filmmakers. A darkroom is a workspace usually a separate area in a building or a vehicle made dark to allow Photographers to use Light -sensitive materials to develop film Actuality films were much more eager to undertake this method, however, in order to depict longer actions, and created cemented rolls as long as 1000 feet. The actuality film is a non-fiction Film genre that like the Documentary film uses footage of real events places and things yet unlike the documentary is not structured American Mutoscope and Biograph was the first known company to use this, for the Jeffries-Sharkey fight on November 3, 1899. The American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, was a motion picture company founded in 1895 and active until 1928 James Jackson Jeffries ("The Boilermaker " ( April 15, 1875 in Carroll Ohio – March 3, 1953 in Burbank "Sailor" Tom Sharkey ( November 26, 1873 - April 17, 1953) was a boxer who fought two fights with Heavyweight champion Events 644 - Umar ibn al-Khattab, the second Muslim Caliph, is killed by a Persian slave in Medina. Year 1899 ( MDCCCXCIX) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common

1900-1919

Work on improved film stocks was rather slow in the first decade of the new century, as the equipment and formats, particularly, were still in the process of gradually standardizing. This list of Film formats catalogues formats developed for shooting or viewing Motion pictures, ranging from the Chronophotographe format from 1888 to mid-20th century With a large number of differing film gauges in use, supplying a market still in its infancy was likely a difficult task, and Eastman was able to retain the majority of the market share without making major adjustments to the emulsion; their only major change was to increase the length of rolls to 200 feet. Film gauge is a physical property of Film stock which defines its width Lumiere, on the other hand, reformulated their stock to match the speed of Eastman film, which became known as "Violet Label" (Etiquette Violette). Blair retired back to the United States after selling his English company to Pathe in 1907, who began using the facilities for producing their own film stock. This article deals with the Pathé movie company For their music business see Pathé Records. This sale had future repercussions among film preservation, as Pathe began to supplement their operation in 1910 by purchasing film prints in order to strip the silver and emulsion from the film base for recoating.

As the quantity of film and filmmakers grew in these early years, the demand for standardization increased in prominence. 35 mm film, largely thanks to the popularity of the Edison and Lumiere camera lines (and their often unauthorized clones) had begun to stabilize as the dominant gauge, but still was usually purchased unperforated, and subsequently punched by the consumer with perforation equipment designed by third parties. 35 mm film is the basic Film gauge most commonly used for both still Photography and Motion pictures, and remains relatively unchanged since its Although Edison (4 square perfs per frame on each side) and Lumiere (1 rounded perf per frame on each side) formats - based on the camera designs - were the most common, the perforators were not always precise, and it could be difficult to create prints for the opposite perforation format. Edison's organization of the Motion Picture Patents Trust, though largely ineffective in controlling the burgeoning film industry, was able in 1909 to agree to what would become the de facto standard: 35 mm gauge, with Edison perforations and a 1. The Motion Picture Patents Company (MPPC also known as the Edison Trust) founded in December 1908 was a trust of all the major film companies ( Edison 33 aspect ratio. The aspect ratio of an Image is its width divided by its height These parameters have remained largely constant to the present day. [1]

The Bell and Howell company perforators entered the market in 1908 and very shortly were recognized as exceptional enough to pervade the American industry. Böwe Bell & Howell is a US -based former Manufacturer of Motion picture machinery Eastman Kodak was also quick to opt to use the machine to pre-perforate their films, which assured the perforation specifications being adopted as the world standard not long after. These perforations, known as BH-type, remain the standard for original camera negative film. The original camera negative (OCN is the film in a Motion picture camera which captures the original image

The belle epoque era also saw the creation of numerous small, local film suppliers, the vast majority of which were short-lived due to their smaller production batches, slower emulsions (which were also usually blue-only sensitive rather than orthochromatic), and inferior quality control. Among these companies, Agfa began to produce motion picture film in 1913, but remained a largely local supplier until post-World War I boycotts of popular French films allowed the newly-founded UFA film studio to flourish and thus boosted Agfa's orders. Universum Film AG, better known as Ufa or UFA, was the principal film studio in Germany, home of the German film industry during the Weimar Republic

Among the foremost problems with the film stocks of this era was that they were all manufactured on a nitrate film base, which was a derivate of guncotton and thus highly flammable. Nitrocellulose (also cellulose nitrate, flash paper) is a highly flammable compound formed by Nitrating Cellulose through exposure to A film base is a transparent substrate which acts as a support medium for the Photosensitive Emulsion that lies atop it Additionally, nitrate fires were notoriously difficult to put out, as even full submersion in water will not stop the fire. This had led to a significant number of fatal accidents in theatrical projection booths, where the heat of the projector lamp made ignition most likely. As the amateur filmmaking market slowly developed at the beginning of the 20th century, Kodak began to develop a more heat-resistant "safety base" which could be easily projected without incident even at home by those with no prior experience. Early tests in 1909 showed cellulose diacetate to be a viable replacement base, and Kodak began selling acetate-base films the following year in 22 mm widths for Edison's work on the Home Kinetoscope, which was commercially released in 1912. In the wake of the availability of safety film, more amateur formats began to adopt it, and several, including Kodak's own 16 mm format, were designed specifically so that the only film stocks released for the format specifications would be safety base.

Kodak also continued to refine their camera negative stock during the late 1910s, releasing Cine Negative Film Type E in 1916 and Type F (later known as Negative Film Par Speed Type 1201) in 1917. As both of these orthochromatic films were no faster than previous offerings, it has been suggested that the improvements most likely were in regards to granularity and sharpness.

1920s

The 1920s proved to be the decade in which film stock manufacturers began to diversify their offerings. Prior to this, each manufacturer only offered one negative stock (usually orthochromatic) and one print stock. In 1920, a variant of Type F film known as X-back was created in order to counteract the effects of static electricity on the film, which can cause sparking and create odd exposure patterns on the film. This was created through the use of a resin backing on the film, which also had the effect of rendering the film too opaque to allow focusing through the back of the film - a common technique for many of the contemporary cameras of that era. As the static electricity was more likely to occur in colder climates, the X-back stock was mainly popular in the East Coast of the US. Other manufacturers also began to emerge in the 1920s as well, including American E.I. Dupont de Nemours in 1926 and Belgian Gevaert in 1925. E I du Pont de Nemours and Company (,) is an American chemical company that was founded in July 1802 as a Gunpowder mill by Eleuthère Irénée

Conversion of the industry from orthochromatic to panchromatic stocks was initiated by Kodak over the course of the decade. Orthochromatic refers to any spectrum of light that is devoid of red light Panchromatic film is a type of Black-and-white Photographic film that is sensitive to all Wavelengths of Visible light. First used for exterior sequences in The Last of the Mohicans in 1920 and originally only available as a special order product, the stock's increased sensitivity in the red-light range meant greater overall light sensitivity and made it an attractive option for day for night shooting. The Last of the Mohicans is a 1920 film version of James Fenimore Cooper 's novel with the same name. Day for night, also known as nuit américaine (" American night " is the name of a cinematographic technique to simulate a night Kodak financed a feature in 1922 shot entirely with the panchromatic stock, The Headless Horseman, in order to promote the stock when it was introduced as a standard option; however, the fairly higher price of the stock compared to the orthochromatic emulsion meant that no other films would shot entirely with the panchromatic stock for several years. The cross-cutting between panchromatic and orthochromatic stocks also was noted to cause continuity problems particularly with regard to costume tones, and thus was often avoided. The dominance of orthochromatic film lasted until the mid 1920s due to Kodak's lack of competition in the panchromatic market; Gevaert emerged onto the market in 1925 with a dual product line of an orthochromatic stock with limited color sensitivity as well as a full panchromatic stock, Pan-23. This latter product likely encouraged Kodak to respond, and in 1926 they lowered the price of panchromatic stock to parity with the standard orthochromatic offering. Without any economic barrier remaining, the panchromatic stock began to overtake the orthochromatic stock's market share within a few years, as the cinematographers gradually became more familiar with the stock. [2] With similar panchromatic offerings also made around the same period by Agfa and Pathe, the shift to panchromatic stocks had largely been completed by 1928.

Color films

Experiments with color films were made as early as the late 19th century, but practical color emulsions for amateur use were not produced until Kodak introduced Kodachrome for 16mm in 1935 and 8mm in 1936. Kodachrome is the trademarked name of a brand of color reversal film sold by Eastman Kodak.

Before 1941, none of the color film processes for professional motion pictures used a color emulsion film stock. Kinemacolor (1908–1914), Technicolor processes 1 through 4 (1917–1954), and Cinecolor used one, two or three strips of monochrome film stock sensitized to certain primary colors or exposed behind color filters in special cameras. Kinemacolor was the first successful colour Motion picture process used commercially from 1908 to 1914 Technicolor is the trademark for a series of color film processes pioneered by Technicolor Motion Picture Corporation Cinecolor was an early Subtractive color -model two color Film process based upon the Prizma system of the 1910s and 1920s and the Multicolor Technicolor introduced a color reversal stock, called Monopack, for location shooting in 1941; it was basically a 35mm version of Kodachrome that could be used in standard motion picture cameras. In Photography, a reversal film is a still positive image created on a transparent base using photochemical means Eastman Kodak came out with the first 35mm color negative stock, Eastman Color Negative film 5247, in 1950. A higher quality version in 1952, Eastman Color Negative film 5248, was quickly adopted by Hollywood for color motion picture production, replacing both the expensive three-strip Technicolor process and Monopack.

Classification and properties

There are several variables in classifying stocks; in practice, one orders raw stock by a code number, based on desired sensitivity to light.

Base

Further information: Film base

A piece of film consists of a light-sensitive emulsion applied to a tough, transparent base, sometimes attached to anti-halation backing or "rem-jet" layer (now only on camera films). A film base is a transparent substrate which acts as a support medium for the Photosensitive Emulsion that lies atop it An emulsion ( IPA: /ɪˈmʌlʃən/ is a mixture of two Immiscible (unblendable liquids A film base is a transparent substrate which acts as a support medium for the Photosensitive Emulsion that lies atop it An anti-halation backing is a layer found in modern Photographic films It is placed between the light-sensitive Emulsion and the tough Film base, or sometimes Originally the highly flammable cellulose nitrate was used. Nitrocellulose (also cellulose nitrate, flash paper) is a highly flammable compound formed by Nitrating Cellulose through exposure to In the 1930s, film manufacturers introduced "safety film" with a cellulose triacetate plastic base. Because of the highly flammable nature of cellulose Nitrate film, by the beginning of the 20th century manufacturers had begun to introduce Cellulose acetate as a safe alternative All amateur film stocks were safety film, but the use of nitrate persisted for professional releases. Kodak discontinued the manufacture of nitrate base in 1951, and the industry transitioned entirely to safety film in 1951 in the United States and by 1955 internationally. Eastman Kodak Company ( is an American multinational Public company which produces imaging and photographic materials and equipment The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Since the late 1990s, almost all release prints have used polyester film stock. Polyester is a category of Polymers which contain the Ester Functional group in their main chain

Emulsion

The emulsion is comprised of silver halide grains suspended in a gelatin colloid; in the case of color film, there are three layers of silver halide, which are mixed with color couplers and interlayers that filter specific light spectra. A silver halide is one of the compounds formed between Silver and one of the Halogens &mdash Silver bromide (AgBr chloride Gelatin (also gelatine, from French gélatine) is a translucent colourless brittle nearly tasteless solid substance, extracted from the Dye coupler is present in Chromogenic film and paper used in Photography, primarily color photography These end up creating yellow, cyan, and magenta layers in the negative after development. Cyan (saɪæn from Greek κυανός / kyanos, meaning "blue" may be used as the name of any of a number of a range of colors in the blue/green part of Magenta is a purplish red Color evoked by lights with less power in yellowish-green Wavelengths than in blue and red wavelengths ( complements of magenta have

Chemistry

Development chemistry applied to an appropriate film can produce either a positive (showing the same densities and colours as the subject) or negative image (with dark highlights, light shadows, and, in principle, complementary colours). In photography a negative may refer to three different things although they are all related The first films were darkened by light: negative films. Later films that produce a positive image became known as reversal films; processed transparent film of this type can be projected onto a screen. In Photography, a reversal film is a still positive image created on a transparent base using photochemical means Negative images need to be transferred onto photographic paper or other substrate which reverses the image again, producing a final positive image. Creating a positive image from a negative film can alo be done by scanning the negative to create a computer file which can then be reversed by software.

Image record

Different emulsions and development processes exist for a variety of image recording possibilities: the two most common of which are black and white, and color. However, there are also variant types, such as infrared film (in black and white or false color); specialist technical films, such as those used for X-rays; and obsolete processes, such as orthochromatic film. A false-color image is an image that depicts a subject in Colors that differ from those a faithful full-color photograph would show X-radiation (composed of X-rays) is a form of Electromagnetic radiation. Orthochromatic refers to any spectrum of light that is devoid of red light Generally, however, the vast majority of stock used today is "normal" (visible spectrum) color, although "normal" black and white also commands a significant minority percentage.

Physical characteristics

Film is also classified according to its gauge and the arrangement of its perforations— gauges range from 8 mm to 70 mm or more, while perforations may vary in shape, pitch, and positioning. Film gauge is a physical property of Film stock which defines its width Film perforations, also known as perfs, are the holes placed in the Film stock during manufacturing and used for transporting (via Sprockets and claws and 8 mm film is a motion picture film format in which the filmstrip is eight Millimeters wide 70 mm film (or 65 mm film) is a wide high-resolution film gauge of superior quality to standard 35 mm motion picture film format. The film is also distinguished by how it is wound with regard to perforations and base or emulsion side, as well as whether it is packaged around a core, a daylight spool, or within a cartridge. Depending on the manufacturing processes and camera equipment, lengths can vary anywhere from 25 to 2000 feet. Common lengths include 25 feet for 8 mm, 50 feet for Super 8, 100 and 400 feet for 16 mm, 400 and 1000 feet for 35 mm, and 1000 for 65/70 mm. Super 8 mm film, also simply called Super 8, is a motion picture film format released in 1965 by Eastman Kodak as an improvement of the

Responsivity

A critical property of a stock is its film speed, determined by ASA or its sensitivity to light listed by a measurement on the raw stock which must be chosen with care. Film speed is the measure of a photographic film's sensitivity to Light. The original camera negative (OCN is the film in a Motion picture camera which captures the original image Speed determines the range of lighting conditions under which the film can be shot, and is related to granularity and contrast, which influence the look of the image. Film grain or granularity is the random optical texture of processed Photographic film due to the presence of small grains of a metallic silver developed from The stock manufacturer will usually give an exposure index (EI) number equal to the ASA which they recommend exposing for. However, factors such as forced or non-standard development (such as bleach bypass or cross processing), compensation for filters or shutter angle, as well as intended under- and over-exposure may cause the cinematographer to actually "rate" the stock differently from the EI. Bleach bypass, also known as skip bleach or silver retention, is an Optical effect which entails either the partial or complete skipping of the Bleaching Cross processing (sometimes abbreviated to xpro) is the procedure of deliberately processing Photographic film in a chemical solution intended for a different Motion picture cameras film is exposed as a pie-shaped mirror called a rotary disc shutter, rotates in front of the Film gate. This new rating is not a change to the stock itself - it is merely a way of calculating exposure without figuring out the compensation after each light reading.

Color temperature

Another important quality of color film stock in particular is its color balance, which is defined by the color temperature at which it accurately records white. In Photography and Image processing, color balance is the global adjustment of the intensities of the colors (typically red green and blue Primary colors Color temperature is a characteristic of Visible light that has important applications in lighting photography videography publishing and other fields Tungsten lighting is defined at 3200 K, which is considered "warmer" in tone and shifted towards orange; daylight is defined at 5500 K, which is considered "colder" and shifted towards blue. Daylight or the light of day is the combination of all direct and indirect Sunlight outdoors during the daytime (and perhaps Twilight) This means that unfiltered tungsten stock will look normal shot under tungsten lights, but blue if shot during daylight. Obversely, daylight stock shot in daylight will look normal, but orange if shot under tungsten lights. Color temperature issues such as these can be compensated for by other factors such as lens filters and color gels placed in front of the lights. The color temperature of a film stock is generally indicated next to the film speed number - e. g. 500T stock is color film stock with an ASA of 500 and balanced for tungsten light; 250D would have an ASA of 250 and be balanced for daylight.

While black and white film has no color temperature itself, the silver halide grains themselves tend to be slightly more responsive to blue light, and therefore will have daylight and tungsten speeds - e. g. Kodak's Double-X stock is rated 250D/200T, since the tungsten light will give slightly less exposure than an equivalent amount of daylight.

Deterioration

Motion picture film is known to be a highly unstable medium: improperly preserved film can deteriorate in a period of time much faster than many photographs or other visual presentations. Owners of home-made films often find that their film can become brittle and unwatchable in the space of a few years. Decaying acetate film stock gives off an odor similar to that of vinegar, which is why film buffs often refer to such decaying as "vinegar syndrome. Vinegar is an acidic liquid processed from the Fermentation of Ethanol in a process that yields its key ingredient Acetic acid (also called ethanoic acid Because of the highly flammable nature of cellulose Nitrate film, by the beginning of the 20th century manufacturers had begun to introduce Cellulose acetate as a safe alternative "

Intermediate and print stocks

The distinction between camera stocks and print stocks involves a difference in the recording process. When the work print or edit master has been approved, the original camera negative (OCN) is assembled by a negative cutter using the edited work print or EDL (edit decision list) as a guide. Negative Cutting (also known as Negative Matching and Negative Conforming) is the process of cutting motion picture negative to match precisely the final edit as specified An answer print is then made from the cut negative. During the answer print stage, corrections in the film's density and color are corrected (timed) to the filmmakers' tastes. Interpositive (IP) prints are struck from the answerprint, checked to make sure they look the same as the custom timed answer print and each IP is then used to make one or more Dupe Negative (DN) copies. The release prints are then generated from the DN(s). A release print is the reel of film that is sent to a movie theater for exhibition Recently, with the development of digital intermediate (DI), it has become possible to completely edit, composite visual effects, and color grade the image digitally at full resolution and bit-depth. Digital intermediate (often abbreviated as DI) describes the process of digitizing a Motion picture and manipulating color and other image characteristics to change In this workflow, the answer print is generated digitally and then written out to the IP stage using a laser film printer.

Due to the specialized nature of the exposure and the higher degree of control afforded by the film lab equipment, these intermediate and release stocks are specially designed solely for these applications and are generally not feasible for camera shooting. Because intermediates only function to maintain the image information accurately across duplication, each manufacturer tends to only produce one or two different intermediate stocks. Similarly, release print stocks usually are available only in two varieties: a "normal" print or a deluxe print (on more-costly print film like Kodak Vision Premiere) with slightly greater saturation and contrast.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ The gauge and perforations are more or less identical to modern film stock; the full silent ratio is also generally still used as the film gate in movie cameras, although portions of the image are later cropped out in post-production and projection. The film gate is the rectangular opening in the front of a Motion picture camera where the film is exposed to light
  2. ^ There was apparently some question as to differences in relative contrast between the two stocks. As Barry Salt notes, "this claim is almost impossible to substantiate now, given the extreme difficulty there is in seeing a reasonable number of original prints of films shot on both stocks. " (Salt, Film Style and Technology: History and Analysis, p. 179)

References

External links

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