8mm Forum: Current Status of 35mm Film

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Topic: Current Status of 35mm Film

Paul Adsett
Film God

Posts: 5003
From: USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted July 28, 2011 11:25 AM

What is the current status of 35 mm film in Hollywood feature movie production? Is film still the preferred and dominant medium, or are most feature films now shot in hi-def digital?
Need to know for my upcoming film class.

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The best of all worlds- 8mm, super 8mm, 9.5mm, and HD Digital Projection,
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Allan Broadfield
Master Film Handler

Posts: 452
From: Bromley, Kent
Registered: Nov 2010

posted July 28, 2011 11:36 AM

Somebody supposedly in the know tells me that the next Bond film is originating on digital.

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Pasquale DAlessio
Film God

Posts: 3523
From: Bristol,RI, USA
Registered: May 2010

posted July 28, 2011 12:27 PM

Paul

You might find this article interesting from an earlier thread:

http://www.slate.com/id/2266654/pagenum/all/#p2

Well I wouldn't go looking for a job as a projectionist. My friend is a VP for a major theater chain here in the USA and they have all ready upgraded most of their equipment to digital. The ones they couldn't upgrade were closed. Fortunately they kept most of their employees. As far as a percentage I really don't know.

PatD

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Joe Caruso
Film God

Posts: 4105
From: USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted July 28, 2011 01:04 PM

If they go digital, is celluloid even needed to film with?

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Winbert Hutahaean
Film God

Posts: 5468
From: Nouméa, New Caledonia
Registered: Jun 2003

posted July 28, 2011 02:08 PM

Until now, we can still easy to distinguish film shot in digital vs. celluloid. Not because of the resolution (which I doubt I can). During the high speed scene, video is still inferior to celluloid. Do you know why?

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Winbert

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Paul Adsett
Film God

Posts: 5003
From: USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted July 28, 2011 07:45 PM

Ar Rob Young's suggestion, I carried out a survey of the IMDB Technical Specs for the current top 10 box office films. Here are the results:

1. Captain America 35mm Kodak Vision 2

2. Harry Potter 35mm Kodak Vision 2

3. Friends With Benefits - Digital HDTV

4. Transformers 35mm Kodak Vision 2

5. Horrible Bosses Digital HDTV

6. Zookeeper 35mm film

7. Cars 2 Digital

8. Winnie The Poo - not specified

9. Bad Teacher 35mm film

10. Midnight in Paris 35mm Kodak Vision 2

So 60% of the current top 10 box office movies originated on 35 mm film.
Looks like Hollywood still prefers film origination. [Smile]

--------------------
The best of all worlds- 8mm, super 8mm, 9.5mm, and HD Digital Projection,
Elmo GS1200 f1.0 2-blade
Eumig S938 Stereo f1.0 Ektar
Panasonic PT-AE4000U digital pj

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Kirkamus Anderson
Film Handler

Posts: 99
From: hoenberg
Registered: Feb 2011

posted July 28, 2011 08:21 PM

I work and live in Hollywood and I'll tell you most big budget features are still shot on 35mm.

RED and Alexa has taken over a fair share of the "commercial" market and ALL of the music video market. DSLR is slowly creeping up but as far as real productions and not indie stuff it's still not being used as much as people think.

Now adays everything has a D.I. and no one even comes close to cutting the negative. But 35mm is still alive and well from my perspective.

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John Clancy
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1954
From: Cornwall
Registered: Jun 2003

posted July 29, 2011 03:21 AM

Come on Winbert, give us the answer!

Very interesting thread Paul. Well done and good luck with your film class.

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British Film Collectors Convention home page www.bfcc.biz. The site is for the whole of the film collecting hobby and not just the BFCC.

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 525
From: Dallas, TX, USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted July 29, 2011 07:45 PM

I expect 35mm to continue to be used for photographing movies for a good while longer, but as far as exhibition, you can expect to see it completely gone in the US by 2013.

What I find more interesting are the aspect ratios:

quote:
1. Captain America 35mm Kodak Vision 2 - SCOPE

2. Harry Potter 35mm Kodak Vision 2 - SCOPE

3. Friends With Benefits - Digital HDTV - SCOPE

4. Transformers 35mm Kodak Vision 2 - SCOPE

5. Horrible Bosses Digital HDTV - SCOPE

6. Zookeeper 35mm film - SCOPE

7. Cars 2 Digital - SCOPE

8. Winnie The Poo - not specified - FLAT

9. Bad Teacher 35mm film - FLAT

10. Midnight in Paris 35mm Kodak Vision 2 (don't know)

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Winbert Hutahaean
Film God

Posts: 5468
From: Nouméa, New Caledonia
Registered: Jun 2003

posted July 30, 2011 08:56 AM

quote:
Come on Winbert, give us the answer!

John, actually my posting above is more to be my question.

However, since you were also asking, then I was looking for the answer and this is the answer (my interpretation) after running around the google.

It seems that everything shot on video, although the camera is set up with 24 fps (to have a film looks), however, the way of pictures taken is different with 35mm.

The HD video is taking picture by pixels not by frames. Secondly and most importantly, while 35mm using shutter wheel to create the pictures, HD video using scanning from left to right and from top to bottom in very speedy.

Now, what Brad mention above is true that today it is already in the market an HD VIdeo with rolling shutter (= shutter wheel?), i.e Arri D20 and D21. 4K resolution, 12bit 4:4:4. colorspace. The physical body of this camera does just look like today' 35mm camera.

If with this rolling shutter will create exactly like 35mm (because of frame by frame picture), like it or not, like Brad mentioned above,....bye-bye 35mm celluloid and cinema also will be full digital.

It is sad but true,

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Winbert

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John Clancy
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1954
From: Cornwall
Registered: Jun 2003

posted July 31, 2011 03:45 AM

I suppose it's inevitable Winbert. Thanks for looking it all up as your conclusions do make perfect sense.

Interestingly I have a video camera that takes images as good as my Super 8 Canon 814 but it cost several thousand pounds to get one up to that standard. The reason I mention this though is that if 1080 line professional cameras have reached the quality of Super 8 then 4000 line cameras won't be too many years away from the quality of 35mm, plus introducing proper shutters will no doubt hasten the day.

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British Film Collectors Convention home page www.bfcc.biz. The site is for the whole of the film collecting hobby and not just the BFCC.

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