Pandora's Briefcase: It's in the Can

For those who haven't twigged yet, Pandora's Briefcase contains my collection of obsolete media storage mediums. "Obsolete" is a fairly nebulous term, and today's entry is a fine example of that.

"I'm off to see a film tonight!"


"Not likely... You may be off to see a digitally-projected Motion Picture though!"

Now, before all the nay-sayers scream "cinematic film-projection is NOT dead!", I offer you this little questionnaire: 
1. How far away from your home is your nearest cinema?
2. How far away from your home is your nearest cinema that uses a film projector?

To make it easier for my local Hobart readers, in early 2012 Village Cinemas Australia converted all of their auditoriums and cinemas to Digital Projectors. The State Cinema uses (what appear to be ceiling mounted, average quality) domestic Digital Projectors. CMax Devonport's website states: "The very latest NEW Digital projectors from the world’s foremost supplier BARCO from Europe, have been installed to bring CMax into the full digital world providing huge new boundaries of quality definition, dozens of times clearer than your home TV. You may remember the past “Best Standard Projection” was 70mm film these new projectors surpass that standard." Burnie Metro, with its total of four screens, "is currently equipped with 2 cinemas in (Digital) format with more cinemas coming soon." So maybe Burnie?

For all its scratch-free crispness, Digital Cinema does have its problems - made obvious by this little collection:

Let's start at the top of the picture.

Super 8

This is the only motion picture film format that I have personally used; in fact the example shown is footage I shot for a grade eleven Film & Television final production. Would you believe that that is a Dalek from "Doctor Who and the Echelon Complex" going up in flames? 

The rest of the colour "celluloid" collection I purchased in three metre lengths on eBay. Due to copyright restrictions, the supplier was required to "strip-mark" the film, hence the lines through the middle of the film.

16mm

Super 8 on the left, then colour and B&W 16mm film.

I don't have any Standard 8 film samples (see here for the differences between Standard and Super 8) so lets move on to 16mm film.

These examples both have audio recorded optically onto the film, seen on the right hand side.

This appears to be some kind of Craft Instruction film...

Yes, that is Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, on a roll of 16mm black and white film, found at a refuse-reuse shop amongst what appeared to be the last of the local ABC TV film news reels. It is also where I bought the round film can. After some lengthy sleuthing I was able to determine that it was footage from their arrival in Naples on the twelfth of November, 1973. I stumbled upon some footage shot from another (inferior) angle here.

35mm



This appears to come from an automobile advertisement, and is an example of an anamorphic print. A special lens on the projector would have un-squished the image to widescreen format, to look more like this:

(With apologies to the now-fat-nude-rude-mini-fig-dude!)

70mm

The larger the area of film a single frame takes up, the larger the screen an image can be projected on before film-grain becomes apparent.

Les Porter?

Space on one side of a 70mm film was originally still taken up by audio tracks, until finally a digital audio recording was played off a separate disk, with a timecode track on the film keeping the audio synchronised. You will note that, as with Super 8, 16mm and the 35mm examples above, this 70mm film also has its frames "stacked" up and down the length of the film.

IMAX

IMAX films are also printed on 70mm film, but the frames run side by side (a technique used briefly with 35mm film years earlier with VistaVision), are ten times larger than a conventional 35mm film frame, and three times larger than a standard 70mm film frame. As with all the other film formats,  IMAX has also gone digital, which debuted in 2008.  A laser projector that has a higher projection resolution will be available to exhibitors in the fourth quarter of 2013.

You can really knock yourself out with all the different motion picture film formats that have been, with a visit to Wikipedia. The list is HUGE!

So, back to my statement at the beginning: For all its scratch-free crispness, Digital Cinema does have its problems - made obvious by this little collection. How is it made obvious? Without any specialised equipment (a light table and a DSLR) we can see what is on the media. It would be painstaking, but completely possible to photograph all the frames in a roll of film, and re-animate it, to see it in motion once more. In a hundred years time, if stored correctly, you could still do the same, with no specialised equipment. 

Can the same be said of digital media? Can I find out what is on my old 3" floppy disk? Nope. Unless I can find someone with an operating Amstrad, with an operating floppy drive, I have no hope. How many times have I changed formats to store my precious memories, like my photos. From floppy to CD to DVD, and on SD cards, then on to whatever comes next, if I want to have the means for anyone to see those images in 20 years time. Or I could print them!

Is our cinematic history being threatened by the paths being chosen by the big Movie Makers? This makes for interesting reading...

Anyway, on to the competition I mentioned on Facebook...

I am very curious to know what film the 70mm footage is from, but have come up blank. This is why I included the enlargements of the two characters that appear in the ten foot length of footage I have. If you are the first person who can name the film and provide evidence supporting your declaration, I shall send to that person the following: on a card lengths of 16mm (colour only), 35mm, 70mm, and IMAX film, cut to the length of three frames of IMAX! And I may even be able to find some Super 8 too!

The same offer applies to the first person who can find a link to video of the car advertisement.

AND, for the easiest win of all: The same offer applies to the first person who can identify the IMAX film my sample came from!

Here is your chance to win a bit of cinematic history! Please feel free to post your answers on the blog here. Judge's decision is final, blah, blah, blah.