Page 4 - RD_2022-09

Kev Franzi's Motion Picture Scrapbook

The people and cameras
that captured our
th
20 Century
Substandard

ub-Standard was the unfortunate name given to all film gauges less than 35mm
Swide. It was meant to mean "a size smaller than standard", but for over half a
century the word, with all its connotations, seems to have been used by many in the
"Professional" industry to denigrate the small gauge films and it was applied to the
equipment and the people who used it too.

Thirty Five millimetre was of course "the
Professional Standard", while 8mm, 9.5mm
and 16mm were definitely "the Amateur" gauges.
This was the division - the class distinction of cinema
production. But now, who is to say that the value of
a 50 year old Home Movie is less than that of a
Feature Film from the same period? Today many
8mm films are records of priceless value to families
all over the world, while 16mm Sound Motion
Pictures became the most powerful tool available for
the communication of ideas.

Sixteen millimetre has played a major role in
recording every aspect of 20th Century history,
especially that of World War II with many of its
documentary masterpieces shot in vivid colour
on 16mm Kodachrome and then enlarged up to
35mm Technicolor for cinema release. The role of
16mm in the making of project records, training and
instructional films, promotional, public relations and
entertainment films has been of immense value. Then Sub-Standard film gauges:
Business and industry, Schools and Universities,
16mm (1923), 9.5mm (1922)
Governments, Churches, Hospitals, and a multitude of and 8mm (1932)
other organisations would use their portable 16mm
sound projectors to disseminate this knowledge and
entertainment to mass audiences throughout the
world. As I said, a vital tool.

4 REEL DEALS December 2022