The Four Most Common Film Formats

There are many different formats of film that filmmakers, all over the world, use when shooting their project. There are so many that it would take an extremely long time to list them all below. However, I will provide information about the four most commonly used film formats and what they look like.

Important Notes:

*Reversal film produces a positive image on a transparent base and also regarded as motion picture film.

*Negative film produces images whose colors are inverted after being developed. The
complementary color is produced from the subject being shot.



Super 8

Super 8 film is favored when shooting films that are intended for promotion, documentaries, and related projects. Super 8 is the smallest of the four and can be purchased in reversal or negative format.

16 mm

16 mm film is widely used for low budget films and teaching purposes at universities. It can be ordered either single or double perf and can actually be blown up in development to fit 35 mm film prints.

35 mm

35 mm film is widely used for feature films as well as television and even commercials from the mid-late 20th century. The majority of films from this time, that were presented in movie theaters, project this film format, which again is the same format the films were shot with.

65 mm (70 mm)

65 mm is one of the largest formats of film. When shooting, 65 mm is used to film the entire project. When the film is sent in to be printed, it is printed on 70 mm film which is most commonly referred to as IMAX and the very large projection screen formats. The majority of films nowadays are filmed with this format, including films like The Revenant and Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens.