INTRODUCTION TO

SUPER 16 MM

Originally, all 16mm film stock had holes (called 'perforations' or simply 'perfs') on both sides of the film.

This was due to the fact that some cameras use dual registration pins, one on each side of the film gate. Some cameras have only one registration pin. This means that on cameras with one pin (or no pin) the holes on one side of the film are essentially wasted space that could be used to record image information if the perforations were removed. In 1970, this realization led to the birth of the Super 16mm format. By widening the opening in the film gate to include the area of the negative that contained the unnecessary perfs and using single perf 16mm film stock, a larger image area was obtained on the same size 16mm film stock. Same cost for film, higher image quality. Super 16mm was developed by  Swedish Cinematographer Rune Ericson . He was awarded with an Oscar for this innovation in 2001.

 Why Use Super 16mm?

 Super 16 was invented to provide better image quality when 'blowing up' 16mm film to 35mm film for theatrical release. The standard 16mm frame is close to square. Its aspect ratio (the relationship between the width of the frame to the height of the frame) is 4:3—four units wide by three units high). For example, the scene below would appear like this in the viewfinder of a standard 16mm camera:

What do the markings in the standard 16mm viewfinder indicate? The outer most box is called 'projection'. All of the image contained inside this box will appear when the image is projected on a 16mm projector. The four corners brackets just inside of the projection marking show what is called 'TV Transmission'. If the film is transferred to standard definition video, the image contained inside these corner markings is what will be transmitted from a television station. However, not all of the transmitted picture actually shows up on a home television set. The box inside of the TV Transmission marking is called 'TV Safe Action'. Not all television sets will loose the same amount of image area from the transmitted signal. Some sets will show more of the Picture transmitted from the television station than other sets. However, the image inside the Safe Action marking box will most likely appear on all home television sets.

In the past, 16mm has been used as a source medium for productions that were intended to be released on 35mm film for exhibition in theatres. The idea being: save money on camera rental and film stock when shooting by using 16mm film stock and then optically 'blow up' the 16mm negative in post production to 35mm film stock for theatrical exhibition. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. The most popular aspect ratio for 35mm theatrical release is 1.85:1 (1.85 units wide by 1 unit high). The 1:85:1 aspect ratio of 35mm is a much more rectangular aspect ratio than the 4:3 ratio of standard 16mm. When shooting for blow up to 1:85:1, the scene that was framed earlier through a standard 16mm viewfinder would look like this though a Super 16 viewfinder.

Prior to the availability of Super 16mm, shooting 16mm and blowing up the negative to 35mm would require severely cropping the 16mm image in order to obtain the 1:85:1 aspect ratio of the 35mm theatrical release format (incidentally, this aspect ratio is normally referred to as simply 'one-eight-five'). This required having to enlarge the image on the standard 16mm negative resulting in a loss of resolution and making the film grain much more apparent. Also, if the cropping necessitated in going from the 4:3 aspect ratio of standard 16 to the 1:85 ratio of 35mm was not anticipated when shooting, very poor framing could result in the blow up. If the scene above was shot in standard 16mm and then blown up to 35mm, this is the cropping that would result in order to go from the 16mm 4:3 ratio to the 1:85 ratio of 35mm:

Not only is the original framing severely compromised, there is a serious loss of useful image area on the 16mm negative—the less negative area used, the lower the image quality. Before Super 16 the only other option when blowing up 16mm to 35mm was to put the standard 16mm frame inside of the 1:85 aspect ratio which would result in blacked-out bars on the sides of the 16mm frame-- not a very attractive option:

Widening the gate of the 16mm camera to include the area normally occupied by the perfs creates an aspect ratio on the negative that is very close to the 1:85 ratio of 35mm. Much less cropping has to be done when blowing up Super 16 to 35mm. Shot on Super 16, the train  scene would appear like this in the viewfinder of a Super 16mm camera:

When cropped and blown up to 35mm, this image would result:

Compare this image to the 1:85 image extracted from the standard 16mm source, and the benefits on Super 16 become readily apparent. Unlike standard 16mm, when blowing up Super 16 to 1:85 very little of the image captured on the 16mm negative is lost, and the original framing is barely compromised. The resulting 35mm image has much more resolution than an image blown up from standard 16mm.Shooting Super 16 for blow up to 35mm results in the use of almost 50% more 16mm negative area than shooting standard 16mm for blow up to 35mm. That’s a tremendous difference in image quality. There is also a much added benefit of not having to be as concerned about severe differences in framing when shooting Super 16mm for blow up to 35mm.

A Super 16 camera can do everything that a standard 16mm camera can do. However, there are definite advantages to a Super 16 camera that a standard 16mm camera simply cannot match. The standard 16mm aperture is 7.5 x 10.4mm, giving an area of 78mm square. The Super 16 aperture is 7.5 x 12.4mm, giving an area of 93mm square. Therefore Super 16 gives a total image area 20% larger when the full apertures are compared in their original aspect ratios.

The difference becomes more dramatic when we compare standard and Super 16mm at the 1.85:1 aspect ratio required for 35mm blow-up exhibition: Standard 16mm 1.85:1 extracted image area for blow-up: 5.21 x 9.60 mm = 50mm2. Super 16mm 1.85:1 extracted image area for blow-up: 6.46 x 11.95mm= 77.2mm2 . Increase in image area with Super 16 for 1.85:1 blow up- 55%.

Apart from many Foreign Films, the Blockbuster Indian Film 'Monsoon Wedding' was entirely shot on Super 16 format and presently many Regional and Hindi Films are being made on Super 16 format. Super 16 is also being used for Advertisement Films, Music Videos, Wild Life Films, Documentaries and Tele-Serials.

 Courtsey: H.L.Studio / Catrack Entertainment Limited.

 For Super 16 Cameras, Editing,

Voice Dubbing, Background Music,

Song Recording, Effects&

Final Mixing Facilities:

H.L.Studio

Entertainment Limited

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