2-perf 2-perf camera systems use 2 perforations per frame on 35 mm film with an aspect ratio close to 2.39:1; the aspect ratio used in
anamorphic prints. It was first proposed conceptually around 1930, but was not put into practice until 1961, when
Techniscope was developed at
Technicolor's Italian branch. It has recently been brought up again with the advent of higher quality, lower grain
film stocks as well as
digital intermediate post-production methods which eliminate optical blowups and thus improve quality. While in the recent past, some companies have offered custom conversions of camera equipment to 2-perf, it appears that camera manufacturers are now poised to support the format.
Arri made 2-perf movement blocks for their
Arricam and
Arriflex 235 cameras available for rental in March 2007.
Aaton's
Penelope camera, released in October 2008, was the first camera specifically designed for 2-perf usage (as well as 3-perf).
3-perf In the early 1980s, Swedish cinematographer
Rune Ericson collaborated with
Panavision on the concept of creating a 3-perf mechanism for motion picture cameras. The 3-perf system, achieved by altering the camera gate and shutter mechanism, reduces film wastage by using frames that are 3 perforations high instead of the standard 4-perforations. This results in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1, which closely aligns with the widescreen television aspect ratio of 1.78:1, thereby minimizing image loss outside this aspect ratio. Due to the smaller frame size, the camera operates about 25% slower, leading to a 25% reduction in film stock usage. Additionally, the camera operates more quietly because less film passes through the mechanism per frame. The
Super 35 variant of 3-perf also provides a larger negative area, which can help offset the increase in grain when using higher-speed film stocks. In the late 1990s, cinematographer
Vittorio Storaro proposed a film standard known as
Univisium (also called Univision), which advocated for 3-perf Super 35 to create a 2.00:1 aspect ratio.
Disadvantages of 3-perf and 2-perf One disadvantage of 3-perf and 2-perf is found when projected theatrically, as it needs to be transferred back to a 4-perf system. This typically involves a
film print with black cropping on the print itself in order to fit the image onto a 4-perf frame – encountering the same wastage problem as before. Even so, the amount of film shot on a production is much greater than the length of the final film, so 3-perf or 2-perf are still viable cost-saving options for production. Generally, 3-perf is most frequently used for
widescreen television productions shot on film, as film is developed and then transferred to
video, rendering projection incompatibilities irrelevant. Recently, this process has become popular with big-budget motion picture production, due to the advent of the
digital intermediate process. The negative is scanned to high resolution (usually HD, 2K or 4K (
digital cinema)) digital files, colour graded, and ultimately printed back to standard 4-perf for projection. At some point in the future, the final 4-perf print will become unnecessary assuming the cinema distribution and projection chain become fully digital. 3-perf and 2-perf pose minor problems for visual effects work. The area of the film in 4-perf work that is not projected nonetheless contains picture information which is useful for such visual effects tasks as 2D and 3D tracking. This mildly complicates certain visual effects efforts for productions using 3-perf and 2-perf.
VistaVision VistaVision is a higher resolution,
widescreen variant of the
35 mm motion picture film format which was created by
Paramount Pictures in 1954. It uses a horizontal, 8 perforation 35 mm image, similar to that used in
135 film for
still photography. Paramount did not use
anamorphic processes such as
CinemaScope but refined the quality of their flat widescreen system by orienting the 35 mm negative horizontally in the camera gate and shooting onto a larger area, which yielded a finer-grained projection print. ==70 mm==