IDENTIFICATION of 16Mm FILM

1 ForFor additional additional identification identification go go to to Page Page 23 23 IDENTIFICATIONIDENTIFICATION OF OF 16mm FILM START ©16mm Brian Pritchard FILM 2013 START www.brianpritchard.com

ExplanationExplanation of of Symbols Symbols

Is the Film No Picture Black and White? YES GoGo to to Page Page 4 4

GoGo to to Page Page 31 31

NO GoGo to to Page Page 6 6

Version 1.02 ReturnReturn to to Start Start 2 Legend

Decision Box Additional Information about the illustrations

Hyperlink to Hyperlink to Hyperlink Advice for return to start Hyperlink further Identification return to start

Definition Film Type Identified

Kodak Ektachrome Commercial Kodak

Kodak Ektachrome EFB

Kodachrome Ferrania

Agfa-Gevaert

Ilford Orwo

Gevaert

Selo Du Pont

Agfa Ensign

Is the image YES Black and White Negative? Negative

Check for other Go to Page 13 NO options of negative Go to Page 13

Does it have YES Black and White clear edges Positive

Check for other options of positive

GoGo to to Page Page 8 8 NO © Brian Pritchard 2013 Go to Page 14 www.brianpritchard.com Go to Page 14 ReturnReturn to to Start Start 5

Does the film CRI YES Colour Reversal have black Intermediate Edges?

A camera negative will have joins at scene changes (cut negative) or will not have joins at every scene and there will not be printed in joins; you NO Could be camera negative, will often see flash frames or camera duplicate negative stops or internegative

Definition In this aid an internegative is a colour negative made from a colour print or a colour reversal master. A duplicate negative is made from a colour interpositive

For further identification Go to Page 32 Colour Negative of colour Go to Page 32 negative films

Does the film have YES an overall GoGo to to Page Page 26 26 orange colour?

Does it have NO Go to Page 27 NO black edges? Go to Page 27

For further identification YES Colour Reversal of colour reversal films

To identify sound tracks go to Page 15 Go to Page 7 © Brian Pritchard 2013 To identify sound tracks go to Page 15 Go to Page 7 www.brianpritchard.com ReturnReturn to to Start Start 7 7

Does the film Film is a combined have a YES colour GoGo to to Page Page 35 35 soundtrack? reversal print

Colour Is there more than reversal master or Go to Page 29 NO 1 roll for each reel? NO Go to Page 29 Silent print

YES A & B roll Masters GoGo to to Page Page 28 28

ToTo identify identify soundtracks soundtracks go go to to Page Page 15 15 © Brian Pritchard 2013 www.brianpritchard.com ReturnReturn to to Start Start 8

Does the film YES have black Edges? B/W Reversal

Check the base of the film and see if there NO are moulded lines, if so then this is Kodacolor Lenticular film. It should have the edge print 'Kodacolor'

Are Tinted B/W or the edges YES Blue Base TV coloured? Positive

ToTo identify identify sound sound tracks tracks go go to to Page Page 15 15 © Brian Pritchard 2013 www.brianpritchard.com ReturnReturn to to Start Start 9

ToTo check check windings windings go go to to Page Page 12 12

Some print stocks might not have edge ToTo identify identify soundtracks soundtracks go go to to Page Page 15 15 print; check winding of film, prints usually are A winding

16mm can be single or double perforated

Single perforated can be Perforations can be long or short pitch. A or B winding Camera material is usually short pitch (0.2994 inches), print stock usually long pitch (0.3000 inches) InformationInformation on on windings windings

CheckCheck for for other other perforation perforation formats formats

Films are HEAD out

The image will read correctly through the emulsion

The image will read correctly through the base A Winding B Winding

IsIs the the film film perforated perforated on on both both sides? sides? © Brian Pritchard 2013

www.brianpritchard.com ReturnReturn to to Start Start 12

Does the image read correctly YES through the base? Camera Geometry

Film shot in a camera will always read through NO the base, contact prints from a camera original will read through the emulsion. Reductions from 35mm could be either

Print Geometry

Does the image have a line YES Tele-recording Negative GoGo to to Page Page 24 24 structure?

A camera negative will have joins at scene changes (cut negative) or if it is an uncut negative will not have joins at every scene and there will not be NO printed in joins; you will often see flash frames or camera stops.

Could be camera negative, duplicate negative or internegative

Flash frames from Definition uncut original negative In this aid an internegative is a negative made from a print or a reversal master. GoGo to to Page Page 25 25 A duplicate negative is made from a duplicating positive © Brian Pritchard 2013 www.brianpritchard.com ReturnReturn to to Start Start 14 A duplicating positive will be of lower contrast than a B/W Positive, it will often be warmer tone, denser and will have edge numbers in black. If it is Kodak/Eastman stock the edge numbers will begin 'D'

Duplicating Positive

Black and White Positive

ToTo identify identify sound sound tracks tracks go go to to Page Page 15 15

© Brian Pritchard 2013 www.brianpritchard.com ReturnReturn to to Start Start 15 Sound tracks can be magnetic or optical. Optical can be further divided into variable area or variable density. There are many different types of both kinds of optical track.

Magnetic tracks are usually brown

Is the track magnetic? YES GoGo to to Page Page 16 16

GoGo to to Page Page 20 20

Does the film NO have an image

It is also possible that Note balance stripe, Fully coated Magnetic film, you have a piece of unprocessed film, it assists a good wind Single and double perhaps used as leader. perforated A drop of water will show YES if it is film rather than magnetic film. The water will have no effect on magnetic film

Striped B/W Negative, Used in sound camera Striped positive

© Brian Pritchard 2013 ForFor further further information information on on stripes stripes go go to to Page Page 30 30 www.brianpritchard.com ReturnReturn to to Start Start 17 Double 8mm perforations were most commonly in the 1:4 format; that is on each edge.

So that pre-striped film could be sound recorded in one pass and additionally, to reduction print two copies in one run, stocks were available inthe 1:3 format where the perforations were on one edge andin the centre of the film. See sample below.

Perforation in the '3' position

1 2 3 4

16mm re-perforated 9.5mm, raw stock

16mm with centre perforations Double Standard 8mm Colour Negative

Double Super 8mm B/W Print

CheckCheck for for other other double double 8mm 8mm perforation perforation formats: formats: Go Go to to page page 17 17 © Brian Pritchard 2013 www.brianpritchard.com ReturnReturn to to Start Start 19

Is the soundtrack and the edge printing YES Black and White?

Technicolor

Most film stocks will have a Check edge print NO manufacturer's name on the Check edge print edge of the film

Eastman Color, Agfacolor Gevacolor, Fujicolor, Ferrania, 3M usually have a deep blue Sound track.

Orwo and Sovcolor usually have a brown © Brian Pritchard 2013 sound track. www.brianpritchard.com Return to Start To compare negative Go to Page 33 Return to Start 20 and positive tracks. Go to Page 33

Is the track variable Variable area area? YES

GoGo to to Page Page 21 21

This is a twin bilateral sound track Variable area consists With centre septum noise NO Reduction, the black line in the of one or more lines Middle of the tracks. of varying width

Variable density looks like a series of lines © Brian Pritchard 2013 Variable density www.brianpritchard.com ReturnReturn to to Start Start 21 Can some times be confused with a variable density track

16mm variable area multihump

16mm Photophone 16mm variable area twin unilateral

16mm variable area double twin bilateral

16mm variable area single bilateral 16mm variable area twin bilateral © Brian Pritchard 2013 www.brianpritchard.com ReturnReturn to to Start Start 22

Colour Positive GoGo to to Page Page 19 19

Date Coding on Films.

Check edge print Not all film manufacturers provide date codes on their films. Check edge print Eastman/Kodak provide the most comprehensive information in their edge print. Over the years the style of date code has Check perforations Check perforations changed. There are a number of web sites that provide Information on their date codes.

Identify Soundtracks Fuji date their film with the last two numbers of the year of Identify Soundtracks Manufacture and two letters signifying the quarter of the year JM = January to March, AJ = April to June. Check the film geometry Check the film geometry Pathe had their own system until they were taken over by Eastman whence they used the Eastman codes. Their dates Cover 1921 – 1927 and start at 16 and 17 for 1921, 18 and 19 For 1922 and so on.

DuPont used one or two letters but information is only known for the years between 1956 and 1974.

Orwo use a letter for the month, A= January, B =February and so on. I was missed out. The last number of the year was used. 6 could be 1966 or 76 and so on.

A typical scene change in a tele-recording; note the mixed frame and traces of Lines. Also the edges to the frame

You should be able to see the line structure under a magnifier

© Brian Pritchard 2013 www.brianpritchard.com Return to Start 25 A camera negative will have joins at Return to Start scene changes (cut negative) or if it is an uncut negative will not have joins at every scene and there will not be printed in joins; you will often see flash frames or camera stops. Look for information in the edge print; edge or footage numbers are black in the original negative, they will be white when printed through to the duplicate postitve and when the duplicate negative is made there will (or should) be two sets of black numbers and one of white. The original numbers will be black, the duplicate Flash frame in negative positive white and the duplicate negative black.

This will also apply to the stock manufacturers edge printing.

Negative join (splice)

A join or splice is very obvious to the sight and feel

Is it a negative? YES Colour Negative GoGo to to Page Page 5 5

Colour Interpositive

Is the picture Unmasked Negative a negative? YES

Prior to the introduction of Eastman colour negative NO colour negatives did not have the orange mask. Both Agfa and Gevaert made Unmasked negatives GoGo to to Page Page 22 22

There could be two or more rolls with alternate scenes joined to black spacing Outgoing scene joined to black spacing

Head

Colour Reversal Head A & B Rolls

Black spacing joined to incoming scene Colour Negative A & B Rolls

Can you see a reseau? YES Dufaycolor

A reseau is a series of red, green and blue lines printed on the base of the film

NO There are a number of colour reversal print systems, Fujichrome, Anscochrome, Gevachrome and Agfachrome for example. Check for edge printing; most film stocks will have a manufacturer's name on the edge of the film. Check the winding of the film, camera film will be B winding, prints Colour reversal usually A winding Mute print or camera master ToTo check check winding winding go go to to Page Page 11 11

Agfachrome

There are two kinds of stripe; Pre-striped film stock had a stripe in tape form which was cemented to a groove in the film stock. Post striped stock was often striped with a paste stripe. Paste stripe should NEVER be cleaned with solvents such as Perklone which will remove the stripe and contaminate the cleaning machine.

You can test the stripe with a small quantity of solvent on the stripe in the leader

Is there a sound Is the unexposed track on the YES YES area clear? Film?

Sound Positive NO NO Sound negatives are usually on blue or grey base To identify positive and negative tracks The film is probably just spacing

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Sound Negative

Check to see if there are joins that would confirm an original negative. If there are printed-in joins Is there more than it could be a duplicate negative or an internegative. 1 roll for each reel? NO Look for stock numbers and edge print as confirmation

YES

A & B roll Negatives

It is possible that there are more than 2 rolls for each reel. These would Go to Page 28 be C, D or E rolls and so on

In a variable area sound negative the modulations Variable Area Variable Area are white,in a variable area sound positive Sound Positive Sound Negative the modulations are black

Variable density tracks are more difficult to identify Variable Density Variable Density As the track area appears similar. Positive tracks Sound Positive Sound Negative have black edges 34 ReturnReturn to to Start Start Dufaycolor was manufactured with red, green and blue lines printed in ink on the base of the film. The film had to be exposed in the camera through the base of the film, this means that original Dufaycolor from the camera would be A winding and read correctly through the base

The red lines were printed at 90 degrees to the alternate blue and green lines creating the mosaic ReturnReturn to to Start Start 35 GoGo to to Page Page 34 34

Can you see a reseau? YES Dufaycolor

A reseau is a series of red, green and blue lines printed on the base of the film

Combined colour reversal print There are a number of colour reversal print systems, Fujichrome, Anscochrome, Gevachrome and Agfachrome for example. Check for edge printing; most film stocks will have a manufacturer's name on the edge of the film.

ToTo check check winding winding go go to to Page Page 11 11