Beginners’ Guide to Common Film & Television Production Formats SINGLE CAMERA PRODUCTION Format Media Comments Cameraman’s comments IMAX film Film Special Cinemas only 65/70 mm film Film Cinema only (rare now) 35 mm film open gate Film Cinema/Commercials Slow, expensive, disciplined but still the highest quality in general use with Various other 35 mm film Film Cinema/Commercials the largest variety of accessories Arri D20/21 HDCAM SR Expensive – video equivalent Panasonic Genesis video-tape Cinema/Commercials to film for feature film and Sony F23 (AND OTHER) based commercials production RED Hard disk Cinema/Commercials New high-end file-based video system, Drama becoming more popular AVCIntra (HD) P2 memory Cinema/Commercials High-end development of DVCProHD Cards – video by Panasonic . HPX300 is cheap Super 16 mm film Film TV Drama/low-budget Similar culture to 35 mm but faster and Cinema cheaper. Wide screen HDCAM (HD – Sony) Video tape TV Drama/Documentary Mainstream High Definition Broadcast Format (Sony) DVCProHD (HD – Panasonic) Video (tape or P2 TV Drama/Documentary Mainstream High Definition Broadcast memory cards) Format (Panasonic) XDCAM (Sony) Disc or SxS TV Drama/Documentary Cheaper HD format recording onto disks Memory cards or memory cards D5 (10 bit uncompressed) Video tape post/TX/ studio record only Not in field use D1 (8 bit uncompressed) Video tape post/TX/ studio record only Not in field use HDV Video tape or Documentary Prosumer HD but not accepted by Memory cards broadcasters as true HD Digi-Beta (Sony) Video tape TV Drama/Documentary Pre-eminent Broadcast format for 15 yrs (SD) Still in use but giving way to HD Digital S Video Video tape Low-budget TV Not too common JVC format DVCPro50 Video Video tape TV Documentary Still around, but largely defunct, SD format MPEG/AVC (various) Memory cards TV, Corporate, Cinema Uses the video capabilities of stills cameras GH1, Canon 5 Mk2, etc. New technology DVCAM (Sony) & DVCPro 25 Video tape TV Documentary/Current Semi-Pro standard /widescreen SD formats, Affairs popular and robust – still in use DV & MINI DV VIDEO Video tape Current affairs or very Reduced-quality consumer version of DVCam low-budget independent Beta-SP VIDEO Video tape Some foreign TV Almost defunct analogue Beta. Still used for non-broadcast and odd broadcast job Super 8 Film Film Pre-video Home Movie format. Easy-to-use cassettes. Still in reasonable use Hi8, SVHS Video Lingering consumer formats Home movies and archive only Video 8 As above VHS Now low-quality recording/playback only EIAJ Fisher Price Pixelvision Your phone is much better than this – but has cult following TERMS: 16 x 9 4 x 3 HD High Definition Television 1 x 1.77 1 x 1.33 SD Standard Definition Television DV Digital Video Widescreen Academy CG Computer Graphics TX Transmission .