16mm film











Universal format

Because 16mm film projectors were easy to come by, universal, and not very expensive, they became very popular in many walks of life. All 16mm films, except amateur efforts and home movies, all had the same optical track system. It was truly a universal format.
  1. Reports and documentaries for TV through telecinema
  2. Cine-clubs: films relevant to the history of cinema. Ex: Citizen Kane
  3. Education: borrow films from libraries on curriculum subjects: geography, history, etc.
  4. Sponsored films from industry, like chemical companies
  5. Army: training films but also entertainment movies
    War films - documentaries made during the war in 1940 - First films in colour
  6. Industry: training films in specific areas (boat cleaning; coal industry; steel industry)
    Also P.R. films.
  7. Management training films: ex: Video Arts (John Cleese in the UK)
  8. Travel films made by explorers or amateurs: Ex.: Exploration du Monde
  9. Home movies;
  10. Amateur films, (for amateur film clubs and festivals)
But for home movie makers and amateurs, 16mm equipment and film stock became expensive and they did not really need its high quality. The trade off was evident: go for 8mm, which disappeared in favour of Super 8 and later, was replaced by video.

EXPRMNTL


    Independent cinema

    May titles have been given: independent  free, avant-garde, underground, and more to a type of film making that just ignored the accepted rules of cinema language and 16mm was a perfect vehicle for such productions, away from the constraints and heavy machinery of the usual commercial option.
    Jean-Luc Godard                                               Andy Warhol                                                             Stan Brakhage

    Film makers like Jean-Luc Godard, always pushing the boundaries, Andy Warhol and his Factory, who did not bother with technicalities and famously took takes that lasted the whole reel of film, and Stan Brakhage and his "Art of Vision".
    The stuff of legends!


    My 16mm 


    "Close-up" in Namur: a kind of experimental film shot on the roofs of Namur, with a few pretty girls (Genevieve the blonde and Liliane, the brunette) - loosely inspired by Blow-up.  Made with a small grant and a lot of help from friends and destined to the Experimental Film Festival in Knokke. Due to illness, it was not finished in time.But it went to local screenings, festivals and competitions, together with some of my 8 mm films.
    Sequence in animation for TV political broadcast. Simple dinausors eating all on their passage and the like. Plain and simple. Directly edited in the final reel, ready for TV broadcast.
    A couple of experimental attempts with footage found or rejected, all edited in a collage form: not very successful;
    A reportage or two, including a Jazz Festival and local event; and Ferre Grignard in Namur.
    Super 8 sequences blown up to 16mm for a film about comic books "Bande dessinée" in Belgium, called "Tonnerre de Brest, Silence!". It included Tintin sur la lune, La Marque Jaune, Lambique, Spirou and Marsupilami, etc. The film was screened in front of King Baudouin of Belgium and the authors of these cartoons. With great success,  and I did not get in trouble for using their artwork, but got congratulations. Job well done! 

      And projections too.

      Besides shooting a few reels myself, I spent a lot of time projecting 16mm films; places like the army in Brussels, training and feature films - with a big projector with arc lighting and scope lenses;
      in an international place: documentary films,etc.; in a training centre: obviously oall sorts of training films, mainly from Video Arts , then owned by John Cleese .


      Conversion to video and digital

      In its favour, 16mm was really universal and enjoyed a long and happy life.
      Television consumed enormous amounts of film stock  and special cameras, like the Eclair, were manufactured for TV use, as the film was compatible with all telecinemas.

      When it got out of favour to be replaced by video, it was evident that 16mm was easy to transfer to professional high quality video tape or to consumer formats, such as the Philips cartridges, and later to UMatic and VHS cassettes.

      And 16mm can also be converted to DVD and Blu-Ray, if the contents are still relevant after all these years.
      Beaulieu 16mm