What is Standard Film Gauge?
Film comes in a number of different gauges. Another term for the width of the film. The gauge that is most commonly used in filmmaking is considered the “standard.” But what is standard film gauge? And how can you tell one size of film versus another? To help you understand what the “norm” is for film gauge within the industry. Let’s take a look back at the history of it all.
History of Film Gauge
Film gauges have historically been available in a variety of gauges that range from 8mm to 70mm. There’s even a film gauge that is known as Super 8mm.
Traditionally, most movies were filmed on one of the following different gauges of film:
- 8mm
- 16mm
- 35mm
- 65/70mm
There have also been different film gauges that were used in the silent era more so but which really didn’t carry forward such as the 9.5mm film and several others that ranged from 3mm to 75mm in total.
What is Standard Film Gauge?
Standard film gauge is something that cinema has really struggled to achieve. Over approximately 100 years, the size of film has been adjusted over and over again. However, there’s one film size that has been rather universally accepted throughout the world, and throughout much of the history of filmmaking – 35mm.
We owe the creation of 35mm film to the great Thomas Edison. In fact, there was once a period in film history in which the 35mm film was referred to as the “Edison size.”
Throughout the many years of film production which have ensued since the birth of silent films in the late 1800s, many of the most respected historical uses of film, from the Lumiere brothers in 1895 to Louis in the Cinematographer, we’ve seen 35mm film used.
Gauges Over Time
While 35mm is the industry standard film gauge, there are so many other sizes and styles of film that have been introduced over the years and many of them would stick around for a little while before fizzling out.
Today, feature films, commercials, and most US television is filmed using 35mm which, for now, seems to be the standard film gauge.