Film Formats and Cameras, With a Prompt Each

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Format and body

The formats and cameras, and the wording that gets each one.

What the picture was recorded on shows in every frame of it. A strip of 8mm film carries grain the size of the subject. A 65mm negative carries detail nobody can exhaust. A tape from 1994 smears its colour and tears at the bottom of the screen. Name the format and a model renders the marks that come with it, which is a faster route to a period than any amount of set dressing.

Film gauges

5

The width of the strip decides everything after it. Smallest first, because the smaller the frame, the larger the grain sits over the picture.

8mm Film
8mm Film
The coarsest home movie gauge. Heavy grain, soft detail, silent and nearly square.
Super 8
Super 8
The home movie look. Grain, saturated colour, gate weave and light leaks.
16mm Film
16mm Film
Documentary grain. Textured and legible, with detail the small gauges lose.
35mm Film
35mm Film
The cinema standard. Fine grain, deep colour, and highlights that roll instead of clip.
65mm and IMAX
65mm and IMAX
The largest film frames. Enormous detail, deep colour, and a sense of scale.

Tape

2

Consumer video, and the artefacts that date a frame to the year the machine was sold. Both of these look wrong on purpose, and the wrongness is the whole value.

VHS
VHS
Tape video. Soft picture, bleeding colour, tracking noise and head switch tear.
DV Camcorder
DV Camcorder
Early digital video. Harsh, sharp, interlaced, with everything in focus.

Digital cinema bodies

4

Four sensors that carry most of what is shot today. The differences between them are small next to the gap from film, and the names still steer a model toward the right one.

ARRI ALEXA 35
ARRI ALEXA 35
The current digital default. Clean, wide latitude, and kind to skin.
RED MONSTRO
RED MONSTRO
An 8K full frame sensor. Very high detail, hard contrast, strong colour.
Sony Venice 2
Sony Venice 2
A full frame sensor with two base sensitivities and filters built in.
Blackmagic Cinema
Blackmagic Cinema
The affordable cinema body. Filmic colour, and it wants more light than the others.

Cameras people carry

2

Two bodies with no crew behind them. Both have a tiny sensor and a wide lens, so both hold the whole scene sharp, and the difference is what they are strapped to.

Phone Camera
Phone Camera
Modern phone video. Wide, deep, clean, and processed inside the camera.
Action Camera
Action Camera
A tiny wide camera strapped to something moving. Bent edges, everything sharp.

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Other techniques

Shot typesThe ways to frame a shot, and the wording that gets each one.25 shot typesCamera anglesWhere to put the camera, and the wording that gets each angle.19 camera anglesCamera movementThe ways to move the camera, and the wording that gets each one.86 camera movesCompositionThe ways to arrange a frame, and the wording that gets each one.32 composition rulesLightingThe lighting setups, and the wording that gets each one.41 lighting setupsLenses and opticsThe lenses, and the wording that gets the look of each one.17 lensesAperture and f-stopsThe f-stops, and what each one does to the background.7 aperturesColour and film lookThe colour looks, and the wording that gets each one.19 colour looksTime and motionThe ways to bend time in a shot, and the wording for each one.21 time effectsCuts and transitionsThe ways to get from one shot to the next.23 transitionsIn-camera and optical effectsThe effects a camera can make on its own, and how to ask for them.57 effectsAtmosphere and weatherThe ways to fill the air, and the wording that gets each one.13 atmosphere effectsGenre looksThe genres, and the wording that gets the look of each one.27 genre looksViral looksThe looks that travel on short-form video, and how to ask for them.44 viral looks
Print stylesMaking a poster rather than a shot? The same reference, for ink on paper.

35mm film is the width of the strip the picture is recorded on. A 35mm lens is a focal length, which is a moderate wide angle. Say film stock when you mean the gauge.