What is a film projection format versus a film recording format?

Kinor 35H
Kinor 35H
When talking about film, one may often hear the term "projection format" (also called "release print", "projection print", "sound print", "theatrical print", "positive print", or "playback format"), which refers to those formats which have become an industry standard for projection. Another term often heard is "recording format" (also "negative", "camera format", "cinematography format", "capture format", or "capture medium"), which refers to some of the industry ways of capturing motion pictures to negative and/or reversal films for later transfer to a projected format (in the case of reversal, this could be instantly projected after processing).

When talking about a projection format in 35mm, there are currently only a handful of standardized film formats: Anamorphic Widescreen or CinemaScope (2.35:1), Widescreen (1.85:1), European (1.66:1), and Academy (1.37:1). Projecting the Silent (1.33:1) projection format is an extreme rarity in modern day theaters (modern 35mm equipment is not compatible with older Silent films), so Silent films are usually transferred to Academy frame for playback. This means that the Silent framed format is not considered a projected format anymore. The European projection format is usually only found in Europe (rarely in the US), and its use has been steadily declining. European is similar enough to Widescreen that most films made for European projection will be projected as Widescreen films instead, with very little cropping.

In 16mm, the only universally projected 16mm format is Regular 16mm (1.33:1). 16mm is almost never found in main-stream theaters, but can be found in more localized theaters, and theaters that cater to independent film. Although some theaters may claim projection of Super16 with special projectors, it is not widespread enough to be considered as a projection format (Super 16mm film has no way of adding sound to the film itself. The place where the sound strip would normally be located has been replaced by the wider Super 16 image frame. Thus it needs a separate audio device in order to sync sound).

Super-8-mm is both a recording format and a projection format, although it is ideally situated for home-theater projection, due to its extremely small size. There are a few new ideas within the Super-8-mm community, including widening the gate to include capturing footage onto the the sound strip area, but this is not a standard.

35mm Konvas 2M without lens
35mm Konvas 2M without lens
A recording format refers to how a camera captures images to a negative. When a camera is said to capture an image in a projection format, it is usually meant that a 1:1 ratio answer print could be struck from the negative at almost any film lab and instantly project for viewing "dailies" (a 1:1 ratio means that for every one foot of processed negative, there will be one foot of positive print made from that negative, and the negative picture and positive picture are identical in both size and frame). Alternatively, if one needs to shoot with a projection format, one could simply shoot with reversal film, process it, and project the film on any modern day projector.

When discussing recording formats, there are too many to list here. This is largely due to the older failed camera systems that are no longer being used. Some of the more modern recording formats can be found in the Konvas.org FAQ under "What's a film gate and how does this affect my negatives?".