Video Formats: Film Reels

Innovations in photographic technology in the 1880s, including longer lengths of celluloid film and faster exposure times, led to the development of motion pictures with the first public film projection in 1895. Once the underlying film format was standardized around 35mm wide celluloid photographic film recorded at 24 frames per second, the genre mainly grew through advances in filming and editing techniques. In the 1920s, synchronized electronic audio (including music and speech) enabled the simultaneous playback of audio alongside video. “Talking pictures” quickly supplanted silent films. Other innovations made in recorded video include color film, first introduced with Technicolor in 1932, television broadcasting, and the reduction in film size from 35 mm to 16 mm and eventually 8 mm. This cartridge of Super 8 film, developed by Eastman Kodak in 1965, became immensely popular for its small size, ease of use, and home projection capabilities.