Techniscope or 2-Perf is a 35mm motion picture camera film format introduced by Technicolor Italia in 1963. The Techniscope format uses a two film-perforation

Film perforations

Film perforations, also known as perfs, are the holes placed in the film stock during manufacturing and used for transporting and steadying the film. Films may have different types of perforations depending on film gauge, film format, and the intended usage...

 negative pulldown

Negative pulldown

Negative pulldown is the manner in which an image is exposed on a film stock, described in the number of film perforations spanned by an individual frame. It can also describe the orientation of the image on the negative, whether it is captured horizontally or vertically...

 per frame, instead of the standard four-perforation frame usually exposed in 35mm film photography. Techniscope's 2.33:1 aspect ratio

Aspect ratio (image)

The aspect ratio of an image is the ratio of the width of the image to its height, expressed as two numbers separated by a colon. That is, for an x:y aspect ratio, no matter how big or small the image is, if the width is divided into x units of equal length and the height is measured using this...

 is easily cropped to the 2.39:1 widescreen ratio, because it uses half the amount of 35mm film stock and standard spherical lenses. Thus, Techniscope release prints are made by anamorphosizing

Anamorphic format

Anamorphic format is a term that can be used either for: the cinematography technique of capturing a widescreen picture on standard 35 mm film, or other visual recording media, with a non-widescreen native aspect ratio; or a photographic projection format in which the original image requires an...

 and enlarging each frame by a factor of two.

Techniscope-photographed films

During its primary reign, 1960–1980, more than 350 films were photographed in Techniscope; The Pharaoh's Woman (released 10 December 1960) was the first. Given its considerable production cost economy, but lesser image quality, Techniscope was primarily an alternative format used by low-budget film makers, mainly in the horror and western genres. Since it originated in Italy, most Techniscope format films were Italian, generally European. In the U.S., Techniscope, again, was mainly the format of low-budget studios, e.g. New World Pictures, yet Universal Studios

Universal Studios

Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....

 briefly used it in the mid- to late 1960s.

Apropos diminished image quality, film reviewer Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert

Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...

 wrote about the film Counterpoint

Counterpoint (1968 film)

Counterpoint is an 1968 epic war film starring Charlton Heston, Maximilian Schell, and Leslie Nielsen. It is based on the novel The General by Alan Sillitoe.-Plot:...

(1968): "The movie is shot in Techniscope, a process designed to give a wide-screen picture while saving film and avoiding payment of royalties to the patented processes like Panavision

Panavision

Panavision is an American motion picture equipment company specializing in cameras and lenses, based in Woodland Hills, California. Formed by Robert Gottschalk as a small partnership to create anamorphic projection lenses during the widescreen boom in the 1950s, Panavision expanded its product...

. In this film, as in "Harry Frigg

The Secret War of Harry Frigg

The Secret War of Harry Frigg is a 1968 comedy film set in World War II. It was directed by Jack Smight and starred Paul Newman.-Plot:Several brigadier generals are unexpectedly taken prisoner by the Italians while in the sauna - which is a public relations disaster. The generals are held in an...

", Techniscope causes washed-out color and a loss of detail. Universal shouldn't be so cheap."

Techniscope's commercial revival

In 1999, in Australia, MovieLab film laboratory owner Kelvin Crumplin revived the Techniscope format renamed as MultiVision 235, attempting to commercialise it as a cinematography format alternative to the Super 16mm format. His proposition was that it yielded a 35mm-quality image (from which could be derived natural 2.35:1 and 1.85:1 aspect ratio images) for the same cost as Super 16mm cinematography.

Mr Crumplin established MovieLab to provide telecine and film processing and printing services, and, with engineer Bruce McNaughton of The Aranda Group, Victoria, Australia, engineered and produced Arriflex BL1 and Arriflex IIC 35mm cameras for the Techniscope 2-perf format.

Aaton, Panavision, and Arriflex have modern 2-perf cameras either available now or soon to be released (12/2007). Aranda in Australia is also currently converting cameras like Arriflex 2A/B/C Arri 3, Arri BL, Mitchell, Eclair, Moviecam.

Techniscope vs. anamorphic: advantages and disadvantages

Techniscope's advantages over anamorphic CinemaScope are:

• More economical: half the film stock used in 4-perforation frame cinematography; half the stock, same running time, less negative to develop.
• Cinematography requires simpler, but technically superior, spherical lenses.
• Film stock loads last twice as long; 2-perf stock shoots at 45fpm (24fps), while 4-perf stock shoots at 90fpm.
• (may be seen aesthetically as either an advantage or disadvantage:) The circle of confusion
  Circle of confusion
  In optics, a circle of confusion is an optical spot caused by a cone of light rays from a lens not coming to a perfect focus when imaging a point source...
  
   of Techniscope is circular (due to its spherical lenses), whereas that of CinemaScope is elliptical (due to its anamorphic lenses).

Techniscope's disadvantages against CinemaScope:

• Enlarging the image to the 35mm print also enlarges the negative's film grain. (Although some cineastes sought this visual feel for the story; e.g. westerns photographed to appear unpolished, thereby enhancing the period settings' verisimilitude.) This step is also an additional production expense. If the enlargement process is done optically, the generation loss
  Generation loss
  Generation loss refers to the loss of quality between subsequent copies or transcodes of data. Anything that reduces the quality of the representation when copying, and would cause further reduction in quality on making a copy of the copy, can be considered a form of generation loss...
  
   will add even more grain and reduce the image sharpness. Alternatively, the enlargement can be done as part of the Digital Intermediate
  Digital intermediate
  Digital intermediate is a motion picture finishing process which classically involves digitizing a motion picture and manipulating the color and other image characteristics. It often replaces or augments the photochemical timing process and is usually the final creative adjustment to a movie...
  
   (DI) process. This involves digitally scanning the 2 perf film negative. Output to film is done with a film recorder, such as the Arrilaser.

• Two-perforation cameras and telecine
  Telecine
  Telecine is transferring motion picture film into video and is performed in a color suite. The term is also used to refer to the equipment used in the post-production process....
  
   installations are rare. (Note: As of early 2008 Aaton
  Aaton
  Aaton is a motion picture equipment manufacturer, based in Grenoble, France. Aaton was founded by Eclair engineer Jean-Pierre Beauviala, whose efforts have been primarily focused on making quiet, portable motion picture hardware suitable for impromptu field use, as for documentaries...
  
   is coming out with their newly-designed 2 perf-native (3 perf user-switchable) Aaton Penelope
  Aaton Penelope
  Aaton Penelope is a 35mm motion picture camera introduced by Aaton in October 2008. It's the first camera in the world designed as a switchable Techniscope or 3-perf shooting solution , and it's also the first 35mm camera to offer a progressive scan video-tap....
  
   camera. Konvas cameras have been available in 2 perf for a while, and Arri is making 2 perf gates for their Arricams soon, available only through the rental dealers though. And more and more telecine suites have 2 perf gates for their film scanners.)

• The narrower frame line (between frames) emphasises imperfections (i.e. hairs in the gate, lens flares).

Note: When transferring

Telecine

Telecine is transferring motion picture film into video and is performed in a color suite. The term is also used to refer to the equipment used in the post-production process....

 a Techniscope film to a digital video format, the 2-perf negative or 2-perf interpositive A/B rolls can be used, bypassing any blown-up 4-perf element. Many DVD editions have been transferred this way and the results have frequently been stunning, i.e. Blue Underground's The Bird with the Crystal Plumage

The Bird with the Crystal Plumage

The Bird with the Crystal Plumage is a 1970 giallo suspense thriller directed by Dario Argento . The film is considered a landmark in the Italian giallo genre...

and MGM's special editions of Sergio Leone

Sergio Leone

Sergio Leone was an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter most associated with the "Spaghetti Western" genre.Leone's film-making style includes juxtaposing extreme close-up shots with lengthy long shots...

's Westerns.

Specifications

• Film: 35mm film running vertically using two perforations per frame, running at 24 frames per second.
• Film area: .868" (22 mm) x .373" (9.47 mm)
• Film aspect ratio: 2.33:1
• Print aspect ratio 2.35:1 (2.39:1 after 1970 SMPTE revision)

External links

• Internet Movie Database (IMDb) list of Techniscope films
• http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/widescreen/wingts1.htm
• Early proposal for 2-perf
• CML discussion of 2-perf
• Aaton's announcement of a new 2-perf camera
• 2 PERFORATION CAMERA CONVERSIONS by the ARANDA GROUP Melbourne