Editing 35 mm movie film (section)

==== Becoming the standard ====
[[File:Dickson&#039;s 35 mm movie film standard and 35 mm patent design.png|thumb|Dickson's 35&nbsp;mm movie film standard (center)]]
When films began to be projected, several projection devices were unsuccessful and fell into obscurity because of technical failure, lack of business acumen on the part of their promoters, or both. The [[Vitascope]], the first projection device to use 35&nbsp;mm, was technologically superior and compatible with the many motion pictures produced on 35&nbsp;mm film. Edison bought the device in 1895–96; the Lumiere's 35&nbsp;mm projection [[Cinematograph]] also premiered in 1895, and they established 35&nbsp;mm as the standard for exhibition.<ref name="Belton" /><sup>658</sup>

Standardization in recording came from monopolization of the business by Eastman and Edison, and because of Edison's typical business model involving the patent system: Eastman and Edison managed their film patents well<ref name="Belton" /><sup>656</sup> – Edison filed the 35&nbsp;mm patent in 1896, the year after Dickson left his employ<ref name="Belton" /><sup>657</sup> – and so controlled the use and development of film.<ref name="Belton" /><sup>656</sup> Dickson left the Edison company in 1895, going on to help competitors produce cameras and other film gauges that would not infringe on [[List of Edison patents|Edison's patents]]. However, by 1900, filmmakers found it too expensive to develop and use other gauges, and went back to using the cheap and widely-available 35&nbsp;mm.<ref name="Belton" /><sup>657</sup>

Dickson said in 1933:
{{quote|At the end of the year 1889, I increased the width of the picture from {{frac||1|2}} inch to {{frac||3|4}} inch, then, to 1 inch by {{frac||3|4}} inch high. The actual width of the film was {{frac|1|3|8}} inches to allow for the perforations now punched on both edges, 4 holes to the phase or picture, which perforations were a shade smaller than those now in use. This standardized film size of 1889 has remained, with only minor variations, unaltered to date.<ref name="Belton" /><sup>652</sup>}}

Until 1953, the 35&nbsp;mm film was seen as "basic technology" in the film industry, rather than optional, despite other gauges being available.<ref name="Belton" /><sup>652</sup>

[[File:35mm film format with optical soundtrack.svg|thumb|upright=1.5|35&nbsp;mm film diagram]]
In 1908, Edison formed "a cartel of production companies", a [[trust (19th century)|trust]] called the [[Motion Picture Patents Company]] (MPPC), pooling patents for collective use in the industry and positioning Edison's own technology as the standard to be licensed out.<ref name="Belton" /><sup>656</sup> 35&nbsp;mm became the "official" standard of the newly formed MPPC, which agreed in 1909 to what would become the standard: 35&nbsp;mm gauge, with Edison perforations and a 1.3{{overline|3}}:1 (4:3) [[aspect ratio (image)|aspect ratio]] (also developed by Dickson).<ref name="Belton" /><sup>652</sup><ref group="fn">The gauge and perforations are almost identical to modern film stock; the full silent ratio is also used as the [[film gate]] in movie cameras, although portions of the image are later cropped out in post-production and projection.</ref> Scholar Paul C. Spehr describes the importance of these developments:

{{quote|The early acceptance of 35&nbsp;mm as a standard had momentous impact on the development and spread of cinema. The standard gauge made it possible for films to be shown in every country of the world&nbsp;... It provided a uniform, reliable and predictable format for production, distribution and exhibition of movies, facilitating the rapid spread and acceptance of the movies as a world-wide device for entertainment and communication.<ref name="John Fullerton 3"/>}}

When the MPPC adopted the 35&nbsp;mm format, [[Bell & Howell]] produced cameras, projectors, and perforators for the medium of an "exceptionally high quality", further cementing it as the standard.<ref name="Belton" /><sup>659</sup> Edison and Eastman's form of business manipulation was ruled unlawful in 1914, but by this time the technology had become the established standard.<ref name="Belton" /><sup>657</sup> In 1917, the new [[Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers|Society of Motion Picture Engineers]] (SMPE) "acknowledged the de facto status of 35mm as the industry's dominant film gauge, adopting it as an engineering standard".<ref name="Belton" /><sup>659</sup>