Super 35


Super 35 is a motion picture film format that uses exactly the same film stock as standard 35 mm film, but puts a larger image frame on that stock by using the space normally reserved for the optical analog sound track.

History

Super 35 was revived from a similar Superscope variant known as Superscope 235, which was originally developed by the Tushinsky Brothers for RKO in 1954. The first film to be shot in Superscope was Vera Cruz.
When cameraman Joe Dunton was preparing to shoot Dance Craze in 1982, he chose to revive the Superscope format by using a full silent-standard gate and slightly optically recentering the lens port. These two characteristics are central to the format.
It was adopted by Hollywood starting with ' in 1984, under the format name Super Techniscope'. It also received much early publicity for making the cockpit shots in Top Gun'' possible, since it was otherwise impossible to fit 35 mm cameras with large anamorphic lenses into the small free space in the cockpit. Later, as other camera rental houses and labs started to embrace the format, Super 35 became popular in the mid-1990s, and is now considered a ubiquitous production process, with usage on well over a thousand feature films. It is often the standard production format for television shows, music videos, and commercials. Since none of these require a release print, it is unnecessary to reserve space for an optical soundtrack.
When composing for 1.85:1, it was known as Super 1.85, since it was larger than standard 1.85.
When composing for 2.39:1, it was often typical to employ either a "common center", which keeps the 2.39 extraction area at the center of the film that results in extra headroom if opened up to 4:3 or 16:9, or a "common top", which shifts the 2.39 extraction area upwards on the film so that it shared a common top line with a centered 1.85:1 frame. This allowed frame compositions with actors to remain relatively unaffected when producing a 4:3 or 16:9 full screen version with similar headrooms. The downside with common top extraction is that lens flares may not be aligned properly as light sources that are in the center of the full frame appear slightly lower than usual in 2.39 and corner fall-offs and other distortions are not optically centered properly. Also in wide shots, there is too much footroom and not enough headroom and extreme close ups of actors faces as well as their foreheads are still cut off but more picture is gained below the frame. As 16:9 televisions increased in popularity, it became more practical for productions to use the "common center" extraction, which frames across the center of the film, although a "common third" extraction is used if directors want similar headrooms between 2.39 & 16:9 versions.
The Super 35 format has also gained attraction for use in films with extensive visual effects as the unused frame areas outside 1.85/2.39 can be used by VFX artists to film different visual effects elements with spherical lenses and more freedom to move within the frame.

Details

Super 35 is a production format. Theatres do not receive or project Super 35 prints. Rather, films are shot in a Super 35 format but are then — either through optical blowdown/matting or digital intermediate — converted into one of the standard formats to make release prints. Because of this, often productions also use Super 35's width in conjunction with a 3-perf negative pulldown to save costs on "wasted" frame area shot and accommodate camera magazines that could shoot 33% longer in time with the same length of film.
If using 4-perf, the Super 35 camera aperture is 24.89 mm × 18.66 mm, compared to the standard Academy 35 mm film size of 21.95 mm × 16.00 mm and thus provides 32% more image area than the standard 35-mm format. 4-perf Super 35 is simply the original frame size that was used in 35 mm silent films. That is, it is a return to the way the film stock was used before the frame size was cropped to allow room for a soundtrack.
Super 35 competes with the use of the standard 35 mm format used with an anamorphic lens. In this comparison, advocates of Super 35 claim an advantage in production costs and flexibility; when used to make 1.85:1 or 2.39:1 theatrical prints, detractors complain of a loss in quality, due to less negative area used and more lab intermediate steps.

Aspect ratio

Super 35 uses standard "spherical" camera lenses, which are faster, smaller, and cheaper to rent — a factor in low-budget production — and provide a wider range of lens choices to the cinematographer. The chief advantage of Super 35 for productions is its adaptability to different release formats. Super 35 negatives can be used to produce high-quality releases in any aspect ratio, as the final frame is extracted and converted from the larger full frame negative. This also means that a full-frame video release can actually use more of the frame than the theatrical release, provided that the extra frame space is "protected for" during filming. Generally the aspect ratio and extraction method must be chosen by the director of photography ahead of time, so the correct ground glass can be created to let the camera operator see where the extracted frame is.
Super 35 ratios have included:
1.66:1 and 1.75:1 have been indicated in some Super 35 frame leader charts, although generally they have not been used for Super 35 productions due to both relative lack of usage since the rise of Super 35 and their greater use of negative frame space by virtue of their increased vertical dimension.
Theoretically, 2.39:1 release prints made from Super 35 should have slightly lower technical quality than films produced directly in the anamorphic format. Because part of the Super 35 image is thrown away when printing to this format, films originated with anamorphic lenses use a larger negative area. Super 35 has continually been popular with television shows, due to the lack of a need for a final release print; with the advent of widescreen television sets, 3-perf Super 35 – with a native 1.78:1 ratio – was widely used for widescreen television shows until the advent of digital shooting. 3-perf Super 35 was also used for some time for 2.39:1 feature films, and the digital intermediate process made it more attractive because it allowed the optical processing formerly required to be skipped entirely.

Examples

DirectorYearTitleNotes
James Cameron1989The AbyssCommon top
James Cameron1991'Common top
James Cameron1994True LiesCommon top
James Cameron1997Titanic
Lawrence Kasdan1985Silverado
Lawrence Kasdan2003Dreamcatcher
Tony Scott1986Top Gun
Tony Scott1987Beverly Hills Cop II
Tony Scott2004Man on Fire
Tony Scott2005Domino
Tony Scott2006Déjà Vu
Tony Scott2009The Taking of Pelham 123
Tony Scott2010Unstoppable
Sir Ridley Scott1989Black Rain
Sir Ridley Scott2000Gladiator
Sir Ridley Scott2001Black Hawk Down
Sir Ridley Scott2005Kingdom of Heaven
Sir Ridley Scott2006A Good Year
Sir Ridley Scott2008Body of Lies
Sir Ridley Scott2010Robin Hood
Wolfgang Petersen1985Enemy Mine
Wolfgang Petersen1997Air Force OneCommon top
Wolfgang Petersen2004Troy
Wolfgang Petersen2006Poseidon
John Hughes1986Ferris Bueller's Day OffCommon top
John Badham1990Bird on a WireCommon top
Jack Nicholson1990The Two JakesSuper 1.85
Francis Ford Coppola1990The Godfather Part IIISuper 1.85
Ron Howard1991BackdraftCommon top
Ron Howard1995Apollo 13Common top
Ron Howard2003The Missing
Ron Howard2005Cinderella Man
Ron Howard2006The Da Vinci Code
Ron Howard2008Frost/Nixon
Ron Howard2009Angels & Demons
Ron Howard2011The Dilemma
John Milius1991Flight of the Intruder
Nicholas Meyer1991'
Quentin Tarantino1992Reservoir Dogs
Quentin Tarantino2003'3-perf
Quentin Tarantino2004'3-perf
Quentin Tarantino2007Death Proof3-perf
Quentin Tarantino2019Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood"The 14 Fists of McCluskey" sequence
Super 1.85 3-perf
James Ivory1992Howards End
James Ivory1993The Remains of the Day
Martin Scorsese1993The Age of InnocenceCommon top
Martin Scorsese1995CasinoCommon top
Martin Scorsese1997KundunCommon top
Martin Scorsese2002Gangs of New YorkCommon top
Martin Scorsese2004The Aviator3-perf
Martin Scorsese2006The DepartedCommon top
Martin Scorsese2010Shutter Island3-perf
Martin Scorsese2013The Wolf of Wall Street
Martin Scorsese2019The IrishmanSuper 1.85 3-perf
Peter Jackson1994Heavenly Creatures
Peter Jackson1996The FrightenersCommon top
Peter Jackson2001'
Peter Jackson2002'
Peter Jackson2003'
Peter Jackson2005King Kong
Peter Jackson2009The Lovely Bones
Bryan Singer1995The Usual Suspects
Bryan Singer1998Apt Pupil
Bryan Singer2003X2: X-Men UnitedCommon top
Bryan Singer2008ValkyrieSuper 1.85
Paul Verhoeven1995ShowgirlsCommon top
Paul Verhoeven2006Black Book
John Woo1996Broken Arrow
John Woo2002Windtalkers
John Woo2008-2009Red Cliff
Michael Bay1996The Rock
Michael Bay2003Bad Boys II
Woody Allen2011Midnight in ParisSuper 1.85 3-perf
Woody Allen2012To Rome with LoveSuper 1.85
Woody Allen2013Blue Jasmine3-perf
Roland Emmerich1996Independence DayCommon top
Roland Emmerich1998GodzillaCommon top
Roland Emmerich2000The Patriot
Roland Emmerich2004The Day After TomorrowCommon third
Roland Emmerich200810,000 BCCommon third
Roland Emmerich20092012
Paul Thomas Anderson1996Hard Eight
Roger Donaldson1997Dante's Peak
Roger Donaldson2003The Recruit
Gregory Nava1997Selena
Curtis Hanson1997L.A. Confidential
Curtis Hanson2000Wonder Boys
Curtis Hanson20028 Mile
Curtis Hanson2005In Her Shoes
Curtis Hanson2007Lucky You
Oliver Stone1999Any Given Sunday
Oliver Stone2004Alexander
Oliver Stone2006World Trade CenterSuper 1.85
Oliver Stone2008 W.3-perf
Oliver Stone2010'3-perf
John Singleton2000Shaft
John Singleton20032 Fast 2 Furious
John Singleton2005Four Brothers
John Singleton2011Abduction
The Coen Brothers2000O Brother, Where Art Thou?
The Coen Brothers2007No Country for Old Men
The Coen Brothers2009A Serious ManSuper 1.85 3-perf
The Coen Brothers2010True Grit3-perf
The Coen Brothers2016Hail, Caesar!Super 1.85 3-perf
Antoine Fuqua1998The Replacement Killers
Antoine Fuqua2000Bait
Antoine Fuqua2004King Arthur
Antoine Fuqua2009Brooklyn's Finest3-perf
Antoine Fuqua2013Olympus Has Fallen3-perf
McG2000Charlie's Angels
McG2003'
McG2006We Are Marshall
McG2009Terminator Salvation
McG2012This Means War
D. J. Caruso2004Taking Lives
D. J. Caruso2005Two for the Money
D. J. Caruso2008Eagle EyeCommon top
D. J. Caruso2011I Am Number FourSuper 1.85
Baz Luhrmann2001Moulin Rouge!Visual effects
Baz Luhrmann2008Australia
Steven Spielberg2002Minority Report
Steven Spielberg2005Munich
Steven Spielberg2011War Horse
Steven Spielberg2012Lincoln3-perf
Steven Spielberg2017The PostSuper 1.85 3-perf
Peter Berg2003The Rundown
Peter Berg2004Friday Night Lights
Peter Berg2007The Kingdom
Peter Berg2008Hancock
Peter Berg2012BattleshipVisual effects
Sam Raimi2004Spider-Man 2
Sam Raimi2007Spider-Man 3
Sam Raimi2009Drag Me to Hell
Sean McNamara2004Raise Your Voice
Sean McNamara2007Bratz: The Movie
Sean McNamara2011Soul Surfer
Guy Ritchie2005Revolver
Guy Ritchie2009Sherlock HolmesSuper 1.85
Guy Ritchie2011'
Tim Burton2005Charlie and the Chocolate FactorySuper 1.85
Tim Burton2007'Super 1.85
Tim Burton2010Alice in WonderlandOpening and closing bookends
Super 1.85
Tim Burton2012Dark ShadowsSuper 1.85
Zack Snyder2004Dawn of the Dead
Zack Snyder2006300
Zack Snyder2009Watchmen
Zack Snyder2011Sucker Punch
Zack Snyder2017Justice LeagueSuper 1.85
Paul Feig2006Unaccompanied Minors
Paul Feig2011Bridesmaids
Paul Feig2013The Heat3-perf
Jon Favreau2008Iron Man
Jon Favreau2010Iron Man 2
Joe Johnston2010The WolfmanSuper 1.85
Joe Johnston2011'Scenes that were not shot on Panavision Genesis
Joe Johnston2018The Nutcracker and the Four RealmsReshoots
Super 1.85 3-perf
Rupert Sanders2012Snow White and the HuntsmanVisual effects
David Fincher1995Se7en
David Fincher1997The GameFincher third
David Fincher1999Fight ClubFincher third
David Fincher2002Panic RoomFincher third
3-perf
Jonathan Mostow1997BreakdownCommon top
Jonathan Mostow2000U-571
Jonathan Mostow2003Common top
Jonathan Mostow2009Surrogates
Judd Apatow2015Trainwreck3-perf
Judd Apatow2020The King of Staten Island3-perf
Patty Jenkins2017Wonder Woman
Patty Jenkins2020Wonder Woman 1984Scenes that were not shot on IMAX film
Joel Schumacher2002Bad CompanyCommon top
Joel Schumacher2003Phone BoothCommon top
Joel Schumacher2003Veronica GuerinCommon top
Joss Whedon2005Serenity
Joss Whedon2012Marvel's The AvengersHigh-speed shots
Super 1.85
Tim Hill2007Alvin and the ChipmunksSuper 1.85
Tim Hill2011HopSuper 1.85
Mimi Leder1997The Peacemaker
Mimi Leder1998Deep Impact

Franchises that used the Super 35 format include The Matrix, The Fast and the Furious, Harry Potter, Bourne, the first three Pirates of the Caribbean movies, National Treasure, the first two The Chronicles of Narnia movies, the first three live-action Alvin and the Chipmunks movies, and The Twilight Saga.