- 35mm film – this refers to the width of the film. In almost all cinemas this is the format the film will be shown in. The film is made up of a sequence of transparent still images – 24 for each second of action on screen. The soundtrack is also printed along the edge of the film (see digital sound).
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- Digital sound – this is what makes a film come to life. Cinemas have speakers all around the auditorium to give the impression of Surround Sound. It’s all about transferring what you see on screen to what you hear around you. Helicopters seem to fly overhead, you feel explosions and bullets ricochet around the room. The soundtrack, which is printed on the film, is read by a decoder which splits the sound into 6 parts, these bits of the soundtrack are then fed to specific speakers, this moves the sound around, making it all seem a bit more real.
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- Projector – Projectors have changed very little in a hundred years. A shutter opens and closes which allows a beam of light from a very powerful lamp to pass through each frame of the film (see 35mm film). As each frame passes by the open shutter it stops momentarily (for 0.042 seconds). This projects the static image within the frame onto the screen. 0.042 seconds later another, slightly different image is projected onto the screen. Repeat this process for 2 hours and you have a movie. Your brain and your eyes fill in the small gap between the still images, merging them together, giving the impression you’re looking at a moving image. Basically, it’s an advanced flicker book!
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