Techniscope or 2-Perf is a 35mm motion picture camera film format introduced by Technicolor Italia in 1963.[1] The Techniscope format uses a two film-perforation negative pulldown per frame, instead of the standard four-perforation frame usually exposed in 35mm film photography. Techniscope's 2.33:1 aspect ratio is easily cropped to the 2.39:1 widescreen ratio,[2] because it uses half the amount of 35mm film stock and standard spherical lenses. Thus, Techniscope release prints are made by anamorphosizing and enlarging each frame by a factor of two.
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During its primary reign, 1960–1980, more than 350 films were photographed in Techniscope;[3] The Pharaoh's Woman (released 10 December 1960) was the first.[4] 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 briefly used it in the mid- to late 1960s.
Apropos diminished image quality, film reviewer Roger Ebert wrote about the film Counterpoint (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. In this film, as in "Harry Frigg", Techniscope causes washed-out color and a loss of detail. Universal shouldn't be so cheap."[5]
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.[3]
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's advantages over anamorphic CinemaScope are:
Techniscope's disadvantages against CinemaScope:
Note: When transferring 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 and MGM's special editions of Sergio Leone's Westerns.