35 Millimeter Film can refer to what a given movie itself was shot in or the more general industry of films and filmmaking. The first use comes from the history of movie films evolving from photography, which uses film to capture still images. Photographic film is also known as film stock. Films today are not necessarily made using film, but can be created through animation or digitally, though film as of 2009 is still common in major productions (but this is quickly changing).

Technical Description

The emulsion layer holds millions of silver halide crystals, which are light-sensitive. Each crystal is a silver-halogen (bromine, iodine or chlorine) compound. They are attracted to the other crystals by electrical charge. When exposed to light, the crystals’ free-moving silver ions collect more uncharged atoms; this is the latent image. The silver halide emulsions respond to red, green, and blue light. The anti-halation backing contains absorber dyes or silver or carbon that absorb excessive light exposure, preventing the effect of halos or some aspects of over exposure, and also reduces static build-up. When developed, the dye couplers in the blue, green and red sensitive layers turn the exposed silver halide crystals to their complimentary colors (yellow, magenta, cyan). The film is made up of (1) Clear protective topcoat (2) UV filter (3) "Fast" blue layer (4) "Slow" blue layer (5) Yellow filter to cut all blue light from passing through to (6) "Fast" green layer (7) "Slow" green layer (8) Inter (subbing) layer (9) "Fast" red layer (10) "Slow" red layer (11) Clear triacetate base (12) Anti-halation (rem-jet) backing.  

History

Motion picture film is derived from the same film used in still photography. The difference is the gauge of the film, motion pictures using 35 millimeter (1 3/8 inch), while still photography uses a gauge roughly twice the length.

Thomas Edison, along with William Dickson, introduced 35 mm film in 1892, and it quickly become the industry standard, officially so in 1909. For the first 15 years there was competition from other gauges of film, but 35 mm offered a high quality film that, though expensive, was still less than a larger gauge.