28 mm film was introduced by the Pathé Film Company in 1912 under the name Pathé Kok. Geared toward the home market, 28 mm utilized diacetate film stock rather than the flammable nitrate commonly used in 35 mm. The film gauge was deliberately chosen such that it would be uneconomical to slit 35 mm nitrate film.
Pathé in France and later Victor in the USA printed reduction prints (usually, although not always, abridged) of popular films for home rental, designed to be used in Pathéscope Cinematograph or Victor Animatograph projectors. By 1918, over 10,000 projectors had been sold and more than 20,000,000 feet of film printed.
World War I stopped European production of 28 mm. It continued in North America until 1920 before ceasing entirely. Shortly after, 9.5 mm and 16 mm would take the amateur film gauge role 28 mm had once filled.
Read more about 28 Mm Film: Technical Specifications
Famous quotes containing the word film:
“All the old supports going, gone, this man reaches out a hand to steady himself on a ledge of rough brick that is warm in the sun: his hand feeds him messages of solidity, but his mind messages of destruction, for this breathing substance, made of earth, will be a dance of atoms, he knows it, his intelligence tells him so: there will soon be war, he is in the middle of war, where he stands will be a waste, mounds of rubble, and this solid earthy substance will be a film of dust on ruins.”
—Doris Lessing (b. 1919)