It's simple. 35mm motion picture film is normally pulled down into the gate 4 perforations at a time. This yields the time honored academy frame. This is normally cropped down to 1.85:1 or 16x9 flat widescreen, leaving much of the film wasted. A 2 perf 35mm camera has had the movement modified to pull down only 2 frames, 1/2 the normal amount of film. The resulting frame is conveniently 2.4:1. As you can see, it is extremely efficient in maximizing the use of film real estate.

Yes! At any given frame-per-second speed, 1/2 the film will be pulled through the camera compared to any 4 perf format- academy, Super35 or anamorphic. A 200' short end that you purchased for $.14 a foot is now a very useable 4 minute load instead of only 2 minutes in standard 4 perf. Given the excellent availablilty of inexpensive 35mm short ends, shooting 2 perf 35mm can be less expensive than 16mm!

This is one of the areas in which 2 perf excels. All the spherical lenses we have in OCT19 mount are good to go. By comparison, anamorphic lenses are heavy and slow, and the selection is limited. Our spherical lens selection runs from 18 to 500mm. Our 28, 35, 50 and 75mm SuperSpeeds keep light requirements to a minimum, saving valuable production time and minimizing power requirements.

This is one of the most important issues concerning the 2 perf format. It was originally developed in the 1960's to finish in an expensive optical blow-up for standard 4 perf anamorphic prints. Today, in the digital post production era, 2 perf can be telecined to StandardDef and HiDef video as easily as any other film format (ask for our list of 2 perf friendly telecine houses). From there it can be finished in any video format you prefer. If you are going to finish to a wide screen flat (1.85:1) or squeezed anamorphic (2.35:1) 35mm projection print, this can now be achieved with a Digital Internegative, just like any other format going through this process. (We are currently in negotiations with labs who can produce lower cost DIs.)

Our 2 perf Kinor 35H body has been modified to make shooting 2 perf easy. The pulldown movement has been modified. A special film gate has been made and the goundglass marked appropriately. The motor electronics recognize and are calibrated for 2 perf and read accordingly. The lens mount is unchanged and all the spherical lenses are available to use, including the SuperSpeeds.

Try these helpful sites:

From the Konvas.org site: http://konvas.org/faq/what-is-2-perf-also-called-techniscope.html

Anders Banke's 2006 Swedish Techniscope feature "Frostbiten." Here's what Mr Banke says: "On 'Frostbiten,' the majority was shot on Kinors, Lomos and in 2-perf. For various reasons we had to shoot some of the film on an Arri 3-perf camera using Zeiss lenses. The interesting thing is that on some scenes where we use both cameras and the different lens systems, you CANNOT see the difference, it’s impossible to tell which shot was done by what camera / lens..."

http://www.frostbiten.se/

Check out Anders' latest feature "Newsmakers," due out in Spring '09. A full on action/adventure film, it was shot in 2 perf on Kinor, Konvas, Arri and even Mitchell 2 perf cameras. Take a look at DP Chris Maris' page, there is even an HD trailer you can download.

http://www.chrismaris.com/chrismarisyoutube_003.htm

Wiki, an informative comparison of 35mm formats: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3-perf_and_2-perf_pulldown

Wiki, techniscope specific: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Techniscope

From ArandaFilm's excellent site (be sure to navigate forward): http://www.2perf.arandafilm.com.au/

Nathan Milford's exellent article concerning 2 perf and Aaton's new 2 perf Penelope camera (be sure to click on the links at the bottom of the page): http://www.abelcine.com/articles/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=26&Itemid=34

A vintage article from "American Cinematographer" on the process: http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/widescreen/wingts2.htm

Cinematographer Peter Gray's detailed history and information on the format: http://jkor.com/peter/techniscope.html