I would say that “roll” refers to the film itself, “spool” and “reel” refer to objects the film is wound onto, each of which have sides — as opposed to “cores” which do not — and are sized by their capacity, rather than diameter as is the case with audiotape reels. E.g. a standard small audio reel is 5”, and standard small film reel 400’. While “spool" and “reel” are sometimes used interchangeably, I would say a spool generally denotes both a smaller object, and one on which camera original is wound, while a reel contains a finished copy for projection. Film reel generally have open sides while spools have solid sides.
Examples: 16mm A 100’ load for a Bolex 16mm comes on a solid metal daylight spool, and is wound onto another 100’ daylight spool form take-up. The lab might send the footage back on a 100’ plastic spool that’s no good for in-camera use because it’s translucent. When you edit your workprint, the film is wound between cores, either on a flatbed, or, if you’re on an upright bench with a syncronizer, the cores are mounted into split-reels. (I’ve never heard them called split-spools, but YMMV) After you send the materials for your edited short film off to the lab, the answer print comes back on a 400’ (e.g.) projection reel. Super 8 A 50’ load comes in a cartridge. After you exposeit, you send it to the lab and they send the film back on a white plastic 50’ spool. You thread that through your projector onto a 200’ take-up reel. IDK about 35mm > Is there a difference in standard measurements of lengths of film on spools, > reels and rolls? > > A roll of film is for shorter lengths while a reel is for longer ones? for > example, 100 foot roll and 1000 foot reel > > Can you say a spool of film - or have i confused things? Are these terms > different for super 8, 16 and 35mm? > > Any help in untangling and defining this will be much appreciated! > > > > > _______________________________________________ > FrameWorks mailing list > [email protected] > https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks _______________________________________________ FrameWorks mailing list [email protected] https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
