Projection speeds for commercially produced films

Patrick Cooper · April 12, 2020

At the moment, I have some family members staying over and I thought it would be fun to bring out the super 8 projector and project some commercial films like cartoons and documentaries etc. These are films that I bought years ago and would likely be reduction prints made from larger formats like 16mm. Though the thing is it has been so long since Ive projected such films and I was curious about the correct frame rate for some of them. For the sound films, the correct frame rate would obviously be 24fps. There are also a number of silent films as well that I'm a little unsure about. I'm assuming these would be 24fps as well rather than 18fps? The film speed isn't always printed on the cardboard box that comes with the film.

Brian Drysdale · April 12, 2020

If it's a early silent film, it would be closer to 18fps than 24fps.

For silent version of sound film on 8mm, it could be either since 18fps is pretty much the standard frame rate on Super 8 films. All you can do is watch a few and see of they look speeded up at 24fps.

Tyler Purcell · April 12, 2020

Most silent 16mm films are either 16fps or 18fps. Most older projectors have a switch to run those alternative speeds.

Uli Meyer · April 12, 2020

I might be wrong but I seem to remember that the 15meter spools cut down versions of Disney cartoons that I watched on Super 8mm when I was a 10 year old ran at 24 fps. My home movies I shot on 18fps to get more footage out of a cartridge. I used to have to switch speeds between watching my own efforts and the commercial films. Mind you, this was 40something years ago so please take it with a pinch of salt.

Patrick Cooper · April 12, 2020

Thankyou for the replies.

Uli, yes I used a similar strategy myself. I mainly shot 18fps to get more run time. Though my first super 8 projector (a Eumig 610D) could not run at 24fps and had no sound so that was a bit of a downer when I started collecting commercial films. I remember buying a 400ft condensed version of The Amityville Horror and having to watch it in silence with rapid actions slowed down a little.

My current projector (that I haven't used i a while) is an Elmo ST-180. This is the projector that I was planning to screen some cartoons etc with for the family. But it seems my plans have been foiled. Ive just taken it out of the box and I discovered that the power cord is missing which is odd because usually, I keep everything projector-related inside the box like the instruction manual etc. I might have to order a new cord.