That's Why They Call It The Flicks!

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Phoenix Cinema is screening DUNKIRK on 35mm film And this... is 35mm film! But it was actually photographed on this which is 65mm in the camera and 70mm if you're actually showing it (the difference in the width being for the soundtrack) Now you may wonder how you get something this width onto something this width You have a lens which compresses the image and expands it so, on the piece of 35mm the picture looks compressed from that width to that width and to get it back to that width this goes on the front of the projector and expands the image sideways Now somebody said to us, "ah, but the picture flickers" Well it does, it always has, and that's why it's called 'the flicks!' And it works like this: the film doesn't run continuously through the projector 1/48 of a second, it stops the film runs at 24 frames per second and the reason for the difference is this: there's a shutter and the shutter comes round like that and the film drops down and the shutter goes round and the light shines through and then the shutter comes round and the film drops down and the shutter goes round and the light shines through and that's how the picture moves 24 frames per second for 1/48th of a second the shutter's there but the human eye doesn't see it you might see a bit of flicker, but as I've said - that's why they call it the flicks! and that little ditty by the way we wrote for schools and in fact you can sing it to the tune of "The Wheels on the Bus" It's 35mm ladies and gentlemen good old-fashioned 35mm you know, we love it really so come back 35mm, all is forgiven you never go wrong, you never let us down we love you dearly and you look gorgeous on screen and so we get the show on the road! Phoenix Cinema 2017 with thanks to Paul Stanley and Nathan Cable