What is a film cell?
Imagine if you would a movie or TV show on 35mm film....
The movie itself consists of the reel of film - a series of individual
frames of 35mm film that, when in motion, give the illusion of life
on the big screen. When stilled, however, a single frame of film
( in flat format ) looks like a slide transparency.
Now imagine if you could have a single frame of film featuring a great
character or scene from your favorite movie or TV series.....
35mm film cells (actual size is approximately 35mm x 20mm)
You now have a 35mm film cell. Film cells (also called film clips,
film frames, or film cels -- it's all the same thing) can be mounted
using single-frame 35mm slide mounts to make great quality color
(or black and white) slides of high image sharpness and clarity
(since film cells are taken from original 35mm film footage, the
image quality is excellent).
35mm film cell mounted as a slide
To give you an idea of how fine the image quality is with film cells,
I took the single film cell pictured above and enlarged it to many
times its original size. Below you can see the result:
As you can see, even at such extreme enlargement, the resulting image
is still crisp and clean without any muddiness or grainy appearance.
People collect 35mm film cells because they offer a way to acquire high
quality photographic material from their favorite movies or of their favorite
stars for much less than cost of photographs or slide duplicates ( which
may have been repeatedly copied resulting in poor image quality ).
How do I make slides from my film cells?
To make slides from your film cells is as simple as mounting them in a
35mm single-frame slide mount. Note that you need 35mm half-frame
slide mounts for mounting film cells. This is important. Most photo supply
stores carry slide mounts but most often they stock 35mm full-frame slide
mounts. These are too large for use with film cells. Be sure when buying
mounts to specify that you require 35mm half-frame mounts.
There are three types of mounts used by most hobbyists:
HEAT SEAL SLIDE MOUNTS: These are thin cut cardboard mounts
that when heat is applied to the outside of the mount, once folded
over after the film cell is placed in the indented cutaway on the
inside, the two halves will bond, sealing the film cell in place.
Heat seal mounts can be very tedious to work with after awhile
(especially if you're mounting a large number of film cells ). Most
people would use an iron set on low-medium heat and apply light
pressure around the edges of the mount to make the seal, but
make a slip and you could damage the film cell. Also, after a while
the heat from the iron begins to get your hand.
Heat seal mounts were made by many different companies at one
time, but these days you may have to hunt around to locate them.
E-Z SLIDE MOUNTS: Made by several different companies, these
mounts are made of a sturdy cardboard with a notch cutaway on
one side which allows one to simply slide the film cell into the
cutaway portion. The film cell is held in place by a thin channel
that runs around the edges of the cutaway. Easy to use and since
you can back a film cell out of the mount, they are also reusable
should you wish to unmount a film cell for any reason.
E-Z type mounts are also available in a rigid plastic form. Plastic
E-Z style mounts are one piece with a slit at one end which allows
you to slide your film cell between the two halves of the mount
and the rim locks it in place. The advantage of the plastic mounts
over any type of cardboard mount is they don't swell or warp.
PLASTIC SNAP-TOGETHER MOUNTS: Made by Gepe Co. these
are two piece plastic mounts. You seat the film cell into the inner
framing of one side and the other slide of the mount snaps into
place over it. Easy to use, though more expensive than other
types of mounts. Gepe mounts are reusable as well. You can
unmount a slide by prying the two halves apart and removing
the film cell. However, if one does this too many times stress
cracks are apt to develop in the mount
How should I store my slides?
The two most common means of storing film cell slides is either in a
binder using twenty-slot loose-leaf plastic archive pages or in slide
storage boxes.
Slide storage boxes, made in both plastic or metal, have 2" x 2"
channels in them that allow you to organize your slides in the
storage box in rows ( most have a type of sectioning divider ).
Excellent if you have a large quantity of slides to file away.
Using the plastic archive pages that you put in a loose-leaf 3-ring
binder is perfect if you want to have ready access to your slides
and be able to look through them easily. The slide pages will each
hold 20 standard sized 2"x2" slides. Just slip the slides into the
slots in the pages and put them in a notebook binder.
No matter how you organize and file your slides the most important
things to keep in mind ( as with all slides and photos ) is to keep them
in a cool, dry, dark place. Excessive heat, humidity, and intense light
for long periods of time can damage your slides.
Can I make photos from film cells?
Ok, this is a tricky question to give a straight answer on. When you've got your
film cells mounted as a standard 2x2 size slide you can manipulate it just like you
would any other slide. You can view them in a slide viewer, slide projector, file
them in slide boxes, and one could make prints from slides. However, film cells
are copyrighted material so to make photographic copies from them is copyright
infringement. That said, there are a lot of fans/collectors who do just that -- make
photographs for their own collections and personal use. Is it possible to do it?
Yes. Are you supposed to be doing it? No.
Know what you are getting
When you are buying film cells from someone online be sure you read
carefully to know what you are getting. While this would seem to go without
saying, over the past few years I am seeing offerings which make this worth
repeating.
There have appeared sellers who are offering what seems at first glance
to be great "deals" on film cells. However, as is usually the case, when
something seems too good to be true there is generally a reason. These
sellers are playing with the numbers by offering lots of filmstrips from a
movie and counting each frame in the strip as being one film cell. This
gives the shopper who is looking for a variety of different scenes an
inflated impression of what's being offered. Here is an illustration of
how this kind of thing goes:
Let's say that "Dealer A" is offering 20 film cells from "Winnie the
Pooh and Tigger Too". The person buying that lot would get this:
"Dealer B" also has listed 20 film cells from "Winnie the Pooh and
Tigger Too" but the person buying that lot would receive this:
"Dealer A" sends sends 20 total film cells, but since it is in the form of
two strips of 10 film cells, the buyer is actually only getting two scenes
from the movie.
"Dealer B" also sends 20 total film cells, but he sends 20 individual
film cells, 20 different scenes from the movie. This gives the buyer
a much wider variety of scenes for their collection.
Mounting their film frames to make color slides, the customer who
bought from "Dealer B" will have 20 different slides to add to his
collection. The customer who bought from "Dealer A" can make but
2 different slides with lots of duplicate film cells left over. Both were
selling and delivering 20 film cells, but what the buyer gets from each
dealer is very different.
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