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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 Geppe 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.  Geppe 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.

Compiling good quality sets of film cells for collectors is time consuming,

concentration intensive, and sometimes even tedious work.  It requires

attention to detail to make sure the sets are composed give the buyer as

great a variety of good scenes as possible.

When browsing a listing offering film cells for sale, be sure to look for the

following information:  Does the dealer specifically state how many DIFFERENT

scenes you will receive?  Does the seller use terms like "strips" or "segments"

to describe the film cells being sold?  Always ask if the description is vague

or you are unsure about anything.  Collecting film cells is a great hobby, and

a lot of fun compiling a collection, but just make sure what it is you are being

sold before you buy.

FLAT OR SCOPE?

This is another problem that has been cropping up more and more --

dealers selling film cells taken from footage that is in cinemascope

format.  The basic formats you find frames of film in are either "flat" or

"scope".  A film cell in usable flat format will present an image to you

like looking at a slide.  The film cell that is in scope format will present

a distorted, stretched out image.  This is because footage that is in

cinemascope format was meant to be projected through an anamorphic

lens -- this lens will cause the image, when projected on screen, to look

"normal" -- but a film frame taken from such footage is useless when

viewed with the naked eye. 

All film cells offered in my listings are flat format only.

( While it seems rather silly to have to specify that )