It's easy to see the differences between formats by the width of the film base, called film gauge. But when you have several film formats with the same film gauge, you need to have the clear concepts. We going to define 2 concepts: film format and presentation of film format.

A film format is defined by the position and size of 3 elements on the film base: film frame, sprocket hole and sound track. Standard 8 and Super 8 are formats with the same film gauge. And these 2 formats have one sprocket hole by film frame. But the size of sprocket holes and film frames are different. Standard 8 and Toei 8 have the same sprocket hole, but the film frame is different. Toei 8 has film frame less wide than Standard 8, because the optical sound track, on the opposite side of sprocket holes, takes space for film frame.

Presentation of film format. In the thirties, Standard 8 was created from the 16 mm as a cheaper format. This format came in spools of 16 mm wide and 7.5 m long. The film was more sprocket holes than 16 mm film: twice the number of perforations. First, one side of the film was exposed. After, the other side. And  in the laboratory, the film was cut down the centre and was spliced the ends, and presented one roll of 8 mm wide film and 15 meters long. In the fourties, Universa Camera Co marketed the Univex cine camera that run with film of 8 mm wide and 9 meters long. This film  was a Standard 8 format, but it went cut in rolls. This system was called "Straight 8" and, a few years after, "Single 8". Then the first presentation of Standard 8 in rolls of 16 mm wide was called "Double 8".

In the sixties, Eastman Kodak launched a new format in 8 mm gauge, the Super 8, that was a evolution of Standard 8. This company also presented a Double Super 8, that was the format Super 8 presented as the Double 8 in spools of 16 mm wide. A year after, Fuji Photo Film launched a different Super 8 system called "Single 8". This system was a different presentation of the same format. Film was in a different cartridge, type cassete. In 1971, the Tellcin Super 8 movie camera took a cartridge with 8 meters long. This cartridge was similar to Single 8 cartridge. And in 1977, the Polaroid company launch the Polaroid Polavision in a new cartridge, but the format was the same.

Evolution of 8 mm film format. In USA in 1932, Eastman Kodak launched a new format, the "Cine-Kodak Eight". The format characteristics were defined from 16 mm format, presented in 1923. The company's idea was to use the same equipment to produce and develop the film. Then the movie would come out cheaper and it would have a greater number of consumers. This format has two presentations: Double 8 and Single 8 (called Straight 8 at the beginning). At the first the film was in spools. But over the years, the film was also placed in cartridges. There were film cartridges of Double 8 and of Single 8. This format was marketed competing with the 9.5 mm format, the first home format launched in 1923 by Pathé Frères. The small frame of Standard 8 had a resolution poorer than 9,5 mm. But after the war, with the commercial power of its sponsors, the Standard 8 was taken up by a wider public.

In 1955, Emel company in France marketed the Panoscope cine camera, designed for 16 mm widescreen format. The film gate of this camera took the film frame same wide than 16 mm frame, but high as 8 mm. This company built two panoscope cameras. And the second one in 1960 was biformat: 8/Panoscope (1).

In 1955, Dimaphot company in France marketed the 16/8 Panoramique, a cine camera ready to shoot in two ways: the camera held vertically or horizontally. The vertical mode was to shoot in 16 mm format. And horizontal mode was to shoot in a new panoramic 8 format. The film gate was changed and reduced to expose only half 16mm film. The frame was twice the size of a standard 8 mm. Dimaphot called new format of widescreen as "Super-Huit". Nothing further was reported about the equipment used. In a print advertisement, it says that the projection requires a 16 mm cine projector (2).

In the late fifties, the sound made its appearance in the small format. 8 mm film had to incorporate a sound track. Thus two proposals appeared: one in USA and other in Japan. In USA in 1961, John A Maurer proposed a 8 mm format. He was an engineer that worked primarily in the small format area, specially in 16 mm. This was Standard 8 modified to accommodate a quality sound track. He redesigned the film format with smaller sprocket holes, and he put a optical soundtrack wide between de sproket holes and the film edge. The frame is a 16% bigger than Standard 8 frame. About 1965, the Viewlex company, manufacturer of still and movie projectors, marketed a projector for the M Format (3). It was the only model for this format and was produced in a few units. About 1967, In Italy, the M Format was implemented. The San Paolo Film edited a catalog of movies in black and with optical sound. Two projectors were made for this format and were made by two manufacturers of 16 mm equipment, by Fumeo and Microtecnica. In Italy, this format was called as "Emme" or "8 Mauer" (4).

In Japan in 1962, Toei Motion Picture Co presented the Toei 8 Talkie cine projector with optical sound playback. As there are no standards for the 8 mm track width and position, Toei have chosen to put the track on the non-perforation edge of the film, and to use a track 0.7 mm wide (5).

In USA in1965, Eastman Kodak launched a Super 8 format. The same year in Japan Fuji Photo Film launched the Single 8 system, the same format than Super 8 but with different cartridge. Over the years, several companies proposed the Super 8 format in different presentations. There were five: Super 8, Double Super 8, Single 8, Tellcin Super 8 cartridge and Polavision Phototape Cassette.

In China in 1967, the Super 8 format had a sequel: the 8.75 mm. The Ministry of Culture needed a lightweight equipment to bring the cinema to rural and remote regions. The idea was cultural diffusion. The rational use of film was that the chinese engineers divided the 35 mm film in 4 strips. In the early eighties, the chinese authorities stopped production in this format when the television became the predominant (6).

In USA around 1968, the Kenner toys company marketed the Real Sound Movie Projector: "the movie projector that actually talks". The film is 11.5 mm wide: Standard 8 mm + 3.5 mm optical sound track. This format, created for toy cine projector, is another example of creative capacity (7).

In the seventies, the KMZ Russian manufacturer made two Super 8 cine cameras for widescreen film format: Кварц-2x8С-Ш and Кварц-10. Both cameras worked with Double Super 8 spools and had two ways of filming: normal (film frame of 4.22 x 5.69 mm) and widescreen (film frame of 4.22 x 10.8 mm). Letter Ш in Russian language is the initial of the word широкоформатным, translated as 'widescreen' (8).

In January 1975, in USA, Saul Wernick patented a wide screen format Super 8 motion picture system. This new film format uses a standard Super 8 film cartridge. The frame size is the same width, but one half of the height of standard Super 8 frames. The system uses two pull-down claws, each claw pulling the film one half of the distance that it is normally moved in a standard Super 8 system. The shutter is coordinated with the pull-down claws such that the film is exposed after each claw has moved the film. This film format doubles the running time of a standard Super 8 cartridge (9).

In 1976 at Photokina, Kowa Seimitsu Co introduced a new film format called 'Ultra Semi-Scope'. The format uses the familiar Super 8 cartridges, but the camera anamorphically compresses the image so that two picture frames fit in the space of one Super 8 frame. A special projector unsqueezes the image and projects it a normal frame dimensions. This company offered two cine cameras (silent and sound versions), and a cine projector adaptable for viewing the new film format and the Super-8 film format (10).

In USA, early of the decade of 2000, widescreen Super 8 film format was created. The concept behind new format was identical to that behind Super 16: expose the far edge of the film, normally reserved for sound tracks, thereby capturing a wider image. This 16:9 format was called as Super Duper 8 or Max 8 (11).

Notes:

(2) Patrice-Hervé Pont, J L Princelle: 50 Ans de caméras françaises, Le Reve Eition, Ondreville Sur Essone (France), 2007, p 51.

(3) N Bau: La práctica del Súper 8, Editorial Omega, Barcelona (España), 2a edición, 1970.

(4) Article in super8data: Formato M

(5) Article in 'Amateur Cine World' magazine, January 17 1963, pp 86-87.

(6) Article in super8data: 8.75 mm film format

(7) Article: A hundred years of film sizes, http://www.xs4all.nl/~wichm/filmsize.htm#MORE

(8) http://www.zenitcamera.com/archive/quarz/index.htm

(9) United States Patent 3,858,969, January 7, 1975. ''Abstract: A wide screen format Super 8mm motion picture system is provided in which standard Super 8 film cartridges are used. The frame size is the same width, but one half of the height of standard Super 8 frames. The system uses two pull-down claws, each claw pulling the film one half of the distance that it is normally moved in a standard Super 8 system. The shutter is coordinated with the pull-down claws such that the film is exposed after each claw has moved the film. (...) Summary of the invention: It is the object of this invention to provide a wide screen format Super 8 motion picture system which doubles the running time of a standard Super 8 cartridge. It is another object of this invention to provide a Super 8mm motion picture system which doubles the running time of the film and is compatible with standard commercially available Super 8 film cartridges in which the running length of the film is doubled and a wide screen format is produced. The system incorporates two pull-down claws operating 180° out of phase with each other. Each claw pulls down the film only one half of the distance of conventional Super 8 systems. The shutter mechanism in the system is coordinated with the pull-down claws such that a frame is exposed after the operation of each pull-down claw. Thus, two exposures are made corresponding to two separate frames in the area which would normally be exposed to a single frame in a conventional Super 8 system."

(10) 'Super-8 Filmaker' magazine, 1976: "How would you like to shoot and project a 50-foot Super 8 cartridge that would last 7 minutes (at 18 fps) instead of the usual 3.5" minutes? Sounds like a pitch from a snake oil salesman, but it's possible with a new film format called 'Ultra Semi-Scope' (US Scope) developed by Kowa Seimitsu Co, Ltd of Japan. The format uses the familiar Super-8 cartridges, but the camera anamorphically compresses the image so that two picture frames fit in the space of one Super-8 frame. A special projector unsqueezes the image and projects it a normal frame dimensions. Since the US Scope cameras and projectors introduced at Photokina this past september offer both silent and sound filming. Because the new format uses conventionally perforated Super-8 film, laboratory processing and handling of films is the same as for Super-8. The US Scope projector is also adaptable for viewing standard format Super-8. Kowa expects to distribute their system in the United States in mid-1977. Prices are not yet available. For more information, write Kowa Co Ltd 21-2 Higashi Ueno 3-Chrome, Taito-Ku, Tokyo, Japan."

(11) http://www.pro8mm.com/pro8_pdfs/Press/pressmarch_1_2005.pdf