Internegative

<h2 id="overview">Overview</h2>
<p>Internegatives are the workhorses of the <a href="/facts/Film_industry/QVPeDbno">film industry</a>.  They are made on exactly the same stock as interpositives. The film processes usually go from one polarity to another, that is:
</p>
<ol><li>The <a href="/facts/Camera_operator/7Rf3xlsr">camera operator</a> shoots a positive image and the film ends up as a <a href="/facts/Negative_(photography)/57wf7X3f">negative</a>.</li>
<li>The original negative is printed onto stock that comes out as an interpositive.  Often, two interpositives were made, one to be archived and one to continue through the process.</li>
<li>The interpositive is <a href="/facts/Color_grading/ehfY30XI">color timed</a> (to balance the scenes) into the internegative.</li>
<li>The internegative makes the positive <a href="/facts/Release_print/mA0I2TXe">release print</a>.</li></ol>
<p>When an internegative wears out during printing, a new internegative is made from the interpositive and release printing resumes. There are some <a href="/facts/Films/wM3b9Kk3">films</a> (<a href="/facts/Reversal_film/7gcu9F4b">reversal film</a>) that can go from positive to positive or negative to negative but are not used very often.
</p><p>Each time the original camera negative, the only image source, is run through the printing machine, there is a hazard that the film could be damaged.
</p><p>Printing release prints from the composited camera negative was common until about 1969. Thereafter, most printing was done from internegatives which were made from an interpositive.
</p><p>Prints continue to be made from the composited camera negative. Usually such a print run is limited to a few prints. These are sometimes called "showprints" (a DeLuxe trademark), or, more generally, "EKs" (after Eastman Kodak), and are generally reserved for the producer and for exhibition in first-run engagements.  Other exhibitors will almost always receive conventional prints made from internegatives.
</p><p>For quality and safety reasons, video transfers are almost always made from an interpositive. An internegative is a less desirable alternative. On rare occasions, the composited camera negative may be used for video transfers, but it will have to be carefully retimed for color/density.
</p><p>Where a color-reversal intermediate was used, a positive-to-positive color process could be achieved. However, its use was limited, often giving unsatisfactory color reproduction, and restricted to 16mm.
</p><p>With very few exceptions, 35mm has utilized a negative-to-positive process.
</p>

<h2 id="external-links">External links</h2>

<ul><li><a href="http://lcweb.loc.gov/film/">National Film Preservation Board</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.film-foundation.org/">The Film Foundation</a></li>
<li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090328122503/http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articles/robertharris/harris070102.html">Article on CRI and other film decomposition problems</a></li></ul>

Internegative open-in-new

Internegative