The requirements for home cinema included low cost, lightweight cameras, safety film and minimal complexity. 16 mm was a step in that direction, but was still too expensive and the cameras too heavy for casual use. In 1932, Kodak introduced 8 mm film. They used 16 mm film and doubled the number of perforations per inch. 8 mm frames were filmed down one side of the 16 mm strip, then the reel or cartridge was flipped by the customer and 8 mm frames were filmed down the other side of the strip. This allowed Kodak to use existing 16 mm film processing equipment. Once developed, the film was split down the middle.

Home movies were filmed almost universally on Standard 8 (also called Double 8 or Regular 8) until the introduction of Super 8 in 1965. Feature films were also released on Standard 8 for sale or for rent.

The Giant Behemouth included stop-motion animation by Willis H. O'Brian, who, on a larger budget, also animated King Kong and Mighty Joe Young, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.