Light-tight cassette for raw stock mounted on camera — rewind mechanism without light leak. 35mm mags hold 200m, 400m, or 1000m depending on type.
The Boîte — or in English, the Magazine — is the light-tight cassette in which you can store and transport raw film stock on the camera. You load the raw stock, close the Boîte, and then you can shoot without fear of light exposure. This was and is the only method for professionally handling 35mm or 16mm film without ruining every shot.
For 35mm cameras, three formats are typically used on set: the 200-foot (approx. 5 minutes of footage), the 400-foot (approx. 11 minutes), and the 1000-foot, which gives you nearly 11 minutes in a more compact size. Which you choose depends on the shooting day — long takes without cuts require 400-foot or 1000-foot magazines, while fast-paced editing sequences or guerrilla shoots with frequent changes? Then the 200-foot is your friend because it's lighter and more manageable. The 1000-foot is bulkier, but it saves you changeover times.
Practically, it works like this: The 1st Assistant pulls the Boîte from the camera, unwinds the tail of the stock, stores everything in darkness in a Black Bag or a Changing Box. Then it goes to the lab — or in modern workflows, directly to the DIT cart with a scanner. The critical moment is always the Boîte change on set. This is where most mistakes happen: improper handling, opening too quickly, light exposure into the already exposed roll. That's why the 1st Assistant works with gloves, double-checks the latches, and has a prepared Changing Tent or Black Bag readily available.
The Boîte itself carries markings for the roll number, film stock (e.g., "Kodak Vision3 250D"), and the shooting day. This is essential for lab logistics and for your editor, who will need to track every frame later. With digital cameras, the Boîte has long been obsolete — memory cards or SSD modules have taken over this role — but for 35mm, it remains the indispensable interface between the camera and the film lab. If you're unfamiliar with the procedures or working with celluloid for the first time, ask the 1st AC for a practice session — two minutes of routine will save you a ruined take.