3.5.3 35mm `Flat' Wide Screen Formats (Motion Picture Formats - release prints intended for projection)
Description
This article is from the rec.arts.movies.tech FAQ, by Scott E. Norwood snorwood@nyx.nyx.net with numerous contributions by others.
3.5.3 35mm `Flat' Wide Screen Formats (Motion Picture Formats - release prints intended for projection)
With the introduction of CinemaScope (tm) in 1953 (see below), there
came a demand to release all films in a `wide' aspect ratio. This was
most easily achieved by cropping off the top and bottom of the Academy
frame in the projector. While most prints still contain the full
Academy frame-size image, the tops and bottoms of it are cropped off
in the projection process.
There are several commonly used formats which use this principle, of
which the most common currently is the U.S. standard of aspect ratio
1.85:1, used on almost all `flat' prints currently in circulation. One
of the major disadvantages of this format, however, is its terrific
inefficiency of negative space. Although the camera and projector both
move the film four perforations at a time (the height of the Academy
frame), the actual projected image only takes up 2.5 frames. Thus,
images are grainier and less sharp than those of Academy films
projected on the same height screen.
The proposed 2.5-perf and 3-perf formats (described elsewhere in this
FAQ) do not change the area of the 1.85:1 frame, but simply move the
film a shorter distance (2.5 or 3, rather than 4 perforations) between
frames, using less film per unit of running time. As proposed now,
these are strictly release-print formats; 35mm cameras will continue
to move the film 4 perforations per frame (although 3-perf is gaining
acceptance as an cheaper alternative for TV work).
A few films made in the 1950's were made to be projected in the 1.75:1
aspect ratio; while this is no longer a common projection ratio, it is
interesting now, because it corresponds very closely to the 1.77:1
proposed U.S. High Definition Television (HDTV) standard, designed as
a compromise in order to fit both 1.37:1 television material and wide
screen feature films onto the same size screen.
The standard frame ratio in Europe is still 1.66:1, the same as the
super 16mm standard. These films are almost never shown properly in
the U.S., however; most are simply cropped to fit onto screens masked
for 1.85:1.
Continue to:
My Books
