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Widescreen
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The Shape of Things
As first LaserDiscs and now DVDs continue to grow in the home video marketplace, so has Widescreen or letterboxed versions of movies. The differences between the various types of letterboxing may be causing unnecessary confusion for consumers and retailers alike. As an example: two movies my be "letterboxed" on disc, but the black bands above and below the picture of one are almost negligible, while the bands on the other may take up nearly half the available screen space. This all has to do with theatrical aspect ratios and we hope this guide to the most common ones will alleviate the mystery. 1.34 to 1 Known as the "Academy Aperture," the numbers refer to with vs. height (in this case the picture looks almost square, with the image only 33% wider than it is high). See Aspect Ratios side bar. This is roughly the the shape of a frame of 35mm film (Figure 1A Left), as well as a standard video monitor (Figure 1B), so virtually no picture information is lost when a film shot in 1.34 is shown on a TV screen. This was the format in which all movies (with very few exceptions) were shot prior to 1953 and transition to video poses no problems. Why do they make widescreen movies? Ever wonder why the movie companies make widescreen movies? One of the main reasons we have widescreen movies was a reaction, by the movie studios, to television. Originally movies were filmed in a standard aspect ratio nearly the same as today's television. However as TV grew in popularity the studios, fearful of a loss in revenue, made a change in the aspect ratio (see side bar) in which major motion pictures were filmed. There are many techniques used by today's directors to make the modern film epics. For the sake of this discussion we'll examine two of the most popular. The most popular widescreen format today is Panavision, the other is the use of a matte.
2.35 to 1
During the '50s and 60s most big budget films were shot in the 2.35 to 1 aspect ratio, though often under other names and slightly different aspects. The early '70s saw the fusion of most of these variables into one standard: Panavision. The Panavision company has supplied the equipment with which most widescreen movies have been shot during the past two decades. When a Panavision film is displayed on video, little more than half of the original image is visible at any given moment, sometimes important characters turn up "missing" (Figure 2B). There are two basic solutions to this problem. The most common is called "pan and scan" The other, and arguably the most sensible, way to present a widescreen picture on video is "letterboxing". Instead of panning, scanning or otherwise altering the original film, letterboxing shows the entire rectangular image across the center of the video screen, with black areas above and below (Figure 2C). The only hitch is that the picture is now smaller than a full-screen "cropped" version, but the film is now complete as photographed, and on LaserDisc and DVD the smaller details are still sharply defined. But wait there's more see the next page for info about 1.85 to 1 |
1.34 to 1
2.35 to 1
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