Aspect ratio research

https://www.shutterstock.com/blog/common-aspect-ratios-photo-image-sizes

1:1 aspect ratio is one in the size of a profile picture on social media, but not ideal for digital film media. However, it could work if I experiment it as a picture-in-picture frame as part of my research project.

3:2 aspect ratio was originated from 35 mm film, but can be suitable to present still or moving image at 1080 x 720p or 6 x 4 inches.

4:3 aspect ratio was typically used for TV broadcast, video, and digital cameras, but it can be suitable to present imagery at 1024 x 768p, 8 x 6 inches, or 1280 x 720p.

16:9 aspect ratio is now the most common for screen-based media like digital film, TV, online streaming, as well as to present moving imagery in 1920 x 1080p and 1280 x 720p.

1080 x 1080p (or 1:1 aspect ratio) is the right resolution to shoot digital film for an Instagram post.

Aspect ratio is measured by the relative size of an image, in regards to its width and height. With digital media however, it can change depending on what platform you have having it play back on like a 4:3 standard definition screen or on a smartphone.


https://www.shutterstock.com/blog/4-3-aspect-ratio

4:3 (or the Academy Ratio) was the industry standard aspect ratio for a large number of reasons including the size of celluloid film at the time and anamorphic lenses being introudced. Most of the reasons were technical, but none were articstic. Nowadays however, we have the luxury to apply this aspect ratio more for artistic reasons than for the technical.

The idea of seeing a film like you see the world was what brought us to widescreen and CinemaScope aspect ratios.

The 4:3 aspect ratio has been granted a comeback, but it's been not as mainstream as you would think.

4:3 aspect ratio has been mostly used in recent years for low-budget arthouse and indie cinema


Artistic reasons for 4:3

• To have a strong focus on characters or their intentions / motivations
• A focus on intimacy
• Intentional change of pace for your selected genre
• To compliment the soundtrack or colour grade
• It's all about aesthetics and intention e.g. The Mountain, Oz the Great and Powerful
• Examples to express different emotions include A Ghost Story, First Reformed, and American Honey.
• It's possibvle that Instagram / Snapchat videos has been an influence on the recent interest in 4:3 aspect ratio
• Old-fashioned wonder and whimsy

https://nofilmschool.com/Aspect-Ratio-Examples-For-Filmmakers

1.66:1 aspect ratio is mostly used for theatrical screenings in Europe, whereas 1.85:1 aspect ratio has been mostly for theatrical screeniongs in North America since the 1960's.

2.39:1 aspect ratio is the current standard for CinemaScope presented in cinemas

2.75:1 aspect ratio is designerd for Ultra Panavision 70

4.00:1 aspect ratio is very rare and had only been used for the 1927 film, Napeolon. It was achieved by having three 35 mm films (each in 1.33:1 aspect ratio) projected side by side, almost like how split screen was achieved for This is New Zealand in 1970

A century of cinema showed that as the film medium evolved, so did aspect ratios.

The Academy Ratio (1.37:1) was officially approved by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (the Oscars) in 1932.

Cinerama was the first widescreen format designed for cinema and the process behind it was very similar to how the 4.00:1 was achieved for Napoleon (1927). Cinerama involved running three 35 mm film projectors together towards a deeply arched screen (like you would find in UHD and SMART TVs of today).

It gave the illusion that moving images presented on 2.59:1 to 2.65:1 aspect ratios were bigger than they really were.

CinemaScope became more preferable than Cinerama because it only required only one film projector. It made use of 2.35:1 to 2.66:1 aspect ratios and was developed by Earl Sponable, who was the head of research at 20th Century Fox. This innovation gave them a foothold in the field of film technologies and bringing in more people to see films on a big screen since it was more accessible than Cinerama. 

CinemaScope was last used in 1967, but have influenced filmmakers to prefer the format when applying a letterbox aspect ratio to their film.

70 mm film is two times bigger than 35 mm film and made use of the 2.76:1 aspect ratio. Ben-Hur (1959) popularised 70 mm film and is currently applied to IMAX film formats.

IMAX screen - 72' x 50' (22m x 16m)

Conventional screen - 50' x 20' (16m x 6.1m)

Television in the 2000's saw a transformation in aspect ratio broadcast, changing from 4:3 to 16:9. Television in New Zealand changed to high definition 16:9 in 2008, in time for the Summer Olympics in Beijing.

Aspect ratios for Instagram (info supported by StudioBinder)

• Square (1:1)
• Standard Horizontal (16:9)
• Alt Horizontal (1.91:1)
• Vertical (4:5)

Aspect ratios for Facebook

• 16:9
• 9:16
• 4:5
• 2:3
• 1:1

Aspect ratios for Twitter

• 1 x 1 (1200 x 1200p)
• 2 x 1 (1200 x 600p)
• 3 x 2 (1200 x 800p)

Dunkirk in using its aspect ratio was to make the battle action scenes engaging for audiences, express emotional pressure experienced by the film's characters, and to provide scope to the overall story

https://filmglossary.ccnmtl.columbia.edu/term/aspect-ratio/

‘Aspect ratio refers to how the image appears on the screen based on how it was shot–the ratio of width (horizontal or top) to height (vertical or side) of a film frame, image, or screen.’

According to the Columbia Film Language Glossary, the 1.33:1 aspect ratio dates back to the invention of a film projector introduced by Thomas Edison, which eventually became the Academy Ratio and the 4:3 aspect ratio.

1.65:1 - Early widescreen

1.66:1 - European widescreen

1.77:1 - Widescreen television

1.85:1 - American widescreen

2.20:1 - 70 mm frame

2.35:1 - Anamorphic projection

2.77:1 - Cinerama

https://www.red.com/red-101/video-aspect-ratios

The aspect ratio is a critically creative and technical feature to figure out for a film or video because it affects the feel of your story and how it is presented to the viewers or audiences.

Techniques to conform a wide theatrical aspect ratio for 4:3 televisions and VHS media

• Cropping
• Pan and scan
• Padding (applying black bars at the top and bottom - letterboxing). It's still used to fit 2.39:1 onto a 16:9 screen

1.33:1 - Silent film standard

1.375:1 - Academy Standard

https://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/film-studies-101-aspect-ratios/

The aspect ratio for Napoleon was known as 'Polyvision'. It didn't succeed technically because of its flaws like how you see the divide between the three projected moving images combined

When mentioning aspect ratios, some filmmakers get lazy and leave out the final number in the arithmetic e.g. 2.35 instead of 2.35:1

Cinerama managed to succeed where Polyvision failed

Polyvision - Three 1.33:1 film projectors

Ben-Hur (1959) used 2.76:1 on 70 mm film

Films like A Serious Man (Coen Brothers film) or Oz the Great and Powerful use 4:3 for their prologue, but then eventually change to 1.85:1 (A Serious Man) or 2.35:1 (Oz the Great and Powerful) for the rest of the film.

Films like The Dark Knight or The Hunger Games: Catching Fire switched between IMAX and letterbox. The Dark Knight was like a lolly scramble, but Catching Fire had only the scenes in the area in IMAX, but the rest of the film in CinemaScope.

Pan and scan was a common technique applied by VHS distributors and the general public didn't notice the difference.

However, Scorsese it in the VHS release of Ben-Hur (1959).

https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/aspect-ratio/

Netflix has an aspect ratio of 16:9

Aspect ratios that Facebook supports

• 16:9
• 9:16
• 4:5
• 2:3
• 1:1

Having the right size of an aspect ratio will help convey the message in your film and make things better to engage your audiences

[Aspect ratio examples similar to those mentioned in Red and No Film School]

1.33:1 or 4:3 - Standard aspect ratio and standard definition video

1.66:1 - Used for most European screenings

1.85:1 - Used for most American screenings since the 1960's

2.39:1 - Currently used for widescreen screenings in cinemas [differs from Columbia University]

2.75:1 - Used for Ultra Panavision 70

4.00:1 - Polyvision

16:9  >  1.77:1

4:3 is also known as 'Full Screen' and it was the industry standard for at least 60 years because it was easy to use and looked identical to the film stock

As far as the Hollywood film studios were concerned in the 1950's, bigger was better in terms of screen. This brought on competition between various cinemas and film studios to achieve bigger and better aspect ratios. 

When 70 mm film came in on the scene, it became a trademark for the biggest and best films, which helped influence critical acclaim, accolades, and most importantly, audience numbers (bums on seats).

Filmmakers (including modern filmmakers) took advantage of the big aspect ratios to make their stories stand out on screen and become moving works of art e.g. Dunkirk, 1917, The Master, and The Hateful Eight.

To me, 4:3 means this scene is boring, factual, dated, or archival

16:9  >  1920 x 1080p

The 16:9 aspect ratio was developed by Dr Kerns Powers as a compromise to conventional broadcasting during the 1980's. The restricted use of this aspect ratio on Netflix has been controversial. Netflix has responded by stating...

‘We want to offer the best picture and provide the original aspect ratio of any title on Netflix. However, unfortunately our quality controls sometimes fail and we end up offering the wrong version of a title. When we discover this error, we work to replace that title as soon as possible’

- Netflix

Sean Baker created a film about a community of transsexuals called Tangerine, where he took advantage of filming on a iPhone (in the iPhone default aspect ratio) to express an intimate story and see the world through technology of the day.

Nolan's use of the IMAX format in Interstellar gave the feeling we were in the empty, wide abyss of space. It was dominating and made us fear of the unknown. The audience didn't know what to expect next.

https://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/filmmaking-guide-choosing-aspect-ratio/

Wes Anderson changed the aspect ratio as time passes in his film, The Grand Budapest Hotel. The aspect ratio changes to the common aspect ratio of the time

1930's - 1.37:1

1960's - 2.35:1

1980's - 1.85:1

Your Highness achieves an epic mood by having a 2.35:1 aspect ratio like The Lord of the Rings trilogy, despite being a fantasy parody. If it was presented in 16:9, expressing an epic mood would be lacking and would look more commercial like other mainstream comedies.

Aspect ratio is also important as it determines how the filmmaker frames each scene, especially when considering the Rules of Thirds principle. Even in the Academy Ratio, Casablanca skillfully manages to have depth in its scenes without having a wide-open environment clearly in a tight camera angle.

Having wider aspect ratios and composition allows the scene to visually tell the audience more about the set, location, or even the production design.

Potential Influences

• The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Tangerine
• A Ghost Story

https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/video/discover/aspect-ratio.html

Widescreen format are perfect for stories where you want the audience immersed in landscape, environments (various genres e.g. documentaries), battle scenes (action / fantasy genres), or musical numbers (musical genre)

Throughout cinema history,, filmmakers have worked on to expand the width of an aspect ratio, rather than the height.

4:3 - Intimate conversations, but limits the background

9:16 - The body language of an individual

Widescreen formats seem natural because we see the world with two eyes side by side

"We have two eyes side by side on our heads"

"You see wider than you do tall, so it feels more natural to watch something in a wider format"

- Film editor and colourist, Gerry Holtz 

With this in mind, it might be fair to say that the Academy Ratio is like using only one. In addition, vertical formats are starting to become natural because we use vertical shaped technologies to communicate and connect with society.

In the origins of cinema, aspect ratios were a result of stitching multiple frames of 35 mm film by hand

2.2 - Todd A-O

2.20 - Super Panavision

2.35 - CinemaScope

2.59 - Cinerama

2.76 - MGM 65

The pan and scan techniques would cut off as much half of the original footage

Sydney Pollack sued Danish television over the use of this technique when they broadcasted his film, Three Days of the Condor. The lawsuit was over compromising the artistic integrity of his film.

The development of high definition television in the 1990's saw the 'pan and scan' technique to be obsolete.

9:16 is good for close up of an individual, but fails to apply the same prestige of a landscape like a widescreen format is capable of.

Vertical formats are socially accepted these days and is starting to be accepted in film festivals.

"There's a cool challenge to making the best story possible in a vertical orientation" 

"If all the viewers are watching things in vertical, then why wouldn't you go fully into that and make it the best you possibly can"

- Director and producer, Taylor Kavanaugh

"If the majority of your content is just being seen on Instagram, then you should be thinking about that real estate."

- Creative director, Toby Harriman

Choosing what widescreen format to use can be a trivial thing to make your mind up about.

4:3 invokes nostalgia and sentimentality.

https://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/lists/10-great-modern-films-shot-43-academy-ratio

Contemporary films shot in the Academy Ratio

Elephant (2003)

Director: Gus Van Sant

Used to apply a strong sense of isolation

The Romance of Astrea and Celadon (2007)

Director: Eric Rohmer

Allowed the audiences to be close observers, but not disruptive. 50 mm lenses are the most approx to the human eye - director trademark

Fish Tank (2009)

Director: Andrea Arnold

Applies intimacy and claustrophobia to the female protagonist. Despite having compressed framing, the camera never leaves the protagonist in like a third person perspective in a video game

Meek's Cutoff (2010)

Director: Kelly Reichardt

Applies subjectivity by not letting the audience see too far ahead in the journey that is to come like the characters

Tabu (2012)

Director: Miguel Gomes

Laurence Anyways (2012)

Director: Xavier Dolan

A cinematic experience with so much colour and styles that it makes the Academy Ratio still relevant and just as effective as a widescreen format

I would like to start my documentary and then ease into a IMAX-like format (16:9)

Post Tenebras Lux (2012)

Director: Carlos Reygadas

Ida (2013)

Director: Pawel Pawlikowski

https://aso.gov.au/about/aspect-ratio/

4:3

• Played on standard television and 16 mm film
• 1.33:1
• 1.37:1
• 14 x 9 letterbox

1.85:1

• 35 mm US and UK widescreen standard

16:9

• 1.78:1 (video widescreen standard)

1.66:1

• HDTV
• 35 mm European widescreen standard

CinemaScope

• 2.35:1 (35 mm anamorphic pre 1970)
• 2.39:1 (35 mm anamorphic post 1970)

Siskel & Ebert - Widescreen vs Pan & Scan on Home Video (1990)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mN_Te9c8-7c

Paramount protested Steven Spielberg's decision to release Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade on home video in a letterbox format and insisted on pan and scan. Paramount decided to release the film on VHS in pan and scan and on Laserdisc and S-VHS in letterbox.

Spielberg told Roger Ebert that he was frustrated with Paramount concerning this and felt that Last Crusade with pan and scan cropping made it look like it was directed by someone else. It affected his artistic integrity with this film

Paramount believed there were resistance from home video consumers, whom despised the letterbox format

Ebert was in favour of letterbox on home video because it shows the film in the way that the filmmaker intended.

Home video retailers as of 1990 beileved that letterbox on home video was gradually catching on with consumers

The jump cuts in using the pan and scan technique seem distracting and amateur, or 'distanced' as described by Gene Siskel

VHS consumers didn't get a choice and were forced into a format.

https://www.rogerebert.com/rogers-journal/its-not-because-its-on-tv-dummy

Roger Ebert ranted in 2007 on films and shows that used square ratios being stretched out to fit widescreen television and not have black bars on the sides.

He couldn't believe how consumers had been so ignorant and blind about this issue.

"It offends my sense of rightness and harmony that people should watch, or expect me to watch, a picture in the wrong ratio"

- Roger Ebert 

This viewpoint of Ebert's was shared by someone else, Joe Morgenstern in his article for The Wall Street Journal, 'A Stretch Too Far".

https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB119041125710335666

https://www.rogerebert.com/answer-man/movie-answer-man-07152001

"Being able to see a film in its original aspect ratio has become one of the selling points of DVD"

- Roger Ebert, 2001

https://www.salon.com/2001/09/11/ebert_widescreen/

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory was released to DVD in August 2001, but it still contained pan and scan cropping.

A spokesperson from Warner Home Video told Ebert...

"It is in a full-frame format as research indicates that families prefer a full-frame presentation"

The decision to use pan and scan was supported by market research at the time. It gives me historical context since it tells me what home video consumers preferred at the time.

At a video art exhibition of work by Nam June Park at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilhao, Spain, the work was presented on widescreen monitors. While it was shot in 4:3, the video art was stretched out to fill the widescreen monitor. Ebert called it 'artistic vandalism' and that...

"An art museum would never obscure the top and bottom of a painting. If video art is art, then it must be treated as art and seen as the artist made it."

- Roger Ebert

The Academy Ratio was a standard set by Thomas Edison and was certified by the Academy

VHS consumers in the 1980's were dissatisfied with letterboxing because it didn't fill their TV screen and resulted in many complaints to home video retailers.

Ebert had to explain what letterboxing is to an executive of a home video retailer, which clearly annoyed Ebert since the executive should had already known.

It got to a point where home video retailers refused to have letterboxing because they got too many complaints.

Most DVD consumers as of 2001, preferred letterboxing as TV screens were becoming wider.

https://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/interviews/martin-scorsese-conversation-irishman

Scorsese originally wanted to be an artist, specifically in drawing and painting. Early in life, Scorsese would storyboard his own films with the aspect ratio included. He would consider what to include and what to exclude from the framing. At the time, he only understood storytelling through composition and editing. 




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5BKZZ_59IQ
Last Days of Cinerama

60th anniversary documentary

Cinerama was the first format to break cinema away from the Academy Ratio. Nothing like that never happened before to be so successful and efffective in cinema.

Shooting for Cinerama was done with a camera using three different lenses at the same time

Cinerama projected a higher rate of film than what was done before. Never before audiences experienced so much detail and sharpness, which was what made different to the Academy Ratio.

Cinerama became a trailblazer for future formats like CinemaScope and IMAX

It takers five projectionists to run a Cinerama film

• One for each projector
• One to run the sound
• One picture control engineer to align them all

It was an expensive process because you're running three times the average amount of film, in which the chance of the projectors breaking down is three times as much

Filming in 35 mm Cinerama caused a lot of production issues, which led to Cinerama and Panavision to the conclusion that Cinerama was better off with 70 mm film, resulting in Ultra Panavision 70.

In order to see what the camera sees, you have to remove the large mags of film and replace it with a viewfinder tube. You cannot roll film and use a viewfinder at the same time, when it comes to a Cinerama camera.

It was a guessing game most of the time filming in Cinerama.

The Cinerama projectors are very loud to operate.

The editing process for a Cinerama film was very exhaustive. Cutting three rolls of film simultaneously.

The first Cinerama film in 50 years could be the last time the Cinerama cameras to have film run through them because there's no future for the format and cinema is going digital. The cameras were almost like they were built last because despite maintenance needed from 50 years of neglect, it had not aged a day.

Formats naturally get replaced when something new comes along that is cheaper and easier to use

Cinerama films are also liked to be defined as 'virtual reality time capsules'.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bve8wGAPhIg

The CinemaScope Story

William Fox (co-founder of 20th Century Fox) recognised television as a threat to cinema back in the 1920's. He tried to experiment with a new system for cinemas called 'grandeur', but he failed because of the Great Depression.

Hollywood studios scrambled to find ways for cinema to compete against television in the 1950's. Technicolor could had been another cinematic innovation in light of this.

Darryl Zanuck, then-vice president of 20th Century Fox was determined to discover a better alternative to Cinerama, without needing multiple projectors.

20th Century Fox had an advantage because they were the only Hollywood studio that had a research and development department.

While anamorphic lenses was invented already, the patent itself was still in the public domain and so there would be no legal risks on Fox's part.

20th Century Fox went ahead with abandoning the Academy Ratio in 1953, in favour of CinemaScope.

Shooting in CinemaScope was a compositional challenge for camera departments.

Fox would allow other studios for a fee of $25,000 per production to use CinemaScope. With more studios and films using CinemaScope saw more cinemas using anamorphic lenses for their projectors to exhibit films in CinemaScope.

Fox's CinemaScope was eventually replaced in the 1960's by Panavision's higher quality version of CinemaScope. Fox used their own CinemaScope up until 1967 and their first and last CinemaScope film was shot by the same person, Leon Shamroy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ct9C3pMm9mc

Why is the Academy Ratio Trendy Again?

1.33:1 and 1.37:1 are 4:3

Modern filmmakers believe bigger and wider is better in widescreen formats.

Jonah Hill's Mid90s uses 4:3 to invoke nostalgia of that time period e.g. home video, 4:3 television

In the film, Ida, the filmmaker chose the Academy Ratio because it made the characters dominate the frame.

In using the Academy Ratio for First Reformed, filmmaker Paul Schrader stated...

"The square format is about taking things from you, taking the edges of the frame from you." 

"When you start withholding things, people become a little uncomfortable and out of that discomfort, out of that disparity, you can start to weave another reality."

Schrader also used the Academy Ratio for the sake of aesthetics, which is the same thought process as filmmaker Andrea Arnold.

"It also drives the vertical lines. So you can get more of the human body in the frame."

- Paul Schrader

"My films are usually about one person and their experiences of the world. So I'm mainly following them around, filming them quite closely and it's a very beautiful frame for one person. It frames them with a huge amount of respect."

- Andrea Arnold

Arnold uses the Academy Ratio to invoke intimacy and something personal. The quote above also almost supports my third person perspective analogy.

Kelly Reichardt, filmmaker of Meek's Cutoff stated...

"I felt like the square gave you an idea of the closed view that the women have because of their bonnets and I think cutting out the peripheral, it does leave you with the idea that something could be there that you don't know about and so it offers that kind of tension."

A Ghost Story uses the Academy Ratio to express claustrophobia and the feeling of being trapped.

It's believed that the Academy Ratio is trendy again because new emerging filmmakers want to stand out.

"The square format... it sends the message that it's different than another movie."

- Paul Schrader

1.85:1 can work in any genre and is just as intimate as 4:3

1.77:1 is 16:9

How to choose an aspect ratio

1. Genre

2. Consider the level of realism

• Fill the frame as your human eyes can see the world
• Wider ratio to bring the audience into another world or reality
• Be perceived as fact or fiction?

3. Consider the setting

• What's the best aspect ratio to capture it?
• If tall buildings are going to dominate the film - Narrow ratio (full frame)
• Whole story is all in one setting like the inside of one room, house, or building - 4:3 to express how the character is boxed in.

4. Consider your characters

• Narrow ratio is suitable for a mix of short and tall characters

Narrow ratios - negative views

Wide ratios - positive views

https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/3/6/14668690/film-formats-movie-projection

“Studios were interested in trying to give people something that they won’t see at home — something a little more spectacular, a little bigger.” 

- Chris Robinson, a film professor who specialises in film projection and technology at the University of Arkansas Little Rock

Polyvision was developed for the sake of showing panoramic images on a screen.

https://www.bloopanimation.com/aspect-ratio-2-35-1-vs-16-9/


Aspect ratio is almost mathematical in measuring the width and height of what a particular film is designed for and is often measured by meters.

16:9 and 1.77:1 mean the same thing and one way that aspect ratios are mathematical is that the height is sometimes left out as 'mathematicians can be lazy' like my high school maths teacher would say.

Looking for a cinematic look to your film might be ineffective if it is made for the internet or social media.




https://filmmakerfreedom.com/blog/2015/5/23/using-aspect-ratios-like-a-pro-why-choose-one-ratio-over-another

16:9 and 1.78:1

• Suitable for character and dialogue-driven films
• Naturalistic
• Close-ups

http://filmtheory.org/aspect-ratio/

MGM 65 - 2.76:1

I always try to figure out the aspect ratio when seeing a movie at a cinema. Figuring out whether it's in 4:3, 16:9, or letterboxed

https://www.hurlbutacademy.com/aspect-ratios-for-story/

16:9 - HDTV and commercials

2.35:1 - CinemaScope

1.85:1 - Standard widescreen ratio for feature-length films

CinemaScope lacks head or foot space for your characters in the frame.

If you want more space, then 1.85:1 is your guy, as well as for creative use of an off frame (Dutch Tilt)

Wide shots in 1.85:1 is suitable if the backdrop compliments the mood of the scene and its characters

The Academy Ratio is finding itself a comeback in recent years.

https://noamkroll.com/why-the-old-school-43-aspect-ratio-is-coming-back-with-a-vengeance-right-now/

A close up in the Academy Ratio fills the frame more than it would in 2.35:1 because it's more intimate and naturalistic. A close up in 2.35:1 leaves out a lot of empty (negative) space.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OR8dNXl_dxc

Aspect Ratio in Cinema: Explained by Seamus McGarvey || Spotlight

"The cinema screen is almost an architectural space and the shape of it is very important to me"

- Seamus McGarvey

1.85 is a more beautiful shape for the human face. There was a discussion between Seamus McGarvey and director Joe Wright on Atonement, whether to go 1.85 or 1.33 because close ups are dominant in this film and is to invoke the time period.

In widescreen formats, you can express alienation, to work on focus, to show your characters in a context, to have two close ups in the same frame, and good for framing a conversation between two people.

Disney and Marvel were shocked that McGarvey, Joss Wheldon, and the production went ahead with a full frame format like 1.85 for The Avengers. 1.85 was necessary in order to show all the Avengers and the tall buildings in the same framing

Disney and Marvel have consistently used 2.39 for almost all of the films in their cinematic universe. The Avengers sequels (Age of Ultron, Infinity War, Endgame) reverted back to 2.39, potentially because McGarvey had no involvement in the productions.

"I like watching films in other aspect ratios because it is like going into a different room. There are different attributes to how you frame a picture. It's like any frame on a wall, it's got a different sensibility on how the eye moves around the frame."

- Seamus McGarvey

Other aspect ratios mentioned by McGarvey

• 3.00:1
• 1.35:1
• 1:1

Anamorphic formats - grandiosity, epicness

For The War Zone, they used 2.39 to express the epicness in everyday life and the domestic interior (complimenting the production design), and potential for horror.

In the production design for Bad Times at the El Royale, they had CinemaScope shapes consistently throughout the film

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoS957ZgAYc

What is the Right Aspect Ratio for Your Next Project? | PremiumBeat.com

Resolutions

Widescreen (2.35) - 1920 x 815p

Vertical video - 1080 x 1920p

Full Screen (2K) - 1920 x 1080p

Full Screen (4K) - 3840 x 2160p

Full Screen is suitable for documentaries, vlogs, and cinematic styles of digital film.

It essentially captures everything in the frame and is naturalistic. It's the most realistic without the audience feeling like they're watching a movie.

Widescreen is suitable for narrative films, music videos, and showreels. It makes the film more cinematic and narrow audiences' field of view and to help keep their eyes focused on the frame. You don't have to use this aspect ratio for your film to be cinematic.

4 x 3 is suitable for old news footage or past events, diversifying between cuts and can be used as a transition that way.

4 x 3 life hack - Rotate CinemaScope PNG

Vertical life hack - do it in post or shoot vertically with your camera, rather than using a phone.

YouTube and Vimeo is a good training ground for filmmakers to experiment with aspect ratios

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-dUveGINTg

Video Aspect Ratio Explained – How Different Aspect Ratios Affect Your Video Style

You can apply subjectivity to when considering an aspect ratio

16:9  >  1.78:1

21:9  >  2.35:1

The aspect ratio is how your framing is measured by the width and height, but it's not the physical size - that's the job for the resolution.

"The only way to get better with something is to practice"

- Camber

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adEUql4lbIs
Make YOUR Videos More CINEMATIC with 21:9 Aspect Ratio – How to Change Aspect Ratio to 21:9

21:9 - 2520 x 1080p

It stretches your frame and you lose image quality

HD - 1280 x 549p

FHD - 1920 x 823p

UHD - 3840 x 1646p

NOT APPLICABLE FOR YOUTUBE




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CgrMsjGk7k
The Changing Shape of Cinema: The History of Aspect Ratio


William Kennedy Dickson was the real inventor of cinema and he made 4:3 (1.33) the industry standard, but no one knows why.

Edison took credit Dickson's invention because he was one of Edison's employees. From the sound of things, Edison did it in a similar fashion as he did with Nikola Tesla.

The Motion Picture Patent Company (under the control of Thomas Edison) in 1909 set the industry standard of film being 35 mm.

The Academy Ratio was developed in order to fit audio tracks onto film, following the introduction of synchronized sound in film in 1929.

Cinerama originated from a World War II invention by Fred Waller, who developed a multi-camera and multi-projector used as simulators for air force bomber gunners.

Cinerama - 147 degree field of view
2.59 aspect ratio


Issues with Cinerama

• You could only use focal length - wide. This was to keep the actors' eye line consistent and so they had to have the actors positioned different to each other on set, almost like forced perspective
• It was expensive for both film productions and cinemas

Paramount experimented by narrowing the Academy Ratio to 1.66, which they applied to the film, Shane (1953).

It made very little difference, aside from producing more film grain.

Henri Chretien - He invented the 'Anamorphoscope' in France during the 1920's. His invention later became the basis for CinemaScope.

CinemaScope was a cheaper alternative for film productions and cinemas, compared to Cinerama.

Paramount was dissatisfied with the amount of film grain in using CinemaScope and so they made their own innovation. Their innovation became Vista Vision, which involved 35 mm film being captured on its side and an aspect ratio of 1.85. Up until then, things were captured on film vertically. This resulted in much less film grain and, but was developed back in its upright position.

Hitchcock shot a lot of his films in Vista Vision like Vertigo and North by Northwest.

Other widescreen formats

• SuperScope
• Technirama
• Cinemiracle
• Vistarama

Aspect ratios at this time was like the main ingredient to a theme park ride.

Todd AO and Mike Todd developed 70 mm film to show films like Cinerama could, but not needing multiple cameras or projectors.

70 mm film - 2.20 aspect ratio e.g. The Sound of Music.

MGM 65 (2.76) and Super Panavision 70 (2.20) used 70 mm film e.g. Ben-Hur, Lawrence of Arabia.

Kerns H. Powers coined 16 x 9 in the late 1980's as a compromise for HDTV.





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5m1-pP1-5K8

Turner Classic Movies: Letterbox

"You lose the effect of the stuntwork"

- Scorsese on the pan and scan version of the chariot race in Ben-Hur

Scorsese described pan and scan being in a sense 'redirecting a movie'.

Pan and scan is done defensively rather than artistically. It violates the creativity of the framing and composition, while also being an insult to the many efforts done by the DOP.

You lose the drama, tension, and feeling of isolation in a pan and scan version of Lawrence of Arabia. You also don't see everything like all the characters and things that director and DOP wants to communicate to the audience. It affects the emotional impact and form of storytelling.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KKVsOEiHuc

What is Aspect Ratio and Which Aspect Ratio is Right for You | You'll be surprised!

16:9 and 4:3 are easier aspect ratios to remember than say 1.33:1 or 2.39:1

16:9 - Suitable for YouTube, Blu-ray, UHD, and HDTV

1.85:1 - 'Spherical' and cinema

2.39:1 - 'Anamorphic' and cinema

Still photography aspect ratios

4:3 - Magazines, prints, and some camera formats

3:2 - Full frame DSLR and APS-C Sensors

Figuring out what's the best aspect ratio is like asking what's the best window size for your new house.

Steps to figure out the best aspect ratio

1. Pick according to the delivery format

Is it for...

• YouTube
• Blu-ray
• UHDTV
• HDTV
• 1.85 projection
• 2.39 projection
• Magazines (single or double page)
• Billboard
• Print
• Instagram
• Design

2. Pick emotionally, or in other words, your own personal preference

• 16:9 would be a starting place for digital film and video
• 3:2 would be a starting place for still photography

No one will care what aspect ratio if it is to be made for online or social media, especially YouTube or Vimeo. Almost like VHS with pan and scan, it's irrelevant.

If your work is to be exclusively for screenings, then you should consider aspect ratios like 1.85 or 2.39.

3. Find the camera with the closest aspect ratio you want and apply it properly in post

2:1 - 'Chivisium' by Vittorio Storaro

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdPsyLtlamM

Aspect Ratios - Tomorrow's Filmmakers

Most contemporary mainstream films these days are shot on either 1.85 or 2.35.

The Academy Ratio (or 4:3) was technically .95 inches by .735 inches

Paramount made Shane look widescreen by letterboxing the film, while still keeping close to the Academy Ratio. It was done in a similar fashion as the music video scenes in Bohemian Rhapsody.

Not many use 2.76:1 aspect ratio these days, which is likely why Tarantino experimented with that for The Hateful Eight.

1.33 - Original aspect ratio

1.37 - Academy Ratio

1.43 - IMAX

1.85 - Vista Vision

2.20 - Super Panavision

2.35 - CinemaScope / Panavision

2.59 - Cinerama

2.76 - MGM 65

IMAX screens are among the biggest cinema screens in the world.

Strange that considering it's in between the Academy Ratio and Vista Vision. It's wider than the Academy Ratio, but narrower than Vista Vision.

16:9 was developed because it was in between formats and as a way to view both widescreen and 4:3 films on television.

What DVD, HD 1080p, and UHD / 4K have in common? They are all suited for 16:9

Widescreen formats (2.39) can be good as a way to express claustrophobia or the feeling of being overwhelmed. Aspect ratios can help in conveying a message in your film

Round edges in 4:3 (A Ghost Story) expresses feelings of nostalgia - like you're watching a memory within a Polaroid-like aesthetic.

First Reformed used the Academy Ratio to express claustrophobia

The Hateful Eight used 2.76 and Super Panavision 70 as a callback to 1950's and 1960's widescreen cinema

There are objects (3D VFX) in Life of Pi that actually jump over the letterbox aspect ratio

Some filmmakers change between aspect ratios within just one film e.g. The Grand Budapest Hotel, Oz the Great and Powerful.

Aspect ratios change in these films to suit the plot - different time periods and to show how time has passed in the story (the passage of time)

In Mommy (2014), 1:1 was used at the start to express the protagonist's feelings of being insignificant and claustrophobic. The transition to 16:9 in the film communicates to the audience how free and positive that the protagonist is now feeling. It does so to an effective extent.

Scott Pilgrim changes from 16:9 to a widescreen format whenever there is a fight scene. It shows that something is about to go down and get real

In The Dark Knight Rises...

• If something is about to go down, action scenes / primary plot or storyline - IMAX
• Secondary plot or storyline - 2.35

In The Hunger Games: Catching Fire...

• All the scenes in the Arena (IMAX)
• Outside the Arena (2.35)
• The scene prior to the subtle transition from 2.35 to IMAX, expresses claustrophobia and something close and intimate. You feel trapped and powerless like what Katniss is feeling. You feel like you have sensory issues and are overwhelmed when it's first changed to IMAX

In It Comes at Night...

• 
  

  Being conscious, awake, and in reality, you find that 2.35 is applied
• Being unconscious, asleep, and having dreams or nightmares, you will find 2.75 is applied
• These changes in aspect ratio in the film communicates to the audience what is reality and what is a nightmare
• But then the change is used, but is now done much more subtly to show that reality has become the nightmare

Michael Bay shot Transformers: The Last Knight in three different aspect ratios at the same time. But how he used it, conveys no meaning.

http://www.film-foundation.org/phillips-2001

Martin Scorsese and Phillips established a campaign in 2001 to inform consumers the difference between watching films on 4:3 televisions and 16:9 televisions.

The campaign was called 'See What You've Been Missing' and as part of it, Scorsese made a top ten list of films that are better to watch on a widescreen television e.g. Lawrence of Arabia, 2001: A Space Odyssey, East of Eden, Blade Runner, Ben-Hur, and Zulu.

Scorsese believed it was important that people watched films in their original format. This campaign personally fueled Scorsese as part of his advocacy for film preservation.

16:9 democratized accessibility to view films in their original format and how they were meant to be seen.

"The goal of this educational campaign is to illustrate to viewers the  benefit of seeing widescreen films the way they were intended to be seen -- in  their original aspect ratio -- either in the theatre, or at home on a  widescreen-formatted television set" 

"Widescreen films -- particularly anamorphic or scope films -- really  suffer a great deal when they're altered for broadcast on standard television.  A director works painstakingly to set up a shot or scene -- the whole meaning  of which is lost when a film is cropped or panned and scanned to fit a  standard television screen.  When a film is viewed on a widescreen-formatted  set, the audience is able to experience the original film intact, the way the  director intended." 

- Martin Scorsese

"We could think of no greater voice to expound the benefits of digital  widescreen television than Martin Scorsese."

"Mr. Scorsese's track record speaks for itself.  He is one of the  greatest directors of our time, and a shining example of someone who is  constantly giving back to the film industry, leading the charge in ensuring  the future of our favorite movies and how they are viewed."

 "Digital widescreen is the future of television and it is available to  everyone right now.  You don't need to be a famous director in order to  benefit from this innovational and exciting viewing experience."

- Des Power, senior vice president / general manager, television, Philips Consumer Electronics, North America. 

https://ew.com/article/2001/06/21/ew-talks-martin-scorsese/

“The pan-and-scan version of ”2001: A Space Odyssey” is a great calamity. A disgrace. A great sin in a way.”

- Martin Scorsese

You think of this as a moral issue. [Scorsese was asked]

"Well, yes…we should have some respect for where we came from and what our culture is."

https://filmschoolrejects.com/integrity-aspect-ratios/

“What drives me nuts about this is that with every movie, the filmmaker chose that aspect ratio for a reason, and they framed every shot for that specific shape. So chopping off the sides of the image is going against their wishes, and damaging their work.”

- Patrick Willems

Xavier Dolan chose to use a very unique 1:1 ratio, which he stated allowed for 'a more humble and private format.'

https://timaru.kanopy.com/video/cinerama-holiday

Cinerama Holiday is able to be viewed on here and is in a format close enough to Cinerama, which in this case is in Smilebox Curved Screen Simulation.
From the snapshots of how this is aspect ratio, I can produce my own overlay for my research projects and go ahead with doing filming tests in 2.59 (Cinerama).

Bob Richardson - For the Love of Film (Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood - Blu-ray)

" Textures overall, which is of course the soundscape, you're talking about the look and moving between size and format from 2.40 [overall film] to 1.85 or 1.33 [Bounty Law, The F.B.I.]. "

- Robert Richardson, Director of Photography - Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood


The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

The engaging use of storytelling and colour makes you not notice that the aspect ratio when it does. It manages to consistently use its charm when intercutting between time periods / aspect ratios.

I also believe the Academy Ratio represents the narrow space that is available to the protagonist as a lobby boy, whereas the use of 2.35 in scenes/shots set in the 1960's represented the wide spaces that is available to the protagonist as the hotel owner.