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Topic: Screen ratio at cinemas.
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Bill Brandenstein
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1632
From: California
Registered: Aug 2007
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posted October 20, 2012 11:35 PM
David, there are multiple options for theater screen ratios, grouped around two basic principles: anamorphic stretch (e.g., classic cinemascope 2.33:1; and the rare Super Panavision 70 approx 2.76:1, etc), and "flat" ratios, which is just a matter of masking the film - or enlarging the desired portion to fit the screen - (Academy ratio 1.33:1, wide formats 1.66:1, 1.78, and 1.85; native 70mm comes off at about 2.2:1).
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David M. Ballew
Expert Film Handler
Posts: 113
From: Burbank, CA USA
Registered: Nov 2009
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posted October 21, 2012 04:29 AM
David, the answer to your question may come down to the way your local cinema projects movies.
Modern-day movies, whether projected on film or digitally, tend to have aspect ratios of either 1.85:1 (often called flat) or 2.35:1 (often called ‘Scope). There is a bewildering array of other aspect ratios, but these are very rarely used in theatrical exhibition nowadays and will only serve to clutter up our discussion.
A film in the 1.85:1 aspect ratio will look very, very similar to your home TV screen which, being 16x9, has an aspect ratio of 1.78:1. These two aspect ratios, 1.85 and 1.78, differ only by about 7/100s of a unit, which I think is too small a number to be perceived by the unaided eye of the casual cinemagoer.
Now, historically, cinemas have always presented 2.35:1 films at the same screen height as 1.85:1, treating that “1” as a constant. Therefore, a ‘Scope film looked equally as tall as other films, but perceptibly wider—a sweeping panorama.
This just isn’t possible on your home television, where both width and height are fixed, so the tradeoff is that ‘Scope films on your TV will have black bars at the top and bottom to preserve the correct proportions of the image.
To be honest, you probably already know all this. What you may not know is that a lot of recently built cinemas handle ‘Scope films exactly the same way your TV does, by holding width at a constant and truncating the height so as to get the entire 2:35:1 image onto a piece of screen fabric that is only wide enough to handle 1.85:1 pictures.
Just to add to all the confusion, keep in mind that with 35mm film projection, there may be very, very slight differences in aspect ratio from one screen to the next. To cite one extreme example, I worked in a cinema once upon a time where the aperture plates and lenses in the projectors were specifically chosen so that all films played at an aspect ratio of about 2:1!
Even in honest cinemas which respect both films and patrons, other things can happen to make aspect ratios imprecise. Aperture plates in film projectors are often filed by hand to give a sharp, beveled edge to the metal. There may be slight irregularities in the installation of screens and masking owing to simple human error on the part of the contractors and laborers hired to build the place. Or aging ‘Scope lenses may be slightly out of true. But now we’re talking about theoretical circumstances that might lead to only slight differences in aspect ratio—numbers like 1.87:1, say, or 2.44:1.
Don’t know if any of this helps, but it sure felt powerful good to sit down, think it through, and type it out! Thanks for indulging me.
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David M. Ballew
Expert Film Handler
Posts: 113
From: Burbank, CA USA
Registered: Nov 2009
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posted October 22, 2012 12:35 PM
Joerg, I want you to know that I am well aware of 2.39:1 versus 2.35:1. I merely hoped to keep my end of this discussion as simple as possible, to avoid getting bogged down in myriad details or "dying the death of a thousand caveats." ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
Most respectfully, let me point out that the difference between 2.35 and 2.39 is 4/100ths of a unit. For a five-meter high screen, the width for 2.35 would be 11.75 meters; for 2.39, 11.95 meters. I believe that the average moviegoer will never discern that .2 meter difference on screens of that scale without direct comparison.
It staggers the mind to imagine a cinema patron eyeballing a naked screen and saying, "By gosh, that's not 2.39, it's 2.35!" I've known confirmed film geeks-- and place my name at the top of that list-- who could not do it.
So I respectfully submit that the difference between the two numbers is of great importance to you and me and others who share our interests, but to a casual moviegoer, the difference means practically nothing.
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![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)
the other main one is CinemaScope with its 2.35:1 ratio.![[Frown]](frown.gif)
If poor old CinemaScope is being presented at your local with the top and bottom masking moving then its just the as you would see it on your TV....it was never meant to be presented that way.
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