Moving Images, Understanding Media

150 Moving Images: Making Movies, Understanding Media

When optical sound was introduced to fi lm, the width of the image

was reduced to make room for the track of sound. Th is made the image

nearly square, and people reacted to this change negatively. As a result,

the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences established a practice

of masking the top and bottom of the frame to achieve the screen ratio

of 1.33:1. Th is became an international standard that is known as the

“Academy aperture.”

A Wider Screen

Th is remained the norm for two decades until economic forces compelled

the fi lm industry to adjust to a sharp downturn in the number of moviegoers.

In a few short years, box offi ce receipts plummeted because of changing

lifestyle patterns of post-World War II societies and the arrival of a new

motion picture phenomenon: television. To draw viewers back to movie

theaters, studios and cinemas capitalized on a factor that television could

not deliver: Since they already represented the “big screen,” why not make

it even bigger? Studios developed lenses for shooting and projection that

augmented the width of the screen to allow for increased spectacle and a

more overwhelming moviegoing experience.

Th e fi rst feature fi lm using the CinemaScope aspect ratio to be shot

in Hollywood was Th e Robe, released in 1953. Th is system, based on an

anamorphic distorting lens invented by Chrétien in France in the 1920s,

actually squeezes the image onto a frame using the standard aspect ratio,

and this frame is then “unsqueezed” in projection by a special lens. Without

Figure 4-32 Frame from

The River, directed by Jean

Renoir with Technicolor

cinematography in the 1.33:1

format by Claude Renoir. A

master of storytelling in both

black and white and color,

many of Jean Renoir’s fi lms

have been cited among the

greatest fi lms ever made by

critics, festival panels, and

fellow fi lmmakers. (Courtesy

UA/Photofest)

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