Moving Images, Understanding Media

Chapter 4 Storytelling with Light 151

the special lens, the image looks distorted. With the lens, CinemaScope and

processes such as VistaVision and Panavision fi lms typically project between

an aspect ratio of 2.2:1 to 2.55:1.

As you may guess from the perspective of a television- and movie-viewer

of the twenty-fi rst century, widescreen has been a success. Th e fi rst productions

in the 1950s were a hit, and by the latter part of that decade, the widescreen

format had become conventional for big screen movies. By the end of the

twentieth century, the standard aspect ratios of movies were 1.85:1 in the

United States and 1.66:1 in Europe, with widescreen movies being shot at

2.40:1. Many other fi lm systems have been developed, including IMAX, 3-D

technologies, and 360 viewing systems.

Aspect ratio also has an enormous impact on a fi lm. Th e depiction of

individual characters, landscapes, or groups of subjects is shaped by the manner

in which they are framed, and the dimensions of that frame are determined

by the aspect ratio in which the fi lm is being shot. During the fi rst decade

of CinemaScope and similar processes, some fi lmmakers embraced the new

dimensions of the screen and exploited them fully, using the wider view to

increase the horizontal information portrayed in a shot. Others saw the

wide perspective as not conducive for photographing people, describing it as

suited for depicting mountain slopes or funerals. Th e key decisions remain

with the importance of establishing the needs, stylistic desires, and technical

considerations of a motion picture project. What any fi lmmaker must ask

is: “What is the frame most suited to what I need to express, to the story

that I am going to tell, or to the message I am going to convey visually?” In

Figure 4-33 Widescreen aspect ratio (2.35:1) in Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, directed by George Lucas.

(Courtesy Lucasfi lm Ltd./Photofest)

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