Understanding Different Movie and Video Aspect Ratios

Aspect Ratios Explained: From Cinerama to Pan and Scan and Back

Cinerama: With aspect ratios of 3.0:1, 2.77:1, 2.75:1, and 2.59:1. When transferred to video in its full Widescreen ratio, this format produced the most "letterboxing" effect. This method of filming actually used three cameras, after which the three images were interlocked together. How The West Was Won was filmed in this format.

CinemaScope: With aspect ratios of 2.66:1, 2.55:1,and 2.35:1. The aspect ratio started out 2.66:1 but was reduced to 2.55:1 when the addition of sound tracks on the film. This was the most commonly used method of filming movies because it's only major requirement is a special CinemaScope projector lens, which is available at virtually every movie theatre. CinemaScope was originally created by 20th Century Fox, but it is no longer in use. Panavision replaced CinemaScope in the early 70s. The Robe, and Disney's 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea were filmed in Cinemascope.

VistaVision: With aspect ratios of 1.96:1, 1.85:1, and 1.66:1. VistaVision was filmed with a specially designed camera which was mounted on its side and it required a special projector, but its image quality was better than standard 35mm. Vertigo, To Catch a Thief, and North by Northwest were filmed in this format.
This film format is still used today, but only for special effects shots, because it gives the film maker a large clean negative to work with, which is especially important if you are adding computer graphic imagery to the shot. Apollo13, Contact, and Twister all used Vista Vision for special effects shots that had computer graphics added to them.

Todd-AO: With aspect ratios of 2.35:1, 2.20:1. This process uses a 75mm negative printed onto 70mm film, with a six-track soundtrack, producing a very high quality picture. Many of the great epics and musicals of the 50s and 60s used this format.
Oklahoma, South Pacific and Around the World in 80 Days used the 2.20:1 aspect ratio, and movies in the 70s and 80s like 2001 A Space Odyssey, Dune and Logans Run used the 2.35:1 aspect ratio.

Technirama: A variable aspect ratio. This process was developed by the Technicolor Corporation, as a way to continue using its three-color process in the wake of competing Eastman Color. It required both a specially developed sideways camera (like VistaVision) and a widescreen lens (like CinemaScope). Night Passage, Disney s Sleeping Beauty, and Spartacus were filmed in this format.

Ultra Panavision 70: A 2.76:1 aspect ratio. MGM Camera 65 used identical film stocks as Todd-AO for camera negative and prints. Only two films were shown using the anamorphic squeeze in the 70mm print. Other 70mm presentations were done with optical 70mm prints made with the compression eliminated or the quasi-Cinerama 70mm single film system. After Raintree County and Ben-Hur, which used 35mm prints made with letterbox type maskings at the top and bottom of the frame to preserve the 2.76:1 aspect ratio, all other productions used 35mm anamorphic prints with dimensions compatible with CinemaScope.

Panavision: With today's most common aspect ratios of 2.35:1 and 1.85:1. The Panavision company became the most successful maker of widescreen lenses, and in the 1970s their Panavision lenses became the 'standard' for widescreen. CinemaScope was retired in favor of Panavision, and Panavision still makes the lenses for most of the major studio productions today. Panavision also makes lenses for films made with matting as opposed to true widescreen, and these matted films are not necessarily 2.35:1. Another aspect ratio from Panavision is the common 1.85:1 (1.78:1, also known as 16x9, is very close to 1.85:1, and is the standard aspect for HDTV).

Super 35: This is a 2.35:1 aspect ratio. This process does not involve widescreen lenses, but rather it involves framing the picture to fit the ratio of the screen. The top and bottom of the frame are "matted" out and removed from the picture completely, resulting in a rectangular picture.
Some of the older movies made in this format are transferred to video with the top and bottom of the frame restored, so that you actually see more of the picture on video than you did in the theater...but this is not a good thing, because the director did not intend to use the top and bottom of the frame in the first place! This is why people talk about boom mikes appearing on video, when they were never there in the theater. This is more proof that letterboxing is the proper format, because it shows us that the entire video screen is not what the director intended. The Abyss, Aliens, Terminator 2 True Lies and Titanic were all shot in Super 35.

Pan and Scan: 1.33:1 aspect ratio. The Pan and Scan is what you see on most VHS Videos, and all TV shows and if you watch movies in this format you are missing about half of the actual movie, in some cases even more, that is why they call it Pan and Scan, because it is necessary to pan and scan the for the point of interest in the movie. Sometimes if they can t use the pan and scan effectively, they will stretch the image vertically, distorting the image.

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