Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Film Class: WIDESCREEN

WIDESCREEN

"Widescreen" is a screen size twice as wide as the industry norm (4:3), called the "aspect ratio."
Widescreen is as old as cinema. There were no standards in the early days of film until 35m gauge (film size) became the norm. Expensive machinery discouraged the use of other gauges.
But television changed films in the 1950s. Why pay money when there was free entertainment at home? So movie theatres lured patrons back.
Movies had a magic television lacked: stars, who rarely appeared on television (TV). Star power was enough to attract movie fans.
Still, TV had cut into audience numbers. The goal was to attract them back.
Besides stars, movies had color. TV lacked color in the 1950s.
There were gimmicks too. Like dish sets.
Movie patrons received a new dish each week. They returned weekly to complete the set.
3-D was another gimmick. The movie was shot with two cameras, for a binocular image. This image was viewed through special 3-D (polarized) glasses.
Wearing special tinted 3-D glasses was also a gimmick, as publicity photos show (right). In addition, directors would stage scenes so objects or people seemed to come at the viewer.
3-D (1952) lasted a year: The novelty wore off.
3-D was also costly for theatres. Directors disliked staging scenes for shock (throwing objects at the viewer, etc.). And viewers got headaches from the glasses.
Widescreen was longer lasting. It enlarged the image the way TV couldn't and looked different from the standard screen ratio (4:3).
Cinerama came first (1952). This produced a wraparound image by shooting a scene with three cameras, exhibited by three projectors.
The results were satisfactory but costly. Only special films, usually travelogues, could be made in this way.
Twentieth Century-Fox found a simple solution with the old technology. This is called the anamorphic or squeeze lens.
By placing an anamorphic lens on top of the regular camera lens, the image was compressed in width. When exhibited, a lens expanded the image to widescreen format.
This was patented as "CinemaScope." The first film in scope was
The Robe (1953).
Another format was devised by Paramount Pictures and patented as VistaVision. The image was photographed horizontally, not vertically, enabling a wider screen format and better resolution (image quality) when projected.
Barbra Streisand's song refers to this widescreen experience. To hear the song, go here, or here (with a Streisand slide show). (Lyrics below.)
For the director, widescreen was not a matter of technology or commerce, but art. The challenge was to fill the screen in a satisfactory manner.
Epics were easy. They required large masses (
Land of the Pharaohs).
But as widescreen became the industry norm, directors had to learn to use the new aspect ratio (much wider than high) for dramatic effect, not to shock or amaze.
Editing on a wide screen was distractive.
So directors used less editing. Besides, the width of the screen enabled more complex (and realistic) mise-en-scene.
Directors learned to use the two sides of the screen in effective ways, by balancing foreground and background or left and right, or a combination of both.
As in the case of sound or color, the best directors learned to use the new technology for artistic purpose: more realism, a more complex mise-en-scene, and more emotional involvement in the image.

There are songs that sound like movies There are themes that fill the screen There are lines I say that sound as if they're written There are looks I wear the theater should have seen.
But though I've made my life a movie The matinee must end by five And I must stagger out into the blinding sunlight half alive Wishing I were back inside the picture show
There where it's always night Notice how the screen is wide The second row I've sat around too tight Will I stay? Yes, I might
Oh widescreen wider on my eyes Blind my mind with lies Find the world like nothing that I've seen Oh widescreen dreams are just my sighs
As we walk from out the movie Are we acting out a scene? Does the orchestra play chords When we start loving? Do we move just like slow motion
On the screen?
Life's a constant disappointment When you live on celluloid But my movie expectations are a dream I can't avoid Waiting for a man to say the things That I heard in the film last night But he doesn't want to play the role And he can't pick his cues up right Will I dream? Yes, I might!
Oh widescreen winding round my eyes Blinding me with lies Finding I've been fooled by what I've seen No, widescreen dreams are more than you How can lies be true? All we have is life and mind And love we find with a friend Oh let the movie end. . . .

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