Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Timeline of aspect ratios

This is topic Timeline of aspect ratios in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Dan Chilton (Member # 2288) on 01-31-2006, 05:07 PM:

I'm not sure if this should go here or in Ground Level, but if this is the wrong place, please feel free to move it.

My question is this: is there a resource available that illustrates the various times certain aspect ratios were most prevelant? For instance, what aspect ratio were most silent films shot in? Early talkies? Etc.. If your brain is the resource I'm looking for, please divulge whatever you might find applicable.

Thanks guys!

Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 01-31-2006, 05:16 PM:

The American Widescreen Museum

Posted by Dan Chilton (Member # 2288) on 01-31-2006, 08:42 PM:

Thank you Adam!

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 02-01-2006, 01:55 AM:

Shameless act of self-promotion. Sooner or later someone will write a Buncefield-scale flame review on the Amazon site and then I won't be able to throw that link around so much...

There is also a BKSTS wall chart dealing with film formats and aspect ratios, which I guess would cost around $20 to order from the US.

quote: Dan Chilton
For instance, what aspect ratio were most silent films shot in?

With the exception of a few experimental wide film systems in the 1890s and '00s (e.g. Dickson's Biograph), the frame area occupied the entire width between the perforations of 35mm, with a height of four frames (same as today). Although this standard wasn't formally enshrined by the SMPE until 1917, it was in virtually universal use by the turn of the century. The ratio approximates to 1:1.33.

quote: Dan Chilton
Early talkies?

All the cylinder and disc based systems up to and including Vitaphone did not affect the topography of the film as far as the ratio was concerned. The arrival of optical sound disrupted the status quo, because the surface area occupied by the soundtrack obliterated part of what was the picture area. For a few years (1928-33 approx.) there was standards chaos. Some directors composed their shots for the almost square picture (1:1.15 approx.) which was produced by cropping the soundtrack area and leaving the rest of the 'full gate' frame; but of course for a film which was to be released both with disc and optical tracks this caused a problem, because the picture would be cropped when projected with one system but not the other. Trade papers from the time also give the impression that the use of aperture plates and lenses which cropped the 1:1.15 picture at the top and bottom and magnified it to fit a theatre's existing screen was widespread. The so-called 'Academy ratio', which introduced a matte at the top and bottom of the sound frame in order to reproduce the old ratio, was standardised in 1932 or '33 (can't remember which), and remained an almost universal standard until widescreen became established in the 1950s.

Incidentally, almost all the major Hollywood studios experimented with widescreen systems of some description during the late 1920s, some of which were used on a trial basis for a few films and in a few theatres (Fox Grandeur, for example). But the cost of the conversion to sound followed by the depression of the early '30s prevented their large-scale use for another two decades.

Posted by William Hooper (Member # 71) on 02-01-2006, 02:51 AM:

quote: Leo Enticknap
The so-called 'Academy ratio', which introduced a matte at the top and bottom of the sound frame in order to reproduce the old ratio, was standardised in 1932 or '33

1932.

This article announcing the change to theatres also does a good job of conveying the hell that camera & projection aspect ratios had become in the early talkie years.

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 02-01-2006, 10:17 AM:

Many thanks William - hadn't come across that article before.