Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Aspect Ratios

This is topic Aspect Ratios in forum Digital Cinema Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Obi Nelson (Member # 11073) on 11-26-2019, 06:37 PM:

If a movie is in the 2:1 ratio and in the 1.85 container, is there a way it can be projected on a scope screen that doesn't have masking without windowing with just pillarboxing? Or one would have to make a seperate scope dcp?

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 11-26-2019, 07:20 PM:

You create a separate lens preset so it zooms out some more.

Posted by Mike Croaro (Member # 3123) on 11-26-2019, 10:24 PM:

Steve, when you zoom the image out, does it slightly crop the top and bottom of the image?

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 11-27-2019, 07:29 AM:

No. The image is letterboxed already in the Flat container. All you are doing is zooming out until that letterbox fits the height of your screen.

Posted by Marcel Birgelen (Member # 6801) on 11-27-2019, 07:49 AM:

And that's why you need a custom macro for all those fancy "newfangled" aspect ratios the directors come up with. In some rare cases you even need one for both a scope and flat container...

About a year ago, we played "The Grand Budapest Hotel", it started as a stupid joke, where we tried to correct the aspect ratio to fit the screen horizontally or vertically every time it changed on screen. After half-a-day programming cues, the result was one sea-sick ride, because every zoom action obviously blurred the image. We ended up with just adjusting the screen masking... which still was... idiotic and landed us about a dozen new positions. [Wink]

Posted by Carsten Kurz (Member # 5396) on 11-27-2019, 08:59 AM:

Having 2.0:1 and 2.2:1 should be standard for new installations. We see a lot of 2.0:1 nowadays. Not much work to add them yourself, or when your tech visits you next time.

- Carsten

Posted by Mark Campbell (Member # 4411) on 11-27-2019, 11:04 AM:

I was annoyed to no end when I saw Dunkirk at an AMC that still had a proper side-masking auditorium that AMC presented the film letterboxed in the 1.85 masking setting. Luckily it was my 3rd viewing as I had already seen it in 70mm and real IMAX.

Posted by Daniel Schulz (Member # 1881) on 11-27-2019, 07:03 PM:

quote: Steve Guttag
No. The image is letterboxed already in the Flat container. All you are doing is zooming out until that letterbox fits the height of your screen.

When you do this are the letterbox bars still projecting (and falling off the top and bottom of the screen and thus, hopefully, invisible), or is there some kind of electronic blanking involved so that those pixels are not illuminated?

Posted by Carsten Kurz (Member # 5396) on 11-27-2019, 07:27 PM:

Typically, the letterbox bars should be digital zero, thus show the same black level als projector side electronic blanking (or 'cropping'). That depends a bit on the mastering software involved, but, so far I have never seen letterbox bars being above zero. Of course, depending on the type of projector, they would still be visible as dark grey on an unmasked screen. On a properly masked screen, that black should not be visible.

- Carsten