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SIDEBAR: DISTRIBUTION FORMATS
The concept that you expose the entire full aperture frame,
but only extract a portion of it for the release prints may be a
stretch for videographers who are so used to what-you-see-iswhat-you-get
framing. But it is important to remember that
the shooting format of film is now completely separate from
the format it is projected in a theater. The digital intermediate
process has completely solidified this by allowing you to create
numerous deliverables at many different aspect ratios and
frame sizes, starting with a single frame of a single size.
No matter how a film is projected, whether by a film print
or a digital projector, all the same issues with framing and aspect
ratios remain the same.
ficult, given the fact that composition is usually driven
by the amount of “head room” given to the actors. It is
much more aesthetically pleasing to use what is called
common top framing. This groups all the different soft
mattes near the top of the frame.
Another example of protected framing is what you
see anytime you watch HD television networks. They
are shooting 16:9 protected for 4:3, or sometimes 14:9,
which gets letterboxed for 4:3 audiences. The result is
that all action needs to fit inside the 4:3 safe region, inside
the 16:9 frame. Graphic elements like lower thirds
and scoreboards end up all crowded into the center of
the frame.
Two-shots that would otherwise be framed properly
are now strangely wide, so that the audience watching
the 4:3 center cut doesn’t get chopped off heads. This
gives you a 16:9 frame with strangely ill-composed and
vacant sides (wings), but again, it is all about multiple
distribution channels.
With one broadcast, you can (somewhat) satisfy the
HD 16:9 audience and the 4:3 audience at
the same time. Some networks compromise
by allowing a wider 14:9 protected
frame inside a 16:9 image. They then chop
off the 14:9 sides and letterbox this for
the 4:3 audience. The letterbox area is reduced,
and the 16:9 framing is much better
composed.
When Super 35 is scanned for digital
intermediate, the entire frame is usually
included (a full aperture scan). This means
that matte boxes, boom mics, dolly tracks
and other set materials end up inside the
1.33 frame, but are cropped out later.
This allows film editors the option of
re-framing the shot vertically as they have
additional image to work with. It also provides
additional image for visual effects work such as 3D
camera tracking.
FLAT AND SCOPE
Today, with the exception of specialty formats like IMAX,
there are two types of film prints sent to theaters: Academy
Flat and Anamorphic Scope. There is also a plethora
of digital projection formats commonly referred to as
DCI (Digital Cinema Initiative), but they still adhere to the
same aspect ratios as film formats.
Academy Flat usually has an aspect ratio of 1.85:1
(1.66:1 and 1.75:1 are obsolete), while Anamorphic Scope
has a 2.39 aspect ratio when projected on screen. When
a theatrical trailer is released, it will be formatted to fit
both Scope and Flat to match the feature presentation,
so that the projectionist doesn’t need to switch lenses
between the two.
Because the frames are so close together on anamorphic
scope film, it was decided in the 70s to reduce
the height of the frame, giving more room to better hide
the splices. Then, in 1993, SMPTE (Society of Motion Picture
Television Engineers) tweaked the standard again,
to make it the same width as Academy Flat, and the aspect
ratio became 2.39:1. The standard today is officially
2.39:1, although this is sometimes rounded off to 2.40:1.
There are even more factors to consider after a movie’s
run in theaters, with cuts for DVD and Blu-ray, cable,
airlines, iTunes and more. Home video releases, due to
taller aspect ratios, may even show more of the vertical
image than you would have seen in the theater, taking
advantage of the soft matted areas of the original camera
negative.
In the end, there are many ways to see a film today,
all of them with different screen dimensions, aspect ratios
and so on. Where you see the film makes all the difference
as to what aspect ratio you see. My 5-year old kid
watches movies on my iPhone and he is perfectly happy
with that.
As mentioned earlier, “Avatar” was presented in the
format that best fit the screen of the particular theater
you saw the movie. James Cameron was said to prefer
the taller screens (1.43 and 1.78) for the stereoscopic presentations,
and the 2.35 scope version for the 2D presentations.
Directors today are not always shooting for one
aspect ratio. They may be shooting with 2.35 in mind,
but protecting for 1.85 or even 1.78. These pressures to
frame for different aspect ratios are driven by the needs
to create different deliverables for different markets and
applications.
The most dramatic example of this is Pan and Scan,
which was outlawed by the Geneva Convention in 1949.
Well, okay…maybe it wasn’t, but it should have been.
This inhumane process simply chops off the sides of the
widescreen image to fit a 4:3 TV screen, trying to capture
the action by moving the image from side-to-side.
With the obsolescence of 4:3 televisions, this practice has
been all but abandoned.
Or has it? The process can also be applied to a 2.35
or 1.85 master to make it fit into a 16:9 Television screen.
That’s exactly what you need to do if you take a movie
framed for 1.85 and make a 2.35 version and make a 2.35
trailer for it. So, you see, pan and scan to a certain degree
will always be around.
Since the widescreen format wars were first “settled”
over 100 years ago, it turns out that nothing stays
settled for long — which is why the only way to avoid
bluffing is to keep learning.
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32 The Asset Management and Distribution Issue — Creative COW Magazine
Creative COW Magazine — The Asset Management and Distribution Issue 33