Just
because a new technology is available doesn’t mean the public is ready for it.
I was 16 when my family got its first laser disk player in 1991. This was the
first time I was asked to pay serious attention to screen aspect ratios in my
home. I recalled when Steven Spielberg’s The Color Purple was released
on video, probably in 1997, and he chose to preserve a ratio of 1.66:1. We all
hated that at the time. But as I got used to watching movies in this format, I
became fascinated by the various means of composing shots for the various aspect
ratios.
I was initially attracted to the anamorphic aspect ratio of 2.35:1, in
particular Spielberg’s use of it. In pictures like The Sugarland Express
and Close Encounters of the Third Kind he sculpted eloquent images –
characters constantly upstaged each other and stretched perspective, creating
snake-like patterns across the widescreen landscape.
What laser disks and subsequent DVDs did to alter viewers’ consciousness
cannot be overstated. Prior to this format forcing itself upon the public at the
request of filmmakers, most people made no distinction between the square shape
of their TVs and the rectangular shapes at their local
cineplex. DVDs have become the fastest selling consumer electronic product in
history and, overshadowing initial complaints, letterboxed images have become
the preferred viewing mode for most features.
While experiments with anamorphic lenses (a spherical lens that stretches an
image to make it wider) were in effect long before a practical use was
developed, it wasn’t until TV became a genuine threat to the studios’
revenue that filmmakers began thinking wider.
In 1952 Cinerama debuted and everything changed rapidly. Cinerama was a process
whereby 3 separate images were projected on a huge curved screen at once. It
also featured multi-track stereo sound, though that was ultimately scrapped
because it was expensive and the audience didn’t know any better. MGM used
this process for 10 years and it culminated with Stanley Kubrick’s 1968
masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Since Cinerama was more of a novelty than anything else, other studios scrambled
to imitate the widescreen image on a more practical scale. They turned to a lens
called ‘Anamorphoscope’ by its French creator Professor Henri Chretien. 20th
Century Fox got to it first and renamed it CinemaScope.
CinemaScope was a much simpler process than Cinerama. It only required one
camera and one projector, and achieved its scope by squeezing the image with an
anamorphic lens on the former, then unsqueezing it with a reverse lens on the
latter.
The original CinemaScope image was 2.66:1, a much wider image than we receive
now. This was because the image was literally twice the size of 35mm’s 1.33:1
ratio. The image size varied for a while and ultimately wound up as 2.35:1, the
result of the picture’s soundtrack being added to the film and taking up
space.
Nowadays, most movies in the U.S. are shown at 1.85:1, a flat image, though
there are still plenty of widescreen models. CinemaScope was ultimately taken
over by Panavision and rechristened “Panavision.” There’s also Super-35,
which shoots a larger image on single-perf 35mm film, then undergoes an optical
transfer to traditional anamorphic for its release. Super-35 offers a ratio of
2.4:1, and many films shot in that format are presented without alteration on
DVD.
With the development of home stereo systems movies were once again forced to
innovate. Stereo sound crept back into movies in the late 1970s with filmmakers
like George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola leading the way. This time the
audiences were ready -- so ready, in fact, that the technology looped around
into the market of modern home entertainment with surround sound modeled after
the theaters.
From August 15th until September 4th, Lincoln Center will be presenting a series
called The Whole Wide World: 50 Years of Widescreen Moviemaking. It will
offer an unparalleled opportunity for film enthusiasts – many of whom have
only seen these movies on DVD – to view a multitude of classic widescreen
features.
Among the many titles on display are the afore-mention 2001: A Space Odyssey
in a 70mm print, as well as Robert Altman’s McCabe & Mrs. Miller,
Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West, Terrence Malick’s The
Thin Red Line, Anthony Mann’s El Cid, and Jean-Luc Goddard’s Pierrot
le fou.
I saw press screenings of Jack Clayton’s The Innocents, based on The
Turn of the Screw, and Andre de Toth’s cynical Play Dirty. I must
admit to dozing during The Innocents, but that’s because highbrow
supernatural stories don’t always do it for me – though Freddie Francis’
B&W cinematography was indeed luminous. In contrast, I enjoyed Play Dirty,
a Dirty Dozen-type film starring Michael Caine that used sound effects to
heighten the drama instead of music.
The point is: this is a series not to be missed by any movie lover. These are
classic films being shown in the medium in which they were created. This is a
one-time opportunity to see these films at one place for a short period. As
digital projection begins moving into theaters, who knows when an opportunity
like this will arise again?
Digital projection will be the norm by the end of this decade. It’s slowly
creeping into the market guaranteeing people will be ready for this advance.
While I applaud this advance there must also remain the opportunity to see films
as they were intended.
(The Whole Wide World: 50 Years of Widescreen Moviemaking will run from
August 15th-September 4th, 2003. For more information go to: www.filmlinc.com)
-Copyright
2003 by Jamie
Stuart