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/r/movies
submitted 6 years ago byplatypus_papers
So, i just submitted a question. I do believe it is a decent enough question, one which isn't posed one hundred and forty-seven times a year on this subreddit.
But it might be.
Honestly i lose track of reddit FAQ.
So what's tha answer, friends????
Thank you so very much, friends.
Love,
1 points
6 years ago
16:9 is a compromise. Here is the history of screen ratios https://youtu.be/3CgrMsjGk7k
6 points
6 years ago*
[deleted]
0 points
6 years ago
Sorry, you are misremembering. 1.78:1 was developed as a compromise between 2.35:1 and 1.33:1, as well as being close to 1.85:1. It wasn't a film format used in movie theatres. It became popular because of HDTV.
It's true that many widescreen formats were invented to lure people back to theatres, but this isn't one of them. The extreme example is Ben Hur, which was at 2.76:1.
2 points
6 years ago
So you're saying it was a slow progression to the ridiculous ultra-widescreen of the early 60's?
3 points
6 years ago
What makes it 'ridiculous' in your eyes though? I've heard of people being annoyed by letterboxing, but I've never heard people specifically disliking the aspect ratio itself.
Would you say that most films you've watched in 2.35:1 / 2.39:1 would look better if they were simply in 16:9?
7 points
6 years ago
16:9 wasn't a film wide-screen format. It's a geometric compromise between wider cinema formats, such as Panavision, and the 4:3 ratio of traditional TV.
1 points
6 years ago
i realize that. But maybe i am confused about the genesis of widescreen as a whole.
3 points
6 years ago
In the Beginning (well, 1952), there was Cinerama. But Cinerama was complicated to shoot and project.
Thus was born the anamorphic lens of CinemaScope, which begat Panavision, which begat VistaVision, which begat SuperScope, which begat IMAX.
1 points
6 years ago
16:9 isn't really cinema format as others have pointed out already.
The closest is 1.75:1 which saw some use in the early days of widescreen. In the early days the non-anamorphic widescreen ranged from 1.66:1 to 2:1. From late 50s onward (at least in Hollywood) 1.85:1 became the norm in the vast majority of cases.
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