When was the first widescreen movie

This will likely change now that is the new standard for TV and computer monitors. The first known event to be filmed in an aspect ratio wider than 1. Not only was it the longest film up to that time at roughly minutes long, it was filmed on 63mm film in a 1. Other films were shown in a wide array of aspect ratios. The idea of putting three projectors together will eventually become the basis for Cinerama.

Those segments were shown in a AR. Several other formats were used, but often were restricted to use by one studio and quickly died out as the Great Depression took its toll on the national economy.

Although several formats were available, most silent films were made in a 1. When sound was integrated, the analogue audio track, which runs along the side of the film, reduced the visual width to around 1. This caused problems for many theaters that had fixed-width screens and projectors that could not move.

Additionally, many movie patrons who grew accustomed to 1. Studios attempted to find ways of getting back to a 1. The first attempt at standardizing the format took place in when all major US studios agreed to a 1.

Further modifications to this standard were considered throughout the next few years. This new film standard, set at 1. All films were shot in this ratio until Although precursor technologies to television date back to the mids and televisions themselves were available in the s, the movie theater was the main source of visual entertainment and news throughout World War II.

By over half of the households in the US had a television. Consumers were conveniently staying at home with their new TVs, many of which had an AR of or 1. The movie studios needed to come up with a way to get people back into the theaters. As a result, the widescreen format was born. The first wide-format motion picture to usher in the new widescreen era was This Is Cinerama at the Broadway Theater in New York in One strategy was to increase the size of the screen and projected image, especially as a way to combat the growing popularity of television's much smaller screen.

The first narrative film released in one of these new widescreen formats, Cinemascope, was 20th Century Fox's The Robe. Within a few years, various widescreen processes like Super Panavision 70 and Paramount's VistaVision made widescreen films standard throughout the industry.

Of all the various gimmicks the industry tried in the s to attract audiences back to theaters, widescreen formats were the most successful. Other widescreen film formats utilized 70mm film, a larger-size film stock. It was used in a number of films in the late s and s, including popular musicals like Oklahoma , South Pacific , My Fair Lady , and The Sound of Music It remains a popular artistic format for filmmakers for some of their films, including Christopher Nolan and Paul Thomas Anderson.

A second issue with television and aspect ratio is that television was developed with a aspect ratio, which is similar to the original silent film ratio and Academy ratio. This meant that when films shot in Academy ratio were broadcast on television, the movies could be seen in their proper format. Unfortunately, that meant films shot with widescreen lens like CinemaScope were not formatted properly to appear on television screens. The most common solution to this issue was to "pan and scan" films, which crops off the horizontal sides of the film to make it "fit" the television screen.

Of course, that would mean that parts of the visual—including some that could be significant to the film—would be cropped out. To include the most important aspects of a shot, the formatting process was required to create camera "pans" that were unintended by the filmmakers. For example, what appeared to be a static shot on a film screen with important elements on both sides of the screen would need to incorporate a "pan" camera movement across the frame to show both elements.

All use flat, spherical lenses as in 1. When discussing Super 35, cinematographers usually compose for a 2.

Super 35 composes for 2. Often, directors prefer shooting Super 35 composed for 1. Super 1. Their dubious reasoning is the slight 5 percent increase in negative area will yield a finer-grained image. Tests have shown this to be erroneous. Once the negative has undergone interpositive and internegative optical repositioning, there is virtually no difference between Super 1.

Better to shoot 3-perf and use less negative, thereby conserving film costs by one-fourth. This also is not so, since the expense of optical 35mm dupe negatives needed for release prints negate any cost savings in principal photography. The main reasons for using this format are the less bulky lenses and greater increase in depth-of-field over anamorphic 2.

The lesser weight and more portable camera packages often omit the hassles found in using anamorphic attachments. The format employs lenses which are about half the focal length of anamorphic 2. Advocates of Super 35 claim that it is more compatible with 70mm because it can be enlarged straight to 70, while anamorphic must be un-squeezed first.

Also, due to the smaller negative size, cinematographers must limit their choice of camera negatives to slower speed stocks, thereby losing the advantage of high-speed negatives. IMAX: This wide-film 65mm process was developed in the early seventies and so far uses the largest film frame in motion picture history—3 times greater than standard 70mm film and 10 times bigger than 35mm.

The extra-wide perf frame 2. Each frame is registered or positioned by fixed registration pins and held firmly against the rear element of the lens by a vacuum. This enables rock steady, jiggle-free projection on screens up to ft high by ft wide, ten times the size of conventional screens. Since dirt or foreign material lodged in the gate magnifies so greatly on the screen, continual air suction must be employed.

The percent shutter transmits one-third more lumens than the percent shutter used in conventional projectors. Movies are photographed with wide-angle Hasselblad lenses and projected via Leitz Canada lenses. The Dynavision process uses 8-perforations per frame, while the Astrovision system has perfs per frame, utilizing a vertical pull-down to save print costs while being able to project onto an Imax screen.

Both are rare, Astrovision occupying Japanese planetariums. A degree fisheye lens records the images for later projection onto dome screens over feet in diameter.

The fisheye effect is countered by the degree dome curvature. The unusual theatre design limits seating capacity and requires that film be lifted ft out of the projection booth to the film gate overhead. The process used the G-6 Technirama camera to photograph background plates onto 8-perf VistaVision for a 2 to 1 copy ratio which decreased the grain when composited onto standard 35mm stock.

Actors stood in front of a ft 3-M Scotchlite front projection screen. Complementary mattes in front of both the large and small reflex screens enabled actors to appear to pass behind foreground objects in the background plate in one single camera pass.

Showscan accentuates this effect, further strengthening the illusion of movement, since the rapid succession of still images projected on the screen provides the human eye with more than its share of necessary successive stimuli, thereby enabling sharper images. One short film starring Christopher Lee as a mad magician had an actor on film that looked like he was actually behind the screen.

This 3-D alternating shutter-synchronized technique was later abandoned due to the uncomfortable helmet in favor of a traditional polarized three-dimensional process. Even 3-D films are being shown in the 70mm Imax format.

Meanwhile, Lucas and his team of visual effects technicians worked on the first-person perspective film that would be projected inside the simulators. A mechanical R2 droid robot served as pilot for the audience. In celebration, Disneyland remained open for a special hour marathon from 10am Jan. The peculiarity of this system over that of other Imax theatres is that the screen is raised at the end of the performance to let the audience out.

The projection surface is m and an electronic control system synchronizes the nine films which are blended together in a process similar to Cinerama. Iwerks typically relies on either 35mm film or video projection. When combined with the frames-per-second Showscan process developed by Trumbull, this flight simulator allows for some astonishing physical sensations as the retina is saturated by a flood of images.

The filmed sequences—typically roller coaster rides, runaway trains, downhill skiing—rely on a sensation of speed in order to create a feeling of vertigo for the viewer. Each spectator votes from his or her chair using an electronic device. As many as eight scenarios are proposed. As many as 22 separate stepper motors were motion-controlled, ranging from first-person camera movements, to opening gates and debris, to interactive DAC lighting for when the vehicle scraped against metal, to a roving searchlight atop the APC.

Filming began with the original actors from T2 in 65mm 3-D at fps to reduce stobing, and increase the light and apparent resolution on screen. Previous 70mm and Imax 3-D rides had relied mainly on the use of miniatures and optical effects. This would be the first blending of a live-action stunt show with state-of-the-art CGI and digital green-screen compositing, all in 3-D.

A special Cyberdyne Theatre was constructed at Universal Studios Orlando, with three ft screens and six-synchronized 70mm projectors utilizing tracks of digital audio playback out of 66 separate speaker locations. One brilliant effect showcases an actor dressed like Schwarzenegger atop a Harley and riding through an opening in the screen material.

The T-Meg climax is a virtual sensory assault featuring everything from live physical explosions, machine-gun shooting robots, a complete 3-D computer-generated set and simulated liquid nitrogen in your face. The attraction opened to rave audience response in the summer of The effect is so real, one even feels the wind in their face. Combined with the swinging, suspended chairs and smells of redwoods, orange groves and salty sea air, the attraction makes one believe they are literally soaring over sites projected onto a massive Imax screen.

The guns make you feel you are actually shooting darts or throwing plates or tossing rings at the various Toy Story-themed booths. The new Simpsons Ride is like a ride within its own theme park—Krustyland—occupying the dated Back To the Future structure with its cartoon images projected onto a huge dome. The ride plays as frenetic as one of the TV episodes with a displaced Homer hanging on for dear life, while a disgruntled employee tries to pop the cantankerous Krusty the Clown and us riders.

One can still dry off after Jurassic Park by getting flame-broiled inside Backdraft. In addition to the studio and multi-cinema complex, one can donate their savings to the Universal CityWalk street performers, or spend a small fortune in one of 65 entertainment-themed restaurants and shops. Sony has leaped ahead of former digital cinema leaders Barco and Christie with the introduction of two new 4K projectors that offer unprecedented features such as x pixel resolution.

Now, the professional introduction of an SXRD-based design offers the digital cinema industry a clear alternative to existing projection technologies. With SXRD technology, pixels are set at a pitch of 8. Sony is also planning to introduce a higher brightness model for larger screens to imitate 70mm presentations.

Already a subscriber? Sign in. Thanks for reading Scientific American. Create your free account or Sign in to continue. See Subscription Options. Go Paperless with Digital. Original silent film format Aspect ratio: 1. Academy Ratio Cinerama Aspect ratio: 2.