The Changing Shape of Cinema: The History of Aspect Ratio

John Hess From FilmMakerIQ.com traces the evolution of the screen shape from the silent film days through the widescreen explosion of the 50s, to the aspect ratio of modern digital cameras. If you've ever wondered why and how the formats we use today came to be, this is something you'll want to watch. The topic is too broad to summarize for those that would prefer to not watch his video but, there is one piece that definitely stuck out to me.

At the end Hess closes with this: "It's still only a shape. A canvas on which to draw your story. The canvas does matter. How you draw it makes all the difference, so use aspect ratio...and make something great."

The point to me is not to let yourself become confined to one format, but rather to let yourself experiment and find the right frame to create your image within.

 

Via filmmakeriq.com

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11 Comments

Liked it! Interesting stuff. Learned something tonight.

nice!

I learnt something new too!

Awesome video! BTW I have used the ikan MD7 monitor he was using and it rocks. Check it out if you hate sun-hoods or if you are a Steadicam operator!!!
-Sam

Very interesting and informative.

Briliant video!

Nicely done!

Great stuff!

Fascinating... What is more interesting is how realistic were the jumps back then. They jumped and lay flat on the ground. Not at all like these days...

Awesome! Love stuff like this...as a side note, holy crazy latitude on "Laurence of Arabia!" That desert scene is nuts...all that dynamic range stuffed into one scene...

Really interrestin. Like a History Lesson for Filmmakers.