[Richard W. Haines]

blaser,

I can't really comment on the first statement since 'good' is very subjective. I guess it
means you're not that fond of pre-1950 movies which were all 1.33.

I don't know what the future will bring in terms of ratios. Probably many producers will
opt for the Super 35 format since the camera negative is full frame and from that they can
derive all three ratios (1.33, 16:9, 2.35). It's not the best quality format but it's the most
adaptable. So readers don't get confused, the Super 35 format is different
than standard 1.33 filming. They expose the entire silent frame ratio including
the area that would contain the optical track. The photographed image is
smaller in a 1.33 film since the left side is used for the optical soundtrack area. So even
if they want a full frame version of a Super 35 feature, they have to reduction
print the image to fit into a 35mm frame with the soundtrack.


In terms of the cropped versions of movies, (pan/scan; full frame), there wouldn't be
any distortion. Just a large percentage of the image will be missing. You won't lose
continuity but you lose whatever artistry there was in the composition. Now admitedly,
not all contemporary directors utilize widescreen as dramatically as they did in the fifties
and sixties. Very few films spread out characters across the entire width of the screen
as they did in classics like "Ben Hur", "Lawrence of Arbia" and "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World".
In general, they tend to keep the key actors and action centered so it plays better in the
various formats. I'm not fond of this compromise but that's the way many directors frame
their films. I've seen a number of films recently which were technically widescreen 2.35 x 1
but the wide frame wasn't utilized. "Fracture" would be an example of this. In a cropped
full frame presentation, you probably wouldn't notice anything missing whereas in a movie
like "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly", the loss of information would undermine the
visual impact of the cinematography.


It will be obvious to anyone who reads my comments and reviews that I'm rather
biased towards features made prior to the seventies. I felt there was a decline in
the overall quality of movies after that decade, at least in terms of color, cinematography and composition. Sound is better now but in general I'm not impressed with the
way most movies look. I don't believe there are any DPs on the level of Freddie Young
(David Lean films), Ted Moore (Connery Bond films) or Robert Burks (Hitchock films).
There are occasional exceptions but we're certainly not in a "Golden Age" of moviemaking.
We're more along the lines of a transition period where video and cinema merge into one
medium...and not necessarily a better one.