What is Widescreen?
About Aspect Ratios

by Elizabeth, ReelClassics.com 2003

The aspect ratio of a film is the ratio of the width of the film image to its height.  It is generally written in the format A/B or A:B.  The larger A is, the wider the screen image.

From the silent movie era into the early 1930s, the standard aspect ratio of Hollywood films was 1.33:1, a ratio developed by cinema pioneer Thomas Edison.  Early in the "talkie" era, when the soundtrack was added to the side of the film frame, the width of the image was reduced, creating a more square-shaped picture.  The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences stepped in and established the slightly larger 1.37:1 ratio in 1931 however, by masking (covering up) the top and bottom of the 1.33:1 image. Known as the "Academy aperture," this became the standard aspect ratio for movies worldwide.

It took the competition of television in the 1950s to bring any of these widescreen processes into mainstream movie production however.  For example, the anamorphic lens had been invented by Frenchman Henri Chrétien during World War I and was first used to photograph a motion picture by director Claude Autant-Lara on his short film POUR CONSTRUIRE UN FEU (1926). It wasn't until 1952 that 20th Century-Fox acquired the rights to the system however. 

Below is a listing of some of the most famous widescreen systems. Keep in mind that the accompanying descriptions are simplifications of very complicated processes.  Factors such as camera lenses, projector lenses, width of the film negative, width of the positive print and the addition of various soundtracks to the film all affected the aspect ratio seen in a theatre.  Filming a movie in one of the processes below did not guarantee that it would be seen by audiences in its widest or even its optimal aspect ratio.  Those that are listed are the most typical for a given widescreen process however.

See more Aspect Ratio Graphics.

Widescreen processes of the 1920s - 1930s:

• Utilizing multiple cameras:
  • Cineorama, Widescope, Vitarama and Polyvision.
• Utilizing film wider than 35mm:
  • Natural Vision, Grandeur, Magnifilm, Realife and Tri-Ergon.
• Utilizing special lenses:
  • Magnascope (introduced in the 1920s; used a special projection lens to magnify normal images onto a larger screen).

Multiple-camera widescreen systems of the 1950s:

• Cinerama - a three-section process utilizing three 35mm cameras to film the movie and three 35mm projectors to exhibit it on a large curved screen;
  • aspect ratio - 2.77:1; first production - THIS IS CINERAMA (1952).
  • aspect ratio - 2.59:1; first production - THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF THE BROTHERS GRIMM (1962)
• Other multiple-camera systems: Cinemiracle, Thrillerama, Wonderama, Disney's Circarama, Quadravision, and the Soviet's Kinopanorama.

Masked widescreen systems of the 1950s:

• Metroscope - MGM's widescreen process by which parts of the top and bottom of a standard 1.37:1 35mm frame image were masked (covered up), reducing the height of the image and thus, making it wider; aspect ratio - 1.75:1; first production - THE GLASS SLIPPER (1955).
• Techniscope - widescreen process developed by the Technicolor Corporation which created a wider aspect ratio by halving the height of the image recorded on 35mm film (from 4 sprocket holes high per frame to 2) and later stretching the image vertically on the print, creating a CinemaScope- type image; aspect ratio - 2.35:1; first productions - 1961.

Anamorphic widescreen systems of the 1950s:

• CinemaScope - 20th Century-Fox's anamorphic widescreen process (which was frequently licensed out to other studios);
  • aspect ratio - 2.55:1; first production - THE ROBE (1953).
  • aspect ratio - 2.35:1 (reduced with the addition of an optical soundtrack to the film for the benefit of theatres without the necessary equipment for the higher-quality four-channel stereo soundtrack).
• RegalScope - Cinemascope process renamed for use on 20th Century-Fox's lower-budget pictures so as not to diminish the grandeur of the studio's big-budget productions bearing the CinemaScope name; aspect ratio - 2.35:1; first-production - THE BLACK WHIP (1956).
• Panavision - the same anamorphic widescreen process as CinemaScope only filmed using photographic lenses by Panavision, Inc.; aspect ratio - 2.35:1; first production - THE SAND PEBBLES (1966).
• Naturama - Republic Pictures' anamorphic widescreen process; aspect ratio - 2.35:1; first productions - 1956.
• Panascope - anamorphic widescreen process; aspect ratio - 2.00:1; first production - FURY AT SMUGGLERS BAY (1961).
• Superscope - anamorphic widescreen process used primarily by RKO; aspect ratio - 2.00:1; first production - VERA CRUZ (1954).
• Superscope 235 - modification of the earlier Superscope process; aspect ratio - 2.35:1; first production - THE THREE OUTLAWS (1956).
• WarnerScope - Warner Bros.' brand name for the Superscope 235 process; aspect ratio - 2.35:1; first production - THE NAKED AND THE DEAD (1958).

Widescreen systems of the 1950s using other-than-standard-35mm film:

• VistaVision - Paramount's widescreen process (occasionally licensed to other studios) in which standard 35mm film was run through the camera horizontally rather than vertically, producing an image twice as large as a normal 35mm image;
  • when the large format negative was reduced to standard 35mm
    prints, exhibitors could then mask the prints at their own discretion to produce aspect ratios ranging from 1.66:1 down to 1.85:1 depending on the size of their screen; first production - WHITE CHRISTMAS (1954).
  • when the large format negative was left in its original format, the resulting 8-perforation prints (with 8 sprocket holes per frame instead of the usual 4) could be masked to produce aspect ratios ranging from 1.85 down to 2.00:1; first production - STRATEGIC AIR COMMAND (1955).
• Todd-AO - widescreen process championed by Broadway producer Michael Todd which used 65mm for filming and featured 70mm theatrical prints (with six magnetic sound tracks) projected on a curved screen; aspect ratio - 2.20:1; first production - OKLAHOMA! (1955).
• Dimension 150 (D-150) - modification of the earlier Todd-AO process which retained the curved screen and used 70mm film; aspect ratio - 2.20:1; first production - THE BIBLE (1966).

Combination anamorphic and wider film systems:

• CinemaScope 55 - anamorphic widescreen process shot on 55mm film and reduction printed onto very high quality 35mm CinemaScope theatrical prints;
  • aspect ratio - 2.35:1; first production - CAROUSEL (1956).
  • aspect ratio - 2.55:1; first production - THE KING AND I (1956).
• Grandeur 70 - Cinemascope 55 films reissued in 70mm prints; aspect ratio - 2.20:1; first re-release - THE KING AND I (1956) (re-released 1961).
• MGM Camera 65 - MGM's brand name for the Ultra Panavision 70 anamorphic widescreen process shot on 65mm film;
  • 35mm theatrical prints - aspect ratio 2.55:1; first production - RAINTREE COUNTY (1957).
  • 70mm theatrical prints - aspect ratio 2.76:1; first production - BEN-HUR (1959).
• Super Panavision 70 (a.k.a. Panavision 70 and Super Panavision) - anamorphic widescreen process shot on 65mm film; aspect ratio - 2.20:1; first production - THE BIG FISHERMAN (1959).
• Ultra Panavision 70 - anamorphic widescreen process shot on 65mm film; aspect ratio - 2.75:1; first production (using its real name, not as MGM Camera 65) - MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY (1962).
• Technirama - widescreen process developed by the Technicolor Corporation which combined the vertical 35mm film technique of VistaVision with anamorphic camera lenses; aspect ratio - 2.35:1; first production - MONTE CARLO STORY (1956).
• Super Technirama 70 - standard Technirama filming process but printed on 70mm film for special theatrical presentations; aspect ratio - 2.20:1; first productions - SLEEPING BEAUTY (1959) and SOLOMON AND SHEBA (1959).

See more Aspect Ratio Graphics.

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