![]() Panning-and-scanning could hide moments of tension or even remove key characters from a scene. If a film was framed so that two people were standing far apart, for example, one would inevitably be cut off. This technique, as you imagine, has some really negative effects on the films that used it. ![]() Many television networks decided to tackle the issue by using “pan-and-scan” versions of the films, which basically involved a film engineer selectively focusing on small parts of the screen and shifting the layout so as to match what was happening on the screen. The result was bold, and though the technique itself isn’t used today, some of the theaters it inspired are considered legendary.Īll these tricks were great for filmgoers, but when the movie inevitably was put on a TV screen, it often meant a game of compromises. A later variation of the format, Panavision, became the industry standard and is still in use today.Ī competing technology, Cinerama, used an even more-ambitious trick : it displayed the film through three different projectors, each aiming at different parts of an extremely curved screen. One early technology, Cinemascope, compressed wide images onto 35mm film using an anamorphic lens, then stretched those pictures out onto a giant, slightly curved screen, to create an experience that theaters hoped would make television seem pathetic in comparison. See, the 4-by-3 layout of most televisions produced in the pre-HDTV era was fine for most early films, but in 1953 Hollywood shifted gears in response to the growing small-screen threat, releasing a wide array of competing technologies to allow for increasingly wider film resolutions.Ī comparison between film and cinemascope. While there’s a good technical reason for their existence, they came about basically thanks to an effort by the movie theater industry to keep butts in seats. Parker probably knows that this is not a new fight he’s in the middle of, and some of the prior fights have forever shaped the way we view movies.Įxample? Letterboxing, or the black bars that frame most movies on television screens. ![]() Abrams, but largely he’s hearing a lot of complaining. Parker has some defenders, like super-director J.J. The service would allow homes access to first-run movies through a set-top box for a price of $50 a pop-not cheap at all, but potentially cheaper than a night at the movies. Rich guy and wannabe disruptor Sean Parker is learning this the hard way, thanks to his efforts to sell a product called Screening Room. Taking an experience like going to the movies and converting it to your living room is a hugely controversial thing, despite the fact we’ve been doing it for decades. (Photo: Todd Baker/CC BY2.0)Ī version of this post originally appeared on Tedium , a twice-weekly newsletter that hunts for the end of the long tail.
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