The Academy ratio of 1.375:1 (abbreviated as 1.37:1) is an aspect ratio of a

frame A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent. Frame and FRAME may also refer to: Physical objects In building construction *Framing (con ...

of 35 mm film when used with

4-perf pulldown Negative pulldown is the manner in which an image is exposed on a film stock, described in the number of film perforations spanned by an individual frame. It can also describe the orientation of the image on the negative, whether it is captured h ...

.Monaco, James. ''How to Read a Film: The Art, Technology, Language, History and Theory of Film and Media''. Rev. ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1981. .Bordwell, David and Thompson, Kristin. ''Film Art: An Introduction''. Rev. ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1993. . It was standardized by the

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motio ...

as the standard film aspect ratio in 1932, although similar-sized ratios were used as early as 1928.

History

Silent films were shot at a 1.3 aspect ratio (also known as a 4:3 aspect ratio), with each frame using all of the negative space between the two rows of film perforations for a length of 4 perforations. The

frame line A frame line is the unused space that separates two adjacent images, or film frames, on the release print of a motion picture. They can vary in width; a 35mm film with a 1.85:1 hard matte has a frame line approximately high, whereas both a ...

between the silent film frames was very thin. When sound-on-film was introduced in the late 1920s, the soundtrack was recorded in a stripe running just inside one set of the perforations and cut into the 1.33 image. This made the image area "taller", usually around 1.19, which was slightly disorienting to audiences used to the 1.3 frame and also presented problems for exhibitors with fixed-size screens and stationary projectors. From studio to studio, the common attempt to reduce the image back to a 1.3:1 ratio by decreasing the projector aperture in-house met with conflicting results. Each movie theater chain, furthermore, had its own designated house ratio. The first standards set for the new sound-on-film motion pictures were accepted in November 1929, when all major US studios agreed to compose for the Society of Motion Picture Engineers' (SMPE) designated size of returning to the aspect ratio of 1.3:1. Following this, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) considered further alterations to this 1930 standard. Various dimensions were submitted, and the projector aperture plate opening size of 0.825 in × 0.600 in was agreed upon. The resulting 1.375:1 aspect ratio was then dubbed the "Academy Ratio". On May 9, 1932, the SMPE adopted the same projector aperture standard. All studio films shot in 35 mm from 1932 to 1952 were shot in the Academy ratio. However, following the widescreen "revolution" of 1953, it quickly became an obsolete production format. Within several months, all major studios started matting their non-anamorphic films in the

projector A projector or image projector is an optical device that projects an image (or moving images) onto a surface, commonly a projection screen. Most projectors create an image by shining a light through a small transparent lens, but some newer types ...

to wider ratios such as 1.6, 1.75, and 1.85, the last of which is still considered a standard ratio along with anamorphic (2.39). 1.375:1 is not totally obsolete, nonetheless, and can still be found in select recent films such as

Joel Coen Joel Daniel Coen (born November 29, 1954) and Ethan Jesse Coen (born September 21, 1957),State of Minnesota. ''Minnesota Birth Index, 1935–2002''. Minnesota Department of Health. collectively known as the Coen brothers (), are American film ...

’s ''The Tragedy of Macbeth'' (2021), Wes Anderson's '' The Grand Budapest Hotel'' (2014),

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's ''

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'' (2017),

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's '' The Artist'' (2011),

Gus Van Sant Gus Green Van Sant Jr. (born July 24, 1952) is an American film director, producer, photographer, and musician. He has earned acclaim as both an independent and mainstream filmmaker. His films typically deal with themes of marginalized subcultur ...

's ''

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'' (2003),

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's '' Fish Tank'' (2009),

Kelly Reichardt Kelly Reichardt (; born March 3, 1964) is an American film director and screenwriter. She is known for her minimalist films closely associated with slow cinema, many of which deal with working-class characters in small, rural communities. Reich ...

's '' Meek's Cutoff'' (2010),

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' '' Post Tenebras Lux'' (2012), and

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's '' It's Such a Beautiful Day'' (2012) as well on prints of Phil Lord, Christopher Miller's '' The Lego Movie'' (2014) and 4:3 prints of

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's ''

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'' (2008) intended for 1.78:1 exhibition (a 2.39:1 version was also made).

Technical details

The Academy ratio is not created in the camera, which has continued to use the

full frame Full frame may refer to: * 35mm format * Full frame (cinematography) * Full-frame type charge-coupled device (CCD) image sensor See also * Full-frame digital SLR * Full-frame mirrorless interchangeable-lens camera A mirrorless camera ...

silent aperture gate for all 4-perf spherical filming. Rather, it is created in the

married print A married print is a film print which has had an optical soundtrack added onto the print. As the process usually is fairly expensive and resource-intensive, it usually is one of the last stages of post-production. Due to the intermittent motion of ...

, when the optical soundtrack and

s are added. Though most non-anamorphic film prints with a soundtrack are now framed to one of the non-anamorphic widescreen ratios, from 1.6 to 1.85, some still retain Academy-sized frames. These frames are then cropped in the projector by means of aperture masks used in the projector's gate in conjunction with a wider lens than would be used for projecting Academy ratio films. During filming, using the 4-perf frame for widescreen framing when spherical lenses are used is sometimes considered to be wasteful in terms of the cost of film stock and processing, especially in the case of television, which does not require a film print. The 3-perf pulldown process was originally proposed in 1973, developed by Miklos Lente in 1976, and further developed by Rune Ericson in 1986 to solve this problem.Bernstein, N.D.; Wysotsky, M.Z.; and Konoplev, B.N. "A Universal Format for Film Production." ''Journal of the SMPTE.'' September 1973; Lente, Miklos. "The Proposed Trilent-35 System." ''American Cinematographer.'' June 1976; Ericson, Rune. "Three-Perf in the Future." ''American Cinematographer.'' July 1986.

Notes

{{Film formats Motion picture film formats Ratios