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Widescreen
Widescreen images are displayed within a set of aspect ratio (image), aspect ratios (relationship of image width to height) used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than 4:3 (1.33:1). For TV, the original screen ratio for broadcasts was in 4:3 (1.33:1). Largely between the 1990s and early 2000s, at varying paces in different countries, 16:9 (e.g. 1920×1080p 60p) widescreen displays came into increasingly common use by high-definition video, high definitions. With computer displays, aspect ratios other than 4:3 (e.g. 1920×1440) are also referred to as "widescreen". Widescreen computer displays were previously made in a 16:10 aspect ratio (e.g. 1920×1200), but nowadays they are 16:9 (e.g. 1920×1080, 2560×1440, 3840×2160). Film History Widescreen was first used for ''The Corbett-Fitzsimmons Fight'' (1897). This was not only the longest film that had been released to date at 10 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aspect Ratio (image)
The aspect ratio of an image is the ratio of its width to its height. It is expressed as two numbers separated by a colon, in the format width:height. Common aspect ratios are 1.85:1 and 2.39:1 in cinematography, 4:3 and 16:9 in television, and 3:2 in still photography and 1:1: Used for square images, often seen on social media platforms like Instagram, 21:9: An ultrawide aspect ratio popular for gaming and desktop monitors. Some common examples The common film aspect ratios used in cinemas are 1.85:1 and 2.39:1.The 2.39:1 ratio is commonly labeled 2.40:1, e.g., in the American Society of Cinematographers' ''American Cinematographer Manual'' (Many widescreen films before the 1970 Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, SMPTE revision used 2.35:1). Two common videography, videographic aspect ratios are 4:3 (1.:1), the universal video format of the 20th century, and 16:9 (1.:1), universal for high-definition television and European digital television. Other cinematic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
CinemaScope
CinemaScope is an anamorphic format, anamorphic lens series used, from 1953 to 1967, and less often later, for shooting widescreen films that, crucially, could be screened in theatres using existing equipment, albeit with a lens adapter. Its creation in 1953 by Spyros Skouras, Spyros P. Skouras, the president of 20th Century Fox, marked the beginning of the modern anamorphic format in both principal Aspect ratio (image), 2.55:1, almost twice as wide as the previously common Academy format's 1.37:1 ratio. Although the technology behind the CinemaScope lens system was made obsolete by later developments, primarily advanced by Panavision, CinemaScope's anamorphic format has continued to this day. In film-industry jargon, the shortened form, 'Scope, is still widely used by both filmmakers and projectionists, although today it generally refers to any Anamorphic format, 2.35:1, 2.39:1, 2.40:1, or 2.55:1 presentation or, sometimes, the use of anamorphic lensing or projection in general. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fox Grandeur
70 mm Grandeur film, also called Fox Grandeur or Grandeur 70, is a 70 mm widescreen film format developed by William Fox through his Fox Film and Fox-Case corporations and used commercially on a small but successful scale in 1929–30. History In 1925, with the advent of television on the horizon, William Fox of the Fox Film Studio empire envisioned a "grand" cinema experience to keep the public coming to the movie theaters. As such, he soon put full efforts behind enhancing the silent 35 mm film showings by the addition of sound to be coupled to a wider than 35mm end product, with the hoped for result being a grand and lifelike experience for the viewers. This wide screen vision of William Fox soon resulted in his creating a partnership with Theodore Case and his assistant, Earl Sponable, pioneers of Sound on Film, with the partnership to be named the Fox-Case Corporation. The result was, first, the advent of Movietone Sound, then soon combined with the 70 mm "Gra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Happy Days (1929 Film)
''Happy Days'' is a 1929 American pre-Code musical film directed by Benjamin Stoloff, which was the first feature film shown entirely in widescreen anywhere in the world, filmed using the Fox Grandeur 70 mm process. French director Abel Gance's '' Napoléon'' (1927) had a final widescreen segment in what Gance called Polyvision. Paramount released '' Old Ironsides'' (1927), with two sequences in a widescreen process called "Magnascope", while MGM released '' Trail of '98'' (1928) in a widescreen process called "Fanthom Screen". The film features an array of stars who were contracted to William Fox's Fox Film Corporation at that time, including Marjorie White, Will Rogers, Charles Farrell, Janet Gaynor, George Jessel, El Brendel, Ann Pennington, Victor McLaglen, Dixie Lee, Edmund Lowe, and Frank Richardson. It also featured the first appearance of Betty Grable on film, aged 12, as a chorus girl, and Sir Harry Lauder's nephew, Harry Lauder II, a conductor for Fox, wh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Napoléon (1927 Film)
''Napoléon'' (on-screen title: ''Napoléon vu par Abel Gance'', "Napoleon as seen by Abel Gance") is a 1927 French Silent film, silent Epic film, epic historical film, produced and directed by Abel Gance, that tells the story of Napoleon's early years. The only film to use Polyvision (for the finale), it is recognised as a masterwork of fluid camera motion, produced in a time when most camera shots were static. Many innovative techniques were used to make the film, including fast cutting, extensive close-ups, a wide variety of hand-held camera shots, location shooting, point of view shots, multiple-camera setups, multiple exposure, superimposition, underwater camera, kaleidoscopic images, film tinting, Split screen (filmmaking), split screen and mosaic shots, multi-screen projection, and other visual effects. A revival of ''Napoléon'' in the mid-1950s influenced the filmmakers of the French New Wave. The film used the Keller-Dorian cinematography for its color sequences. The f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polyvision
Polyvision was the name given by the French film critic Émile Vuillermoz to a specialized widescreen film format devised exclusively for the filming and projection of Abel Gance's 1927 film ''Napoleon'', its three-projector format predating Cinerama by 25 years. Polyvision involved the simultaneous projection of three reels of silent film arrayed in a horizontal row, making for a total aspect ratio of 4:1 (1.×3). Polyvision's extremely wide aspect ratio was the widest aspect ratio yet seen, even though it is technically just three images side by side. In 1955, the Walt Disney Company developed Circle-Vision 360° for use in Disneyland theme parks which used nine 4:3 35 mm projectors to show an image that completely surrounds the viewer. This configuration is considered to be a similar precursor to Cinerama, which would debut a quarter of a century later; however, it is unlikely that Polyvision was a direct inspiration for later widescreen techniques, as the triptych seq ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henri Chrétien
Henri Jacques Chrétien (; 1 February 1879, Paris – 6 February 1956, Washington, D.C.) was a French astronomer and an inventor. Born in Paris, France, his most famous inventions are: * the anamorphic widescreen process, using an anamorphic lens system called Hypergonar, that resulted in the CinemaScope widescreen technique, and * the co-invention, with George Willis Ritchey, of the Ritchey–Chrétien telescope, an improved type of astronomical telescope, employing a system now used in virtually all large research telescopes. He spent part of his early astronomical career at the Nice Observatory, which was close to his house, the Villa Paradou. The Villa was built by famous French architect Charles Garnier (architect), Charles Garnier who also built the Nice Observatory and both the operas of Paris and Monaco. In 1995, the abandoned villa was acquired by the artist Rainer Maria Latzke, who restored it and added new murals to the existing frescoes. Chrétien was one of the f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
High-definition Video
High-definition video (HD video) is video of higher resolution and quality than standard-definition. While there is no standardized meaning for ''high-definition'', generally any video image with considerably more than 480 vertical scan lines (North America) or 576 vertical lines (Europe) is considered high-definition. 480 scan lines is generally the minimum even though the majority of systems greatly exceed that. Images of standard resolution captured at rates faster than normal (60 frames/second North America, 50 fps Europe), by a high-speed camera may be considered high-definition in some contexts. Some television series shot on high-definition video are made to look as if they have been shot on film, a technique which is often known as filmizing. History The first electronic scanning format, 405 lines, was the first ''high definition'' television system, since the mechanical systems it replaced had far fewer. From 1939, Europe and the US tried 605 and 441 lines until, i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roxy Theatre (New York City)
The Roxy Theatre was a 5,920-seat movie palace at 153 West 50th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues, just off Times Square in New York City. It was the largest movie theater ever built at the time of its construction in 1927. It opened on March 11, 1927 with the silent film ''The Love of Sunya'' starring Gloria Swanson. It was a leading Broadway film showcase through the 1950s and also noted for its lavish stage shows. It closed and was demolished in 1960. Early history The theater was conceived by film producer Herbert Lubin in mid-1925 as the world's largest and finest movie palace. To realize his dream, Lubin brought in the successful and innovative theater operator Samuel Roxy Rothafel, Samuel L. Rothafel, aka "Roxy", enticing him with a large salary, a percentage of the profits and stock options, and even offering to name the theatre after him. It was intended as the first of six Roxy Theatres in the New York area. Roxy was determined to make the theater the summit of his c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The American (1927 Film)
''The American'', ''The Flag Maker'', is a lost 1927 American silent Western film directed by J. Stuart Blackton and starring Bessie Love and Charles Ray. It was based on the short story "The Flag Maker" by Jewel Spencer, and was produced by George K. Spoor through his company Natural Vision Pictures. The film, made in the experimental widescreen process Natural Vision, developed by Spoor and P. John Berggren, was never released theatrically. Plot A rich Turk Seref is released from an American prison after 20 years, with plans to exact revenge on the fiancee who had betrayed him. Cast Production The Natural Vision process required the action to be filmed on two cameras: one for production and one for the dailies. The production camera was set back unusually far from the action, and subsequently filmed only wide shots and no close-ups. Canceled release The film was slated for a March 1927 premiere at New York's Roxy Theatre, which was to have been equipped ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abel Gance
Abel Gance (; born Abel Eugène Alexandre Péréthon; 25 October 188910 November 1981) was a French film director, producer, writer and actor. A pioneer in the theory and practice of montage, he is best known for three major silent films: ''J'accuse (1919 film), J'accuse'' (1919), ''La Roue'' (1923), and ''Napoléon (1927 film), Napoléon'' (1927). Early life Born in Paris in 1889, Abel Gance was the illegitimate son of a prosperous doctor, Abel Flamant, and a working-class mother, Françoise Péréthon (or Perthon). Initially taking his mother's name, he was brought up until the age of eight by his maternal grandparents in the coal-mining town of Commentry in central France. He then returned to Paris to rejoin his mother, who had by then married Adolphe Gance, a chauffeur and mechanic, whose name Abel then adopted. Although he later fabricated the history of a brilliant school career and middle-class background, Gance left school at the age of 14, and the love of literature an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Song O' My Heart
''Song o' My Heart'' is a 1930 Pre-Code American film directed by Frank Borzage and starring John McCormack, Alice Joyce, Maureen O'Sullivan, Effie Ellsler and John Garrick. It was O'Sullivan's second film role. The film was double-shot in both conventional 35mm and the early 70 mm Grandeur film widescreen format. Very few theaters were equipped with the necessary projection equipment to show it in the latter and it was never released in that format. Plot Sean O'Carolon has retired as an Irish tenor to a village where an old love of his, Mary, resides with her children, Eileen and Tad. A once-famous opera singer, Sean has given up his career to live in his old Irish village, near Mary, who had been forced to marry someone else "for money, not love". Mary, now abandoned and with two children, struggles in poverty, and lives in the home of a horrid relation. Sean decides to resume his career as a concert singer, presumably (but not stated) to help Mary and perhaps resume their ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
