Comments

filmy wrote on 12/8/2005, 2:13 PM
If I get the question you are asking, if the project would be 4:3 or 16:9, than the basic answer is "it depends on how the film was actually telecined." You need to specify to the lab how they need to telecine the film. You can have it doen full frame, you can have it done with the see through matte (You see the full frame but it has a "widescreen" matte around it showing how it would be seen theatrical) or you can have it done "anamorphic" where you would be cutting with the 16:9 project settings.

IMO, the best way to edit is with the see through matte because you can pick out shots that will be safe for both theatrical and tv. One of the issues used to be editors cutting on/with one format while final was in another. Cut in 4:3 and you forget what is on the sides, and in some case that could be lights, crew or onlookers. (Spielberg's The Sugarland Express, cut in 4:3 but when viewed theatricly one shot showed crew, and crew vehicles, along the road) Cut in theatrical aspect and you could be missing things like silks, booms and lights. This goes onto the actual set as well because the camera operator is supposed to be aware of these things however it is very common to "shoot for TV" thinking it will never bee seen in a theatre or "frame for film" forgetting about 4:3 viewing.
rs170a wrote on 12/8/2005, 2:35 PM
Wikipedia's answer.

Mike
baysidebas wrote on 12/9/2005, 7:57 AM
The question is so vague as to be meaningless. 35mm film is a physical medium with an infinite capacity to record in various formats. Liken it to a blank sheet of paper, you can draw rectangles of any size you want on it (within the constraints of the actual sheet). So is 35mm film, where you can record standard frames, super 35, anamorphic formats of varying aspect ratios and, if you turn the film 90 degrees, even the VistaVision format. Now, would you care to rephrase your query?
busterkeaton wrote on 12/9/2005, 11:00 AM
A simple answer may be a 35 mm film shot in standard or usual aspect ratio is 1.85:1 while a 35 mm film shot widescreen is 2.35:1

Or those are the most common ratios for standard and widescreen may be the best way to say it.

I pretty sure those numbers are correct. 16x9 which is used in widescreen tvs works out to be about 1.78:1.

(I just went to check my numbers. Check out this page on Aspect Ratios from the IMDB.)


Sidecar wrote on 12/10/2005, 12:04 AM
According to American Cinematographer Manual, 6th Ed., the camera aperture for a standard 4-perf high 35mm frame is a minimum of .864" wide x .630" high (1.37:1). In practice, the image on the film is considered 1.33:1 or 4:3. That's what's shot for 4:3 TV shows using spherical (normal, not anamorphic) lenses.

Inside this frame, the top and bottom are cropped to either 1.85:1 or 2.35:1 depending on how wide the finished production is to be. Most of the time the camera viewfinder is fitted with a grayed-out mask to remind the camera operator where 1.85 or 2.35 is, even though a full 4:3 image is going to the film. Other times there is an opaque mask in the aperture that only allows the wide screen image to fall onto the film.

By shooting full frame (1.33:1) it can be easily transfered to video at 4:3. For the theatrical release print, the top and bottom are cropped out. Study the Terminator 2 DVD Extras to see an example. The "full frame" version of the Terminator 2 DVD actually shows more of the set and actors vertically than the wide screen version.

What you get on tape could be anything, however. It might be letterboxed to 1:85 or 2:35. It might be squeezed. It might be 4:3.