[opendtv] Re: (No Date: Tue, 28 Sep 2004 10:30:37 -0400

From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: "OpenDTV (E-mail)" <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sun, 31 Oct 2004 19:25:10 -0500

Craig Birkmaier wrote:

> > I think that wide screen, introduced in the mid
> > 1950s, came about because it was *nicer*, not just
> > because TV tubes were mostly square (round tube,
> > squarish viewing hole).
>
> There is a mountain of information available that
> specifically cites the need to differentiate the
> movie theater experience from TV, as the primary
> motivating factor in Hollywoods move to wider
> screen aspect ratios in the '50s and '60s.
>
> Here is a very good web site with an accurate
> history of what happened...
>
> http://www.northern.edu/wild/th100/flmhst.htm

If you bothered reading the site you quote, you
would see nothing to contradict what I said. It
talks about Cinerama, Cinemascope, and Panavision.
It doesn't seem to mention the more common 1.85:1.
And all they say about the wide ratio is that it
made a huge screen:

"Both Cinerama and CinemaScope attempted to 'pull
the audience' into the action of the film by
projecting the movie on a huge screen. The deeply
curved Cinerama screen at New York's Broadway
Theatre was 78 feet wide by 26 feet tall -- more
than 2000 square feet. The average Cinemascope
screen installed in the local "movie palace" was
about 42x16 feet (nearly 700 square feet),
considerably larger than the 20x15 foot (300
square foot) sheet it replaced."

I guess that "pulling the audience" is something
that TV should not be allowed to do, then? You
must be under the impression that they could
have better filled the front wall with a square
screen? Amazing logic.

[On IMAX]

> So why did they decide instead to stretch it
> vertically, actually moving to a more narrow
> aspect ratio...NARROWER than what Bert calls
> SQUARE TV (i.e. 4:3). Most new iMAX theaters
> have a 1;1 aspect ratio Bert.

I already explained the reason, and it's
entirely OBVIOUS. IMAX theaters were the first
ones with a dramatic form of stadium style
seating. So the front wall came out square.

New theaters are also stadium style, but the
seats are not arranged as vertically.

Ever been to the movies in the past 15 years,
Craig? How many times?

Bert

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[opendtv] Re: (No Date: Tue, 28 Sep 2004 10:30:37 -0400

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