The Anamorphic process was invented by Henri Chrétien during World War I for use in tank periscopes. The anamorphic lens was first used to photograph a motion picture by Claude Autant-Lara, for his short Construire Un Feu in 1927. In an attempt to win back its audience from television in 1952, Hollywood made their films look different. The rights to the Chrétien anamorphic process were acquired by 20th Century Fox and, after developing it further in 1953, released The Robe, Hollywood's first CinemaScope feature film. Other film companies acquired the licence from 20th Century Fox, and released feature films in CinemaScope. See Film Formats for further information.
The Anamorphic CinemaScope process, is a lens that condenses the width of an image, squeezes the image during filming and then expands it during projection to create a Widescreen effect. It is shot on 35mm film with an aspect ratio of 1.33:1. The anamorphic lens produces a 2.35:1 aspect ratio when projected, and a screen size nearly two and a half times as wide as it is high. This is an increase of 75% from the standard 1.33:1 screen. The anamorphic process was perfected in 1961 by Panavision, and in the 1970s became the standard 2.35:1 large screen format used in cinemas today. |
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On the left is a 35mm frame from Goldeneye 1995 filmed in Anamorphic Panavision 2.35:1. If you look at the image you will find that the circle appears unnatural due to the anamorphic process. |
When projected in the cinema through an anamorphic lens the screen size is nearly two and half times as wide as it is high. If the screen was 3m high the width would be 7.05m. |
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The Movie Frames on this
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