Aspect Ratio in Film From Past to Present

• June 8, 2021

• Film Editing Pro

Welcome to another Film Editing Pro tutorial! In this post, our trainer, Leon, is going to dive deep into the topic of Aspect Ratios.

What are the different types of aspect ratios that you can use for a film? Why might you use one over another to tell a story? How have aspect ratios changed over time, and what’s coming in the future? Watch the video to find out or read the transcript below!

The Beginning

In 1888, Thomas Edison filed a document with the US Patent Office in which he conceived of a device that would do for the eye what the phonograph does for the ear. But before his team could build their first motion picture camera, they needed to establish the size of the film they would use.

In Edison’s employment was an engineer named William Dickson. Kodak was already manufacturing roll film for use in their popular box cameras. The film was 70 millimeters wide. Dickson takes the film, cuts in half, punches 64 perforations every foot, and 35 millimeter film is born. As the film is run through the camera vertically, the width of the frame is decided. The only decision that remains is the height of the frame. For reasons unknown, Dickson settles on the image being four perforations high. And so the first movie aspect ratio is created.

Working in 1.33

1.33 is less deliberate than you might think. Is almost arbitrary. Instead of working from the size of the frame outwards, they worked from the size of the film inwards. As is often the case, circumstance and technological limitations played a significant role in cinemas development, a pattern that we will see repeated.

Let’s see how aspect ratio shaped cinema. We’re going to consider how composition and staging have changed, focusing on three types of shots, singles, groups,