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Masking: Difference between revisions
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Masking is the material on the border of the [[screens|screen]] that covers the portion of the screen outside the picture area. When projecting film, the [[aperture plates|aperture plate]] casts a blurry shadow because it is not on the same focal plane as the film, and masking is used to crop off this shadow and | Masking is the material on the border of the [[screens|screen]] that covers the portion of the screen outside the picture area. When projecting film, the [[aperture plates|aperture plate]] casts a blurry shadow because it is not on the same focal plane as the film, and masking is used to crop off this shadow and giving the illusion of a sharp edge. It also hides structural elements of the screen and mechanical elements of the masking system itself. The top of the screen is covered by a valence, and the fixed drapery hanging below the screen is referred to as the skirt. | ||
Masking is typically matte black, with the side masking and skirt made of a lightweight fabric that is acoustically transparent so that it doesn’t muffle the screen speakers. | Masking is typically matte black, with the side masking and skirt made of a lightweight fabric that is acoustically transparent so that it doesn’t muffle the screen speakers. | ||
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In the silent era, projectors had a fixed aperture and screens had fixed masking. Apertures typically had rounded corners, which were often reflected in the masking. In the early years, a border was either painted directly onto the screen with matte black paint or constructed out of matte black fabric. However, at theaters that employed a stereopticon that projected a taller image than the 35mm picture, the film presentation could not be properly masked. | In the silent era, projectors had a fixed aperture and screens had fixed masking. Apertures typically had rounded corners, which were often reflected in the masking. In the early years, a border was either painted directly onto the screen with matte black paint or constructed out of matte black fabric. However, at theaters that employed a stereopticon that projected a taller image than the 35mm picture, the film presentation could not be properly masked. | ||
The use of fixed masking, often with rounded corners, continued after the standardization of 1.37:1 as the aspect ratio for sound film. It was not until the proliferation of widescreen [[aspect ratios]] in the 1950s that theaters had to adapt by providing adjustable masking, which by necessity resulted in sharp corners on the screen. There were a few exceptions to this, including early pre-1950s widescreen gimmicks like [https://www.chicagofilmsociety.org/2016/02/02/magnascope// Magnascope] which would have required adjustable masking as early as the mid-1920s. | |||
<gallery widths=300px heights=300px mode=packed> | <gallery widths=300px heights=300px mode=packed> | ||