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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. | 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 for theaters interested in screening films using this early widescreen projection process. | ||
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The early days of widescreen were fairly chaotic as studios tried out different widescreen aspect ratios. Many films released during this period were produced with the understanding that some theaters would still need to screen them 1.37:1 while those who were able would screen them in a widescreen aspect ratio, with widescreen masking. By the late 1950s most American studios eventually coalesced around the 1.85:1 and 2.39:1 formats for 35mm, with some exceptions. Many theaters began installing masking systems that could only mask these two aspect ratios. The masking was typically fixed-height, with the sides expanding for 2.39 and narrowing for 1.85. This strikes a good balance between the aperture size and the illuminated surface area of the screen, with the larger Scope aperture corresponding to a larger projected image. With the same light output from the lamp, both aspect ratios can be illuminated within the SMPTE-specified parameters. However although this works well for venues screening mostly post-widescreen chaos (so after the 1950s) American films, those committed to the proper presentation of films from any era, and any country, needed more flexibility. They required masking systems that would enable them to properly mask films of a wider variety of aspect ratios. | |||
In the digital era, | In the digital era, some first-run theaters (or theaters built in the digital era) started to move away from the use of adjustable masking, relying instead on the projected image to provide a sharp edge to the picture. However, improperly masked digital images will have grey letterboxing or pillarboxing around the image instead of a black border. | ||
==Masking Systems== | ==Masking Systems== | ||