shooting for 1:85 aspect ratio

[lib]

Hi
i am mainly from a broadcast background so excuse my ignorance. I am recently shot a short 3 minute piece to be shown in the cinema. It was shot on red at 4k 16:9 mode. When I come to output a 2K dpx file, do I 'fit height' and crop the edges so that the whole of the picture fits in the 2K frame or do I fit the width so I have a letter box and then I add slightly more of a letterbox by croping using 1:85 aspect guides. Thanks for any advice.

[Dan Hudgins]

Hi
i am mainly from a broadcast background so excuse my ignorance. I am recently shot a short 3 minute piece to be shown in the cinema. It was shot on red at 4k 16:9 mode. When I come to output a 2K dpx file, do I 'fit height' and crop the edges so that the whole of the picture fits in the 2K frame or do I fit the width so I have a letter box and then I add slightly more of a letterbox by croping using 1:85 aspect guides. Thanks for any advice.

I would fit the width and print 16:9 (letter box with black frame lines) since the gates in film projectors are not near the right ratio.

Many show 2:1 now or something between 1.66:1 and 2:1. If you print 16:9 you are 1.78:1 which gives a little extra image before the frame line, that way when the film's projected image bobs up and down you do not see the frame line coming on and off the screen if the projector is a little out of frame. What looks good on one projector may not work on another since the gates are filed out by hand to fit the screen in many cases.

Figure 10 to 30% loss of frame height and 10 to 15% loss of frame width on the screen.

In many cases now prints are made about 1.37:1 rather than 1.85:1 because of video release so the print can be cropped anything from 1.37:1 down to 2:1 on projection or transfer.

The sides of scope films get off the screen also so 2.40:1 gets projected maybe 2.2:1 down to 2:1.

You should ask if the other films projected will be 'Scope or "flat" since yours should be the same to be spliced in of the same roll. If they need 'Scope you can make a "Disney" print, that is 'Scope with black pillar box, they used masks when they made the Scope dupe negative off the flat 1.85:1 master positive for trailers.

[David Mullen ASC]

It's better to record a 1.78 (16x9) hard-matted image to 35mm for projection with a 1.85 projector gate than to letterbox the footage to 1.85.

The 1.78 image is only slightly taller than a 1.85 image anyway, so the 1.78 hard matte acts as a guideline for projection framing without as much risk of the top or bottom of the letterbox coming into view, whereas a 1.85 letterboxed image being projected with a 1.85 hard matte has no leeway at all in the projector, so most viewers will end up seeing some of the black either at the top or the bottom of the screen.