Hey! Today, we're going to
talk about aspect ratios. The ratio of width to height that
describes the shape of your film. Before you shoot a
frame of your movie, you need to decide what
aspect ratio to use? A guy I know,
once asked legendary DP Janusz Kaminski how he makes the choice? He said: "It's simple. Landscapes you use
a wide aspect ratio. Dinosaurs,
you use the tall one." "It`s the dinosaur." But is it really that simple? The decision you make
about your aspect ratio will impact the staging and framing
of every single shot in your film. So,
to test Mr.Kaminsky`s theory, we're going to take a deeper
dive into aspect ratios. First, a bit of history. 20,000 years ago, the earliest known art was
painted on the walls of the cave. Art like this has no borders. Soon, artists began
to paint on objects and eventually on flat things
that they could hang on walls. Initially art came in,
all sorts of shapes. But soon paintings would
be dominated by rectangles. Lots and lots of rectangles. And you can see the patterns
in classical paintings. Portraits tend to be tall and landscapes tend to be wide.
Why? The ratio of a paintings
width to its height, was usually determined by
the content of the painting. So Janusz Kaminski might
be on to something. If painters had
painted dinosaurs, they might have chosen
taller canvases. But movies do something
that most paintings don't. They tell stories through time. And your choice of aspect ratio plays
into how your story comes across. Let's talk about 2.35 and 1.85. These are the two most popular
cinematic aspect ratios. 2.35 or 2.35:1 is an aspect ratio that was
introduced in the 50s as cinemascope. It's really wide, and you've probably seen it in westerns,
grand adventures and historical epics. 1.85 or 1.85:1 is a slightly
narrower aspect ratio. Also introduced in the 50s, it's commonly seen in
dramas and comedies, but it's versatile and can
appear in just about any genre. "What is that such a miracle?
I'm driving myself." If you're faced with a choice between the two which do you choose? "I don't know. That's a good question." Let's start with 1.85. It gives us a slightly narrower,
taller image than 2.35. This helps with dinosaurs, sure, but it can also serve us when
we're framing up tall buildings or imposing figures. And look what happens
with a close-up. The head fills
much of the frame, so the shot feels intimate,
focused on the character. Without as much of the background
competing for our attention. With 2.35, on the other hand, even close ups allow us to take
in a grand sweeping landscape. And those are the film's where
cinemascope is most memorable. Films with a landscape, the elements
in the natural setting of the story play a primary role
in the narrative. Spielberg who would often shoot
1.85 was asked about his choice for 2.35 for his first theatrical
film "The Sugarland Express." He said he went to 2.35
because of the highways the film is basically one
extended vehicle pursuit, so he chose an aspect ratio
that would best show cars in relation to each other
on a long flat road. "Jaws" was also shot
in 2.35 Spielberg says because the shark is long. "Jurassic Park." Dinosaurs. I wish the options were as
simple as just 2.35 or 1.85. New digital standards
introduce another aspect ratio, 1.77:1 a.k.a. 16:9. This is the standard
aspect ratio for modern TV, and it's the default
for most online video. And because we're
not constrained by the size of a piece of film or by the particulars
of a projection system, it's much easier
to create content in just about any aspect
ratio, we want these days. If you want to make a
movie in 5:1 you can, it would look kind of like this. I don't know why you do
it, but you can. So the options can be dizzying. How do you pick? "Why does everything have
to be so complicated?" Here are four considerations
to help you come to a decision. First, genre. Study the playing field. What do other films in
your genre typically do? Comedies are usually taller, so you can get your comedic
wide shots without feeling like you're too far away
from your characters. Drama too.
They're usually shot taller, so close ups can
be more intimate. Adventures, sweeping epics and stories
that feature dramatic landscapes tend to be shot very wide. So that even in a close up, the terrain remains
present on-screen. Next. Consider the level of
realism you're trying to achieve. Do you want people to
respond to your film as fact or fantasy. Of the popular aspect ratios, the taller ones like 1.85, match our optical field of view,
more closely than cinemascope. If you're telling a
gritty crime drama, you might want your
image to approximate what we see in the real world. But if you're telling a fantasy, it might help to present
it with a wider image. Something that differs from
how we normally see the world. If we notice there's something
different about the frame, we're more likely to accept the
magic of the world within it. Your next step is to consider
the setting of your story. In particular, how do the setting and
the characters relate? In some stories,
the setting is really important. For those you should choose an
aspect ratio that best captures it. This doesn't always mean going for
the widest aspect ratio possible. If you've got a film where the
tall buildings of a big city, play heavily into the story. You might want to consider a taller
frame to capture the feeling. The few years back,
I directed a film that's set pretty much
entirely inside a small house. It's an oppressive setting, so I went all out and
friend the film in 1.33, like silent films and old TV. I wanted the frame to
box my characters in. The way the house
was boxing them in. Finally,
consider your characters. How did they relate
to each other? If your characters
relate horizontally, like gunslingers at
the end of a western, you can use a wider aspect
ratio to really great effect. But if you're playing with the dynamic
between tall and short characters or characters who
relate vertically, taller aspect ratio
might serve you better. If you're getting really stuck and can't choose between aspect
ratios, you're in luck. We live in interesting times where filmmakers are
experimenting with changing aspect
ratios within a film. Christopher Nolan is perhaps
most notorious for this. Many of his big blockbusters include
scenes in both 2.35 and 1.43:1 which is the aspect ratio
of 65-millimeter IMAX film. Unfortunately, the only way to get
the full effect of Nolan's shift between aspect ratios is to
see the films in theaters. And there are other experiments. If you're like me, you've probably been annoyed, by videos on your desktop
shot in portrait mode, but a few years ago, some filmmakers released the trailer for
a film called "All the Stars are Dead." Apparently,
they had made a vertical film. Other artists got inspired and
a quiet film movement emerged. Now,there's even a film
festival for vertical films, and thanks to modern
social networks brands are now using vertical aspect
ratios to shoot their videos and ads. But vertical films are
far from mainstream. There was a huge backlash
against the aspect ratio when "All the Stars are
Dead" trailer first hit. Some even called vertical
filmmaking a design crime. So if you're considering
a vertical aspect ratio, beware you might
irritate some people. "Vertical videos happen when you
hold your camera the wrong way. Your video will end
up looking like crap." So, with all of this choice, it's even more
important to remember that it all comes down to story. What story are you telling and
what are the best dimensions for the window through
which you'll tell it. Now that you've
got some parameters to help you choose
an aspect ratio, it's time to put your
knowledge to use. Whether you prepare your
shot list with a spreadsheet, pen and paper or with our shot
listing software in StudioBinder. Having a clear understanding
of your aspect ratio, and why you are using it, will help you inform
more intentional, and ultimately more
effective shots. And when you're ready to expand your
cinematic knowledge a little more. Check out our other videos. We've got great
stuff on our channel and new content
coming all the time. If you like this video, make sure you
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and until next time. Break a lens.
