On the Waterfront - Aspect Ratio Visual Essay

when on the waterfront premiered at the Astor Theatre in New York City on July 28th 1954 it was projected in the then-new widescreen aspect ratio of 185 to 100 most twice as wide as it is tall until the coming of widescreen the year before films had been shot in the familiar closer to square shape about a third wider than tall that had been the standard for decades widescreen was the industry's attempt to solve a problem film studios felt threatened by television the small screen was sprouting up in homes across the country other social factors played their part - movie theater attendants had begun to drop sharply by 1950 in response Hollywood decided to go big this was the era of 3d Cinerama and the ultra wide cinema scope the first movie in CinemaScope was 20th Century Fox's the robe it had an aspect ratio more than two and a half times as wide as it was tall and required expensive anamorphic lenses for both the camera and the projector Columbia Pictures the studio that released on the waterfront took a more conservative approach to widescreen as you see here from the magazine motion picture exhibitor the entire slate of upcoming Columbia releases including on the waterfront was shot to be exhibited in multiple aspect ratios between 133 and 185 a frame of thirty-five millimeter film has an aspect ratio of just about 1/3 3 to 1 to make such an image widescreen the projection is to adds mattes to mask the top and bottom any film shot in this way can be projected either in full frame or a widescreen to account for the range of possible aspect ratios camera operators would add marks to their focusing lenses indicating the alternate frames as you can see in this image from the may 1953 issue of American cinematographer but matted widescreen did not always mean 185 to 1 there was yet another possibility the studios knew that not every theater could shift over to wider screens and few could afford the expensive renovations needed to comfortably accommodate a frame as wide as 105 to 1 Paramount Pictures for their part concluded that the largest screen that could be put into the average theater for satisfactory viewing should have an aspect ratio of one six six to one knowing all of this camera operators commonly practice what was known as shoot and protect framing for the in-between aspect ratio while protecting either extreme taking care that heads weren't cut off in the wider shot and that the full-frame shot didn't reveal lighting equipment to shoot on the waterfront Elia Kazan chose veteran cinematographer Boris Kaufman who had filmed the masterpieces of Jean Vigo in France he would go on to make such classics as 12 Angry Men and The Fugitive kind both incidentally in the 166 to one format over the years since its premiere there has been a debate about the proper aspect ratio of on the waterfront that there is any question at all is a testament to the skill of the film cinematographer faced with the challenge of filming not just on location in the bitter cold but also for multiple aspect ratios Kaufman did a superb job even if for the most part the one six six to one format displays the most natural compositions throughout the film nonetheless it is no accident that on the waterfront looks so good in all three quite different aspect ratios each has a different feeling let's have a look at some examples the full frame compositions are necessarily looser revealing more of the environmental context and the very real locations in which the film was shot there is head room above the characters faces are placed in the very middle of the frame shots of Terry on the rooftop are filled with grey sky and black roof on the other hand the 185 widescreen composition zooms in noticeably in close-ups making them seem more intense occasionally marginal visual information is sacrificed but again with a good deal of skill notice the sign advertising Johnny Friendly's bar at 185 Johnny is neatly excised from the shot and inside the bar in this shot Marlon Brando plays with a cue ball on the pool table here at 185 the cue ball is cut out of the picture at 166 it falls snugly into the bottom-left corner of the frame in the famous taxicab scene the 1 3 3 composition shows quite a bit of extra space revealing more of the set of the taxi the 185 framing on the other hand zooms in tight on the powerful close-ups filling the screen with the faces of Brando and Styger to the point of having their chins occasionally go below the bottom of the frame the 166 frame pulls back slightly from this extreme notice here that the camera pans slightly down just keeping Brandis chin within the 166 frame for the entire history of the film viewers of on the waterfront have been at the mercy of the projectionists who decided which aspect ratio' to present home video viewers have almost exclusively seen the film in the full frame format now for the first time viewers can decide for themselves which format suits the film best you

Channel: criterioncollection

Views: 68,743

Rating: 4.9642057 out of 5

Keywords: WATERFRONT, C027282, AspectRatio, 2, Program, Stream

Id: s7-aMi4Rr-4

Length: 5min 12sec (312 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 19 2013

Reddit Comments

[u/JackFingTwist]

Another reason to love Criterion. This release reminds me of Masters of Cinema's release of "Touch of Evil" in the UK, offering both 1:33 and 1:85 aspect ratios with explanations for each since we don't know the original filmmakers' intent.

If you don't have that release, it is well worth the price of a region-free blu-ray player alone.

[u/webhead311]

Can someone explain how the aspect ratio measurements work? I know 1.66:1 is larger than the 1.85:1. How is it measured? Is the 1.85/1.66 the height of the frame and 1 the length?