Black Bars
In this blog post I want to discuss the reason why we use black bars in short films, vlogs and most online content. The use of black bars has been a psychological impact on views that has been associated with high quality and professionalism. I have personally use them myself in my own work and the one thing is definitely results in is making the video more cinematic.
That’s because cinema created the black bars. Originally films were shot in 4:3 aspect ratio making of 35mm film with the measurements of 0.95 inches horizontal and 0.735 inches vertical. The ratio was Partnered in 1909 as a standard, this ratio slightly changed when the film had to make room for the optical sound track in 1929.
The move to widescreen cinema and the beginning of the black bars psychological imprint into audiences head came with the move to TV, when Television was invented it made sense to use the same aspect ratio. However the effect was that less people were going to the cinema now as the entertainment could be provided at home.
So the cinema had to be innovative and create a new way to experience cinema. Along came Cinerama in September 30, 1952, invented by Fred Waller,
Cinerama the first wide scene film projection. The projection presented a 147 degree field of view and a 2.50 Aspect ratio, this was created by three 35mm cameras, three 23mm lenses on 35mm film but using 6:3 for each line of film that needed to be projected at the same time to create the 2.50 aspect ratio.
The new media platform for cinema was a hit and in 1953 Cinerama displayed its first flat widescreen cinema film. The movie was Shane, originally shoot in 1.37 Aspect ratio Cinerama had to crop off the top and bottom to make the picture a 1.66 Aspect ratio to be displayed on the screen. This is first ever use of original footage being crop to be made for cinematic effect on audiences, this the exact same process we use today.
Producers at 20th Century Fox saw the success of widescreen cinema and decide to find their own version. As the Cinerama process was expensive and required time, 20th century Fox wanted a more efficient to process. So they went to meet Henri Chretien who invented a technique called
Anamorphoscope which filmed subjects in a 2:1 ratio creating a squished image but then process, scratching back out would be displayed in a 2.35 ratio. 20th Century Fox call the whole thing CinemaScope. The process was much better than Cinerama as it only needed one camera and one projector.
The race continued with many other companies providing new ways to shoot and experience widescreen cinema. Loads of ratios were create such as; 1.85, 2.20 and 2.76. However when does 16.9/1.77 come into this?
The aspect ratio was created by Kern H. Powers for the reason that digital HD TV were being draw and they needed to decide on a ration. Powers suggest 16.9 because it could hold both of the most popular ratios 1.33 and 2.35.
And this why we see black bars with cinematic effect, as when we see old films cinema films on a 16.9 screen, the image has to have the letterbox bars to make it fit onto the screen and the same for watching 4:3 TV which will have pillarbox bars. However as film is usually higher in quality and content we pick cinema as more pleasing to watch than TV. So letter box black bars are now associated with cinema.
Bio
http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/widescreen/wingcr1.htm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CgrMsjGk7k&t=913s
