Framing 1 83

Framing can powerfully affect the image by means of ( I ) the size and shape of
the frame; ( 2 ) the way the frame defines onscreen and offscreen space; ( 3 ) the way
fram ing imposes the di stance, angle, and height of a vantage point onto the image ;
and (4) the way fram ing can move in relation to the mi se-en-scene.

Frame Dimens ions and Shape

We are so accustomed to the frame as a rectangle that we should remember that it
need not be one. In painting and photography, of course, images have frames of var
ious sizes and shapes: narrow rectangles, oval s, vertical panels, even triangles and
parallelograms. In cinema, the choice has been more limited. The pri mary choices
involve the width of the rectangular image .
The ratio of frame width to frame height i s called the aspect ratio. The rough
dimen sions of the ratio were set quite early in the hi story of c inema by Thomas
Edison, Dickson, Lumiere, and other i nventor s . The proportions of the rectangular
frame were approximately four to three, yielding an aspect ratio of 1 . 3 3 : I .
Nonetheless, in the silent period, some fi lm makers felt that this standard was too
l i miting. Abel Gance shot and proj ected sequences of Napoleon ( 1 927) in a format
he called triptychs. This was a wide-screen effect composed of three normal frames
placed side by side. Gance used the effect sometimes to show a single huge expanse
and sometimes to put three distinct i mages side by side (5.63). In contrast, the So
viet director Sergei Eisenstein argued for a square frame, which would make com
positions along horizontal, vertical, and diagonal directions equally feasible.
The coming of sound in the l ate 1 920s altered the frame somewhat. Adding the
sound track to the fil mstrip requi red adj usting either the shape or the size of the im
age. At first, some films were printed i n an almost a square format, usually about
1 . 1 7 : I (5.64). B ut in the early 1 930s, the Hollywood Academy of Motion Picture
Arts and Sciences establ i shed the so-called Academy ratio of 1 . 3 3 : I (5.65). The
Academy ratio was standardized throughout the worl d until the mid- 1 950s. For
decades, standard television screen s have also been in the 1 . 3 3 : I ratio, but wide
screen TVs are gradually gaining popularity.
Si nce the mid- 1 950s, a variety of wide-screen ratios has dominated 35mm film
making. The most common format in North America today is 1 . 85 : I (5.66) . The
1 . 66: I ratio (5.67) is more frequently used in Europe than in North America. A less
common ratio, also widely used in European films, is 1 . 75 : I (5.68) . A 2 . 3 5 : I ratio
(5.69) was standardized by the Ci nemaSeope anamorphic process during the 1 950s.
The 2.2: 1 ratio was chiefly used for 70mm presentation (5.70), though as film
stocks have improved, 70mm filming and projecti ng have largely disappeared.
The si mplest way to create a wide- screen image is by masking it at some stage
in production or exhibition (5.7 1 ) . Thi s maski ng is usual ly called a hard matte. Al
ternatively, many contemporary films are shot full-frame (that is, between 1 . 3 3 : I
and 1 . 1 7 : I ) in the expectation that they will be masked when the film i s shown .

5,63 A panora m i c v iew from Nopoleo/1 j o i ned i m ages shot w i t h three cameras.
 COMMON ASPECT RATIOS OF 3 5 MM FILM

1 . 17: 1
1 . 85 : 1
1 .3 3 ( 1 .37): 1

5.64 Public Enemy shows the squarish 5.65 The Rules of the Game was shot i n 5.66 Me and You and Everyone We Know uses a common
aspect ratio of early sound fi l m s . Academy ratio. North American ratio .

1 .66: 1
1 .75 : 1

5.67 Une chamber en ville. 5.68 Last Tango in Paris.

2 . 35 : 1

2.2: 1
(70mm)

5.69 Anamorphic widescreen i n The Valiant Ones. 5.70 Ghostbusters.

1 84
 Framing 1 85

5.71 Th i s frame from Agnes Vard a ' s

Vagabond was masked dur i n g fi l m i n g or
pri n t i n g .

5.72 Mart i n S COl'se s e ' s Raging Bull. Note the m i c rophone

v i s i b l e at the top edge.

5.73 A fra m e fro m N icholas Ray ' s

C i ne maScope fi l m Bigger Than Life
5.74 . . . and as projected.
squeezed . . .

Sometimes this results i n lights or sound equipment being visible in the full-frame
image. In 5.72 you can clearly see the microphone bobbing down into the shot. This
would not be seen in the theater, where the top and bottom of the frame would be
masked by the aperture plate i n the projector. The colored lines in our illustration
show a projection framing at 1 . 8 5 : I .
Another way to create a wide-screen image is by using an anamorphic
process. Here a special lens squeezes the i mage horizontal ly, either during filming
or in pri nting. A comparable lens i s necessary to unsqueeze the i mage during pro
jection. The i mage on the 35mm fi l mstrip is shown in 5.73, while the image as pro
jected on the screen is shown in 5.74. The anamorphic aspect ratio, establi shed by
CinemaScope was 2 . 3 5 : I , until the 1 970s ; for technical reasons, it was adj usted to
2 .40: I . Thi s is the aspect ratio of Panavision, today ' s most frequently Llsed anamor
phic system.
Wide-screen ci nema, either masked or anamorphic, has significant vi sual ef
fects. The screen becomes a band or strip, emphasizing horizontal compositions.
The format was initially associated with genres of spectacle-Westerns. travel
ogues, musical s, hi storical epics-in which sweeping settings were important. But
directors quickly learned that wide-screen has val ue for more inti mate subjects, too.
1 86 CHAPTER 5 The Shot: Cinematograrhy

The frame from Kurosawa's Sanjll ro (5.75) shows how an anamorphic process (To
hoscope, the Japanese equivalent of Ci nemaScope ) can be used to create significant
foreground and background areas in a confined setti ng.
In some wide-screen compositions, the mise-en-scene draws the audience 's at
tention to only one area of the i mage . A common solution is to put the important
information sli ghtly off center (5.76), or even sharply off center (5.77). Or the di
rector may use the wide-screen format to multiply points of interest. Many scenes
in 1 m Kwon-Taek's Ch unhyal1g fill the frame with bustle and movement (5.78) .

5.75 A k i ra Kurosaw a ' s Sanjum.

5.76 S o u l e y m are C i s se ' s Yee/en.

5.77 J o h n McTi e rn a n ' s Die Hard.

 Frmll ing 1 87

5.78 In t h i s husy scene

from Ch u n h m llg, o u r eye
s h u t t l e s around the
w i descreen fram e
accord i n g to who i s
speak i n g , w h o i s fac i n g
u s , a n d who re sponds to
the speaker.

5.79 ( i a n e c ' s L{/ Rol/('.

The rectangular frame, while by far the most common, has not prevented film
makers from experimenting with other image shapes within the rectangular frame.
Th is has usually been done by attaching masks over either the camera's or the
printer' s lens to block the passage of light. Masks were quite common in the si lent
ci nema. A moving circu l ar mask that opens to reveal or closes to conceal a scene is
called an iris. In La Roue, Gance empl oyed a vari ety of circular and oval masks
(5.79) . In 5.80, a shot from Gri ffith ' s Intolerance, most of the frame is bol dly
blocked out to leave only a th in vertical slice, emphasizing the soldier's fall from
the rampart. A number of directors in the sound cinema have revived the use of
iri ses and masks . In The Magn ificent A mbersol1s (5.8 1 ) , Orson Welles used an iris
to cl ose a scene: the old-fashi oned device adds a nostal gic note to the sequence. 5.80 G r i ffi t h ' s 111 fO/t' IWII"t'.
We also should mention experiments with 111 11ltiple}rml1e im agery, often called
split-screen i magery. In th is process, two or more images, each with its own frame
dimensions and shape, appear within the l arger frame . From the early ci nema on
ward, thi s device has been used to present scenes of telephone conversations (5.82) .
Split-screen phone scene s were revived for phone conversations in Bye Bye Birdie
(5.83) and other 1 960s wide-screen comedi es. Multiple-frame imagery is also use
fu l for building su spense, as Brian De Palma has shown in such fi l m s as Sisters. We
gain a god l i ke omni science as we watch two or more acti ons at exactly the same
moment. Peter Greenaway used spl it screen more experimental ly in Pro,\jJero '.I'
Books. j u xtaposing images suggested by Shakespeare ' s The Tempest (5.84) .
As usual, the fi l mmaker's choice of screen format can be an important factor in
shapi ng the vi ewer's experience. Frame size and shape can guide the spectator's at
tenti on. It can be concentrated through compositi onal pattern s or masking, or it can 5.81 We l le s ' s The Magl l ijicell l
be di spersed by use of various points of interest or sound cues . The same possibil- A II/her,l 011,1.

ities ex i st with multiple-frame imagery, which must be carefully coordi nated either
to focus the viewer' s notice or to send it ri cocheting from one image to another.

Onscreen and Offscreen Space

Whatever its shape, the frame m akes the image finite. The film image i s bounded,
lim ited. From an i mplicitly continuous world, the frame selects a slice to show us,
leaving the rest of the space offscreen. If the camera leaves an object or person and
moves el sewhere, we assume that the obj ect or person is sti ll there, outside the
frame. Even in an abstract film, we cannot resist the sense that the shapes and pat
terns that burst into the frame come from somewhere.
Fi lm aestheti cian Noel B urch has pointed out six zones of offscreen space : the
space beyond each of the four edges of the frame, the space behind the set, and the 5.82 Ph i l i ps S m a l l e y ' s 1 <) 1 3 Suspenst'
u se s a three-way s l1 1 i t scree n .
space b e hIn d t h e camera. I t tS
' wort h const' d enng
' h ow many ways a fil mma k er can
imply the presence of things in these zones of offscreen space. A character can aim
looks or gestures at something otfscreen. A s we ' l l see in Chapter 7, sound can of-
fer potent clues about offscreen space. And, of course, someth ing from offscreen
can protrude partly into the frame. Vi rtually any fi l m could be cited for examples