I saw on "Caring of composition" an interesting discussion.
John talked about "hard matted" prints, where frame is intentionally black surrounded so that the film is easy to frame (or hard to misframe!).
However since I became a projectinost, I wonder how to exactly distinguish between 1.66 and 1.85.
An older projectionist told me that "hard matted" frame are 1.85:1 while full frame prints are 1.66
I usually project in 1.66 almost all movies because rarely they are "hard matted".
Then I heard on this forum that 1.66 is rarely used on US movie...
On "Hannibal" cans there was a sticker with "project in 1.85 format" while film was "full framed".
What should I do? Follow the older projectionist's tip or just read on cans?

I'm sure that I'll finally have an answer!!

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However...
Often the reason for using this ratio has less to do with creative composition than keeping boom mikes, set edges, and poorly framed shots out of the projected image.

I still remember the pleasure of screening Moroder's "Flashdance" full frame just to see the gorgious full frame composition of the bicycle shots. In some ways Griffith had the right idea in matting out sections of the image and using different areas of the screen to build a montage. The convention of starting at one aspect ratio and going all the way to the end of the film using that same ratio is one of convenience for the projectionist.

Another reason you might want to project 1.66 is subtitles. Sometimes these can require racking the framing knob slightly to get all the text, which causes the actors hair to be removed.

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So during a no show of Last dance I thought
I'd file the plate the plate and align the anomorhpic, and Last Dance uses the full frame. The boom mike is in just about ever shot. Fun to whatch while playing around, but I pitty anyone who run its one perf up.

However, (the doubling up of words aside) it will make sense to projectionists.

Probably safe to assume any "flat" major release from the USA in the last 50 years is 1.85:1, unless the leaders or print labels say otherwise. Most any sound film made before 1953 is "Academy" 1.37:1 (0.825 x 0.602 inches).

------------------
John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Eastman Kodak Company
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7419
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Cell: 716-781-4036 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

Some of my animation features has the image stop just below the normal 1:85 image area, while the backgrounds are full frame.

"Dr. Strangelove," for example, is 1.66. Some documentaries ("Don't Look Back" comes to mind) are Academy (this applies through the present time, too, especially for stuff shot on 16mm or video). Some Disney animation is 1.75.

Basically, you sort of have to make a guess and run a reel or two to see if you guessed right. For US films, 1.85 is the logical starting point. For European films, 1.66 would make sense. Many films made in the 1950s and early 60s were intentionally composed to look reasonably good at either 1.66 or 1.85 because there were many theatres that were only equipped for one format or another.

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------------------
John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Eastman Kodak Company
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7419
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Cell: 716-781-4036 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

So I will start projecting in 1.85 all US movie and I will check leaders or cans for european movies.

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