Sunday, January 29, 2012

CinemaScope distortion

The first film shot in Cinemascope was a PEPLUM film, THE ROBE. The epic quality of the genre was perfectly suited for the then new aspect ratio, for the grandeur and pageantry. In its infancy Cinemascope had some visible limitations and side effects. Close ups were rare (DEMETRIUS AND THE GLADIATORS has few close ups) and lenses were limited also in regards to the depth of field. I took two screenshots from THE EGYPTIAN and even though the camera is static you can visibly see a distortion to the image as the actors move away from the camera. The lenses were limited and the image distorts in order to keep it in focus as the actors move about. This was fixed with better lenses but you  can clearly see this distortion in many PEP films made in the early 1950s.

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1 comment:

S.R.Orsulak said...

I've never took notice to this, but now I'll take a good look at since I have early 50's PEP Films and other Films.