Cinemascope

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CinemaScope is a registered trademark of the film company Twentieth Century Fox for its anamorphic process of widescreen recording , the necessary camera and projection optics and also for the films made with it. Due to the widespread use of the brand from the 1950s, CinemaScope has become a synonym for the anamorphic process in the cinema world - also known as “CS” or “Scope” for short in technical jargon .

With CinemaScope it was possible for the first time on a large scale, with relatively little technical effort and at the same time good quality on the basis of conventional 35 mm film widescreen with an aspect ratio of initially 2.55: 1, later 2.35: 1 and 2.40: 1 (similar to the modern video format 21: 9). For details of the technology see:

CinemaScope brochure from 1953

history

The Cinemascope process is based on the Anamorphoskop of Henri Chrétien , which he had already developed to the 1927th This anamorphoscope was again a further development of the hypergonar by the same inventor. In 1952 the process including the optical technology was acquired by the 20th Century Fox Film Corporation with the aim of being able to oppose the competitors with a simpler and less complex process against other wide-screen processes such as Cinerama or the re-emerging idea of ​​3D production.

The production and projection of films with hi-fi multi-channel sound for widescreen presentation in the CinemaScope process was relatively cheap, since normal camera and projector technology established in cinemas could also be used with the 35 mm film material. Only the anamorphoscope had to be presented. In 1955, more than 60% of all cinemas in the United States were technically capable of showing CinemaScope films. The CinemaScope brand was particularly widespread, however, because 20th Century Fox also licensed the brand to other large film companies such as MGM, Columbia, Disney and Universal, especially in the 1950s and 1960s.

The licensing policy changed, especially from the 1960s. The film companies gave up their own camera technology departments and new camera manufacturers such as Panavision offered the film companies their anamorphic recording optics with cameras. As a result, the use of the CinemaScope brand declined and compatible films with new names from various film companies appeared in cinemas.

The monumental Bible film Das Gewand (The Robe) premiered on September 16, 1953 in New York as the first full-length cinema film produced using the CinemaScope method. It was advertised as a film "that can be seen vividly without glasses".

Walt Disney used the new process early on for his animated films. The first animated short film Die Musikstunde (1953), which was followed by a further eight over the next three years, and the first full-length cartoon Susi and Trolch (1955) were released in this form. Feature film production began in parallel with 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954). After the civil war film In a Secret Mission (1956) and the Western Train of the Fearless (1956), however, the change to the 1.75: 1 format was initiated.

The last two films of the Twentieth Century Fox as "A CinemaScope Picture" were Caprice and Derek Flint in 1967 - tough as flint . Leon Shamroy directed the camera on both the first published CinemaScope film Das Gewand and the last film Caprice .

See also

literature

  • Ilias Chrissochoidis (Ed.), CinemaScope: Selected Documents from the Spyros P. Skouras Archive . Stanford, 2013.
  • CinemaScope. The third revolution in the field of film. Everything you need to know about the new process for recording and playing back plastic films . Published by the central press and advertising department of Centfox-Film-Inc., Frankfurt / Main, Kirchnerstraße 2, undated; 1953, paperback, 32 p. Without cover
  • CinemaScope. The color film on a large picture with a three-dimensional effect - without the use of glasses . Published by the central press and advertising department of Centfox-Film-Inc., Frankfurt / Main, Kirchnerstraße 2, undated (1953), paperback, 24 pp.
  • Helga Belach, Wolfgang Jacobsen (Hrsg.): CinemaScope - On the history of wide screen films . Deutsche Kinemathek / Spiess Foundation , 1993, ISBN 3-89166-646-2

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Official trademark register of the German Patent and Trademark Office ( https://register.dpma.de/DPMAregister/Uebersicht )
  2. ↑ a b WideScreen Format War Begins. American WideScreen Museum, accessed April 30, 2014 .
  3. ↑ a b Cornelis Hähnel: Films with the divine ether of the poet . On: dradio.de on September 16, 2013
  4. ^ The CinemaScope Wing 8th American WideScreen Museum, accessed February 25, 2011 .