Rectangle Proportions in Pictorial Composition

Since the birth of the motion picture some thirty years ago there have been discussions from time to time concerning the most satisfactory shape of the picture area. In the early stages of development several different shapes and sizes were proposed and tried experimentally. Using the ratio of width to height as a specification of the shape of the rectangle, we find among the very early productions values of this ratio varying all the way from 1.25 up to 2.0. Practice finally crystallized, however, and a rectangle having a width of four units and a height of three units (R = 1.33) was adopted as standard. This continued as almost universal practice until the advent of sound which, in the case of sound-on-film positives, necessitated the narrowing of the available picture area in order to provide space for the photographic sound record. If the height of the positive image is maintained at its old value, that is, four perforations less the necessary allowance for frame line, the resultant positive picture area has a ratio of approximately 1.15.

Print ISSN

0097-5834

Published

1930-01

Content type

Original Research

DOI

10.5594/J14823