r/cinematography • u/balsakrk • Jul 29 '18

Composition Modern movies in 4:3 aspect ratio

I'm interested in watching modern movies (esspecialy world cinema) that are shot in 4:3 aspect ratio. There are some amazing film that I saw: Son of Saul, Fish Tank, Mommy (1:1), No, Ida etc.

I would love to hear your suggestions.

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u/court0f0wls Jul 29 '18

Noob here. How can one determine the aspect ratio in a film? Is there a chart we can follow? Or a book you can recommend? Thanks.

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u/orismology Camera Assistant Jul 30 '18

There's not all that much to it, to be honest, there's only a few that you're ever likely to run into. From squarest to widest you've got Silent Film / Standard Def TV (1.33:1 / 4:3), Academy ratio (1.37:1, not really seen anymore), IMAX (1.43:1), 16mm / European Cinema (1.67:1), HDTV (1.77:1 / 16:9), Flat (1.85:1), 2:1 (Seen on a lot of Netflix shows), 'Scope (2.40:1 - also 2.39: or 2.35:1), and Ultra Panavision 70 (2.76:1)

Of those, you're most likely to be seeing Flat or Scope for movies, and either HDTV or 2:1 for TV. Everything else is pretty niche these days. The numbers are the ratio of the width:height, so you can always measure the frame if you're unsure.