STAR WARS Original Trilogy 4.00:1 Aspect Ratio

Author: cruel1079
Date: 5-Jan-2016, 2:01 PM

Author: cruel1079
Time: 5-Jan-2016 2:01 PM
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I thought this would be a fun test. Fairly simple too. I plan on using the Harmy despecialised editions to make an Ultra Widescreen tilt and scan/letter boxing of Star Wars into a 4.00:1 aspect ration. This aspect ratio was used only once at the end of 1927s Napoleon. This is purely for kicks and giggles. I was wondering if anyone has same stills from all three movies in their original aspect ratios. A google search brings up several different options in screen size. The more the better. I just want to test it out and see if it is worth doing.

Pain is temporary, film is forever!
- John Milius

Author: cruel1079
Time: 5-Jan-2016 2:42 PM (Edited)
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Any good photo uploading sites so I can show some tests?

Pain is temporary, film is forever!
- John Milius

Author: Bingowings
Time: 5-Jan-2016 8:44 PM
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I use onedrive. Or whatever they are calling Skydrive these days.

Author: cruel1079
Time: 8-Jan-2016 2:01 PM
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Here are some test frames. Tell me what you think. I couldn’t find good frames for Episode VI so I just have IV and V.

Star Wars Episode IV - Obi Wan Kenobi
http://tinyurl.com/zqwg8p8

Star Wars Episode IV - Twin Sunset
http://tinyurl.com/z6cz88v

Star Wars Episode V - Ending Shot
http://tinyurl.com/gnm3avs

Star Wars Episode V - Vader and Luke
http://tinyurl.com/jo52tac

Pain is temporary, film is forever!
- John Milius

Author: Darth Lucas
Time: 8-Jan-2016 5:31 PM
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I’m not quite sure what you’re doing here. Are you just cropping it further on the top and bottom? Forgive my ignorance.

Author: cruel1079
Time: 8-Jan-2016 6:14 PM
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Essentially, yes. I made a mask that is in the 4.00:1 aspect ratio (the widest ever shown in theaters) and I plan on plopping it on the video and then adjust to keep the action in the ultra wide frame. This isn’t an improvement so much as just a “for fun” experience.

Pain is temporary, film is forever!
- John Milius

Author: Bingowings
Time: 8-Jan-2016 6:40 PM
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Sorry, interesting idea but the picture loses vital information like the anchor points of the composition when it’s cropped this much.
Elements need room to breath and characters need feet or the composition looks really strange.
The farmstead shot almost works as does the duel (the label for that one and the end shot are the wrong way round btw).
One possible way to do it would be to add material to the composition so you have more room to crop away.
So for example if you extended the medical frigate room you could have the whole of our heroes in frame and have the same proportions.
That would be a heck of a lot of work though but maybe you wouldn’t have to do it for every shot.

Author: The Aluminum Falcon
Time: 8-Jan-2016 9:03 PM
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Interesting idea!

One thing though: as I recall, in its climactic montage in which the unique aspect ratio was used, Abel Gance’s Napoleon alternated between one single 4.00:1 image and a 4.00:1 triptych, in which each third would have a different image, essentially creating a split-screen effect albeit three ways instead of the typical two. Abel Gance achieved the illusion of the ultra widescreen was, after all, by displaying three 1:33 (full screen) images side-by-side. Because the illusion wasn’t always seamless, a good bulk of that movie’s final montage relies on the triptych effect with different images instead of one single one.

That said, I think it’d be worthwhile to try the triptych effect, instead of always relying on a single image cropped to 4.00:1. Lightsaber fights could be especially fun to play with in this regard.

Examples of the 4.00:1 in action can be seen in the Napoleon restoration trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dWQS8OCPUo

Author: cruel1079
Time: 10-Jan-2016 6:08 PM
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Yeah I understand the cropping of vital information and the triptych and I realized how oddly composited the shots became after I created them. I might just crop some clips or the trailers but the adding material to the shot like Bingowings suggested seems too daunting for me at the moment.

Pain is temporary, film is forever!
- John Milius

Author: ben_danger
Time: 10-Jan-2016 6:32 PM
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You could always Pan/Scan

Author: FrankT
Time: 23-Jan-2016 9:50 AM
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Cropping a Cinemascope image to such a degree would just be a waste. However, you might be able to get away with stretching it by way of lens distortion:
Star Wars - Obi Wan Kenobi
Star Wars - Twin Sunset
Empire - Ending Shot
Empire - Vader and Luke