Matted widescreen refers to a cinematic presentation technique where the full image captured by the camera during filming is optically or digitally cropped, or "matted," at the top and bottom to achieve a specific widescreen aspect ratio for theatrical release. This process ensures that films are displayed with the intended cinematic look, optimizing the visual storytelling for the big screen.
How Matted Widescreen Works
During production, many films are shot using a technique where the camera's full film gate is exposed, capturing a larger area of the image than what will ultimately be seen in cinemas. This raw, uncropped image is sometimes referred to as "open matte." For its theatrical exhibition, however, the film is projected with a "soft matte"—an opaque border applied within the movie projector. This soft matte effectively masks off, or "mattes out," the top and bottom portions of the film frame, thereby creating the desired widescreen aspect ratio.
- Original Capture: The film camera records a broader image, often encompassing a taller frame than the final widescreen presentation.
- Theatrical Presentation: For theatrical release, the film is projected using a soft matte to achieve common widescreen aspect ratios such as 1.85:1 (a common standard for "flat" widescreen) or 2.39:1 (for "scope" or anamorphic widescreen, though often still achieved by matting from a slightly larger source or directly photographed with an anamorphic lens). This means that a significant portion of the image information at the top and bottom of the original full frame is deliberately excluded from the theatrical view.
Why Use Matted Widescreen?
This technique is a cornerstone of cinematic presentation for several reasons:
- Artistic Intent: Directors and cinematographers meticulously compose shots with the final matted widescreen aspect ratio in mind, ensuring that the visual elements are perfectly framed and balanced within that specific frame. The matted area is considered "safe" for production crew and equipment to be present, knowing it won't be seen.
- Industry Standard: It's a long-standing practice in the film industry to deliver a consistent, high-quality widescreen experience in cinemas.
- Production Flexibility: Shooting with a larger, "open matte" frame provides flexibility in post-production. While the theatrical release uses a matted widescreen, for some home video formats, the entire un-matted frame might be scanned and used. This allows for a "full screen" home video version that might show more vertical picture information than the theatrical cut, revealing details that were originally cropped for cinemas.
Matted Widescreen vs. Other Aspect Ratios
Understanding matted widescreen often involves comparing it to other aspect ratio concepts:
| Aspect Ratio Term | Description | Primary Use |
|---|---|---|
| Matted Widescreen | A film projected where the top and bottom of the full negative are masked off to achieve a wider aspect ratio (e.g., 1.85:1, 2.39:1). | Theatrical exhibition |
| Open Matte | The original, un-matted full film frame, containing more vertical information than the matted widescreen version. | Home video releases (especially older "fullscreen" DVDs/VHS), archival purposes |
| Anamorphic Widescreen | Films shot with an anamorphic lens that horizontally squeezes a wide image onto standard film, then unsqueezed during projection. | Theatrical exhibition (very wide aspect ratios like 2.39:1) |
| Pan & Scan | A method for adapting a widescreen film to a narrower (e.g., 4:3) television screen by cropping the sides and moving the frame. | Older "fullscreen" home video releases (often criticized for cutting content) |
Impact on Home Video and Digital Releases
While the theatrical experience for many films is "matted widescreen," their home video and streaming releases can vary:
- "Letterboxed" Widescreen: This is the most common format today. It displays the matted widescreen version of the film on a wider screen (e.g., 16:9 TV) with black bars at the top and bottom, preserving the original theatrical aspect ratio as intended by the filmmakers.
- "Open Matte" Home Video: Historically, some films released on VHS or DVD in "fullscreen" (4:3) format would use the "open matte" version. This version would show more vertical information than the theatrical release, but often required cropping from the sides to fit the 4:3 screen without letterboxing. This practice is less common with the prevalence of widescreen televisions.
Matted widescreen is a fundamental technique in filmmaking that ensures viewers experience the cinematic vision as intended by the creators on the big screen, precisely framing the narrative within its carefully chosen aspect ratio.
