Go motion 1

Go motion is a variation of stop motion animation,and was co-developed by Industrial Light & Magic and Phil Tippett. It was used for some shots of the tauntaun creatures in the 1980 Star Wars film The Empire Strikes Back,he dragon in Dragonslayer (1981),he lord demon creature in Howard the Duck (1986), the winged satan character in The Golden Child (1986), and the Eborsisk dragon in Willow (1988).

 Technical explanation

Stop motion animation can create a disorienting, and distinctive, staccato effect, because the animated object is perfectly sharp in every frame, since each frame of the animation was actually shot when the object was perfectly still. Real moving objects in similar scenes of the same movie will have motion blur, because they moved while the shutter of the camera was open.

Go motion was designed to prevent this, by moving the animated model slightly during the exposure of each film frame, producing a realistic motion blur. The main difference is that while the frames in stop motion are made up by images of stills taken between the small movements of the object, the frames in go motion are images of the object taken while it is moving. This frame-by-frame, split-second motion is almost always created with the help of a computer, often through rods connected to a puppet or model which the computer manipulates to reproduce movements programmed in by puppeteers.

Vaseline

This crude but reasonably effective technique involves smearing petroleum jelly on the camera lens, then cleaning and reapplying it after each shot, a time-consuming process but one which creates a blur around the model. This technique was used for the endoskeleton in The Terminator.

Anamorphic widescreen 3

Television

Major digital television channels in Europe (for example, the five major UK terrestrial TV channels of BBC One, BBC Two, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel Five), as well as Australia, carry anamorphic widescreen programming in standard definition. In almost all cases, 4:3 programming is also transmitted on the same channel. The SCART switching signal can be used by a set-top-box to signal the television which kind of programming (4:3 or anamorphic) is currently being received, so that the television can change modes appropriately. The user can often elect to display widescreen programming in a 4:3 letterbox format instead of pan and scan if they do not have a widescreen television.

TV stations and TV networks can also include Active Format Description (AFD) just as DVDs can. Many ATSC tuners (integrated or set-top box) can be set to respond to this, or to apply a user setting. This can sometimes be set on a per-channel basis, and often on a per-input basis, and usually easily with a button on the remote control. Unfortunately, tuners often fail to allow this on SDTV (480i-mode) channels, so that viewers are forced to view a small picture instead of cropping the unnecessary sides (which are outside of the safe area anyhow), or zooming to eliminate the windowboxing that may be causing a very tiny picture, or stretching/compressing to eliminate other format-conversion errors. The shrunken pictures are especially troublesome for smaller TV sets

Many modern HDTV sets have the capability to detect black areas in any video signal, and to smoothly re-scale the picture independently in both directions (horizontal and vertical) so that it fills the screen. However, some sets are 16:10 (1.6:1) like a computer monitor, and will not crop the left and right edges of the picture, meaning that all programming looks slightly (though usually imperceptibly) tall and thin.

ATSC allows two anamorphic widescreen SDTV formats (interlaced and progressive scan) which are 704×480 (10% wider than 640×480); this is narrower than the 720×480 of DVD due to 16 pixels being consumed by overscan (nominal analogue blanking) – see overscan: analog to digital resolution issues. The format can also be used for fullscreen programming, and in this case it is anamorphic with pixels slightly taller (10:11, or 0.91:1) than their width.

Anamorphic widescreen 2

Blu-ray video

Unlike DVD, Blu-ray supports resolutions with Source Aspect Ratio (SAR) of 16:9, so widescreen video can be displayed non-anamorphically, with square pixels (a Pixel Aspect Ratio (PAR) of 1:1). Blu-ray also supports anamorphic wide-screen, both at the DVD-Video/D-1 resolutions of 720×480 (NTSC) and 720×576 (PAL), and at the higher resolution of 1440×1080 (SAR of 4:3, hence a PAR of 4:3 = 16:9 / 4:3 when used as anamorphic 16:9). See Blu-ray Disc: Technical specifications for details.

Film

Many commercial cinematic presentations (especially epics – usually with the CinemaScope 2.35:1 optical sound or the older 4-track mag sound 2.55:1 aspect ratio) are recorded on standard 35 mm ~4:3 aspect ratio film[1], using an anamorphic lens to horizontally compress all footage into a ~4:3 frame. Another anamorphic lens on the movie theatre projector ultimately corrects (optically decompresses) the picture. See anamorphic format for details. Other movies (often with aspect ratios of 1.85:1 in the USA or 1.66:1 in Europe) are made using the simpler matte technique, which involves both filming and projecting without any expensive special lenses. The movie is produced in 1.375 format, and then the resulting image is simply cropped in post-production (or perhaps in the theater's projector) to fit the desired aspect ratio of 1.85:1 or 1.66:1 or whatever is desired. Besides costing less, the main advantage of the matte technique is that it leaves the studio with "real" footage (the areas that are cropped for the theatrical release) which can be used in preference to pan-and-scan when producing 4:3 DVD releases, for example.

The anamorphic encoding on DVD is related to the anamorphic filming technique (aka Cinemascope) only by name. For instance, Star Wars (1977) was filmed in 2.35:1 ratio using an anamorphic camera lens, and shown in theaters using the corresponding projector lens. Since it is a widescreen film, when encoded on a widescreen-format DVD the studio would almost certainly use the anamorphic encoding process. Monty Python and the Holy Grail was filmed in 1.85:1 ratio without using an anamorphic lens on the camera, and similarly was shown in theaters without the need for the decompression lens. However, since it is also a widescreen film, when encoded on a widescreen-format DVD the studio would probably use the anamorphic encoding process.

It doesn't matter whether the filming was done using the anamorphic lens technique: as long as the source footage is intended to be widescreen, the digital anamorphic encoding procedure is appropriate for the DVD release. As a sidenote, if a purely-non-widescreen version of the analog-anamorphic Star Wars were to be released on DVD, the only options would be pan-and-scan or hardcoded 4:3 letterboxing (with the black letterboxes actually encoded as part of the DVD data). If you were to release a purely-non-widescreen version of Monty Python, you would have those options, as well as the additional option of an "open-matte" release, where the film footage that was never visible in theaters (due to use of the matte technique in post-production or in the theatrical projectors) is "restored" to the purely non-widescreen DVD release.

Anamorphic widescreen 1

Anamorphic widescreen is a videographic process that horizontally squeezes a widescreen image so that it can be stored in a standard 4:3 aspect ratio DVD image frame. Compatible playback equipment can then re-expand the horizontal dimension to show the original widescreen image. In its current definition as a video term, it was originally devised for widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio television sets.

DVD Video

A DVD labeled as "Widescreen Anamorphic" contains video that has the same frame size in pixels as traditional fullscreen video, but uses wider pixels. The shape of the pixels is called pixel aspect ratio and is encoded in the video stream for a DVD disc player to correctly identify the proportions of the video. If an anamorphic DVD video is played on standard 4:3 television without adjustment, the image may look horizontally squeezed.

Packaging

DVDs with a 16:9 aspect ratio are typically labeled "Anamorphic Widescreen", "Enhanced for 16:9 televisions", "Enhanced for widescreen televisions", or similar, although currently there is no labeling standard. Otherwise, the movie will only support the standard full-frame display and will simply be letterboxed, or panned and scanned for 4:3 screens.

There has been no clear standardization for companies to follow regarding the advertisement of anamorphically enhanced widescreen DVDs. Some companies, such as Universal and Disney, include the aspect ratio of the movie. Below are how various companies advertise their anamorphic DVD movies on their packaging:

    * Anchor Bay: Enhanced for 16:9 TVs, includes aspect ratio in most cases.

    * Artisan Entertainment: 16:9 Fullscreen Version, or Enhanced for 16:9 Television (since it became part of Lions Gate, the newer reissues include aspect-ratio information on many titles). Note that this is a misuse of the term "fullscreen", which refers to a normal 4:3 ratio.

    * Buena Vista: Enhanced for 16:9 Televisions, includes aspect ratio.

    * Columbia TriStar: Anamorphic Video, sometimes not labeled, includes aspect ratio.

    * Criterion: Enhanced for Widescreen Televisions, or 16:9, always includes aspect ratio.

    * DreamWorks: Widescreen format, enhanced for 16:9 televisions since acquisition by Paramount; aspect ratio included on formerly Universal-distributed titles.

    * Image Entertainment: Enhanced for 16:9 TVs, some titles include aspect ratio.

    * MGM: Enhanced for 16:9 TVs or Enhanced for Widescreen TVs, includes aspect ratio on 2001–present titles; uses Fox’s format since 2004.

    * New Line Cinema: Enhanced for Widescreen TVs.

    * Paramount Pictures: Enhanced for 16:9.

    * Trimark Pictures: Widescreen (letterboxed means non-anamorphic) Since it became part of Lions Gate, the newer reissues include aspect-ratio information on many titles.

    * 20th Century Fox: Enhanced for Widescreen TVs, Anamorphic Widescreen, sometimes not labeled, includes aspect ratio on newer titles.

    * Universal: Anamorphic Widescreen (widescreen means non-anamorphic) (Gives aspect ratio of film).

    * Warner Bros.: Enhanced for Widescreen TVs, says scope for 2.35 or matted for 1.85 instead of giving aspect ratio.

Widescreen 7

* Older laptop computers with a pointing device that did not take up space such as a pointing stick (Trackpoint) or trackball attached to the side of the machine could accommodate a keyboard which matched a 16:9 screen well. The use of touchpads, which require a lot of space below the keyboard, and the removal of keys such as the Numeric keypad more accurately matches the 4:3 ratio of a screen found on smaller netbooks and laptops.

Conversion

For word processing and office type applications, vertical measurement can be more important than diagonal measurement when determining size requirements. When monitors are sold the quoted size is the diagonal measurement of the display area. Because of the different ratio, a 16:10 monitor will have a smaller vertical size than a 4:3 monitor of the same advertised size. To find the diagonal measurement of widescreen monitor that would have the same vertical measurement as a known 4:3 monitor, you must multiply the diagonal measurement of the 4:3 monitor by 1.132. Via a similar calculation, to convert between the diagonal measurement of a 5:4 monitor to the diagonal measurement of a 16:9 monitor having the same vertical measurement, one would multiply by 1.274.

For example to have the same vertical height as a 4:3 19" monitor, a 16:10 widescreen monitor would need to be (19" x 1.132 ) = 21.508". Furthermore, to have the same vertical height as a 5:4 17" monitor, a 16:9 widescreen monitor would need to be (17" x 1.274) = 21.658".

Widescreen 6

Suitability for applications

    * Since many modern DVDs and some TV shows are in a widescreen format, widescreen displays are optimal for their playback on a computer. 16:9 material on a 16:10 display will be letterboxed, but only slightly. However, when screen width is not an issue, as in data processing or viewing 4:3 entertainment material such as older films and digital photographs, the sides of the widescreen image may be wasted, although it can be useful to display two or more windows side-by-side.

However, for data processing (including word processing) many computer programs often have many toolbars and other information such as status bars, headers, and tabs, which require vertical space. In such cases the additional width is unwanted; on a computer used only for data-processing the additional screen area is better dedicated to a larger 4:3 screen.

  

  * When displaying a document or ebook, two pages can be displayed side by side on a wide screen, or two documents compared. If a desktop monitor supports it, a whole single page of a book or document can be displayed on a rotated "portrait"-oriented screen, with two snags: printed pages are most commonly displayed in 16:11 aspect ratio on readers such as Kindle-DX, the aspect ratio, in fact closer to 4:3 than to 16:9, and second TN panels have notoriously poor vertical viewing angles.

  

  * A very few computer games, including the first few Command & Conquer games, run at a native 640x400 resolution, making them exceptionally well-suited to 8:5 monitors. A slightly larger number, including Doom 3, can be set to either widescreen or fullscreen (4:3), with the widescreen options offering wider horizontal fields of view without sacrificing vertical FOV. However, most computer games are not designed for optimum effect on a widescreen display, being stretched unnaturally, not filling the screen, or letterboxed.

Widescreen 5

Despite the existence of PALplus and support for widescreen in the DVB-based digital satellite, terrestrial and cable broadcasts in use across Europe, only Belgium, Ireland, the Netherlands, Austria, Germany, Scandinavia and the UK have adopted widescreen on a large scale, with over half of all widescreen channels available by satellite in Europe targeting those areas.

16:9 TV displays have come into wide use. They are typically used in conjunction with Digital, High-Definition Television (HDTV) receivers, or Standard-Definition (SD) DVD players and other digital television sources. Digital material is provided to widescreen TVs either in high-definition format, which is natively 16:9 (1.78:1), or as an anamorphically-compressed standard-definition picture. Typically, devices decoding Digital Standard-Definition pictures can be programmed to provide anamorphic widescreen formatting, for 16:9 sets, and formatting for 4:3 sets. Pan-and-scan mode can be used on 4:3 if the producers of the material have included the necessary panning data; if this data is absent, letterboxing or centre cut-out is used.

HD DVD and Blu-ray disc players were introduced in 2006. Toshiba ceased production of HD DVD players in early 2008 after key defections from the HD DVD camp damaged the viability of the format. As of 2010 it still remains to be seen whether Blu-ray will stimulate the sales of HD pre-recorded films on disc, and more HD monitors and tuners. Consumer camcorders are also available in the HD-video format at fairly low prices. These developments will result in more options for viewing widescreen images on television monitors.

Computer displays

Computer displays with aspect ratios wider than 4:3 are also called widescreen. Widescreen computer displays are mainly intended for computers used, at least sometimes, to display entertainment; data processing tends to use 4:3. Widescreen computer displays are typically of the 1.6 (8:5, typically written as 16:10) aspect ratio. "True" widescreen (16:9) monitors can be found in resolutions of 1024x576, 1152x648, 1280x720, 1600x900, and 1920x1080. Apple's 27" iMac introduced a new 16:9 resolution: 2560x1440 in late 2009.

By 2010, many manufacturers had practically abandoned the older 4:3 format, instead opting to manufacture 16:10 models, and lately, even shorter 16:9 displays.

Widescreen 4

A non-Cinerama, three-projector process was famously pioneered for the final reel of Abel Gance's epic film Napoléon (1927) The process, called Polyvision by Gance, consisted of three 1.33 images side by side, so that the total aspect ratio of the image is 4:1. The technical difficulties in mounting a full screening of the film, however, make most theaters unwilling or unable to show it in this format.

Between 1956 and 1957 the Soviets developed Kinopanorama, which is identical in most respects to the original three-camera Cinerama.

Anamorphic 70 mm. 70 mm with anamorphic lenses, popularly known as "Ultra Panavision" or "MGM Camera 65", creates an even wider high-quality picture. This camera process was most famously used in the 1959 version of Ben-Hur, resulting in an aspect ratio of 2.76:1, one of the widest projected images ever used for a feature film. 70 mm anamorphic was not commonly used, due to the very high production costs, although it was favored for epic films such as Ben-Hur in order to capture wide panoramic landscapes and high-budget scenes with thousands of extras and enormous sets. This system is obsolete, despite its ease in setting up.

Television

The original screen ratio for television broadcasts was 4:3 (1.33:1). When preparing a film that was originally intended to be displayed in widescreen for television broadcast the material was often edited with the sides truncated, using a technique called pan and scan. Sometimes, in the case of Super35, the full film negative was shown unmasked on TV i.e. with the hard matte removed, however this causes the 4:3 image to not be what the Director intended people to see - and sometimes boom mikes can be visible. Modern widescreen televisions feature a 16:9 aspect ratio, allowing them to display both 16:9 and 4:3 formats.

In Europe the PAL TV format, with its higher resolution than NTSC format means the quality issues of letterboxed or matted movies on TV is not as severe. There is also an extension to PAL, called PALplus, which allows specially equipped receivers to receive a PAL picture as true 16:9 with a full 576 lines of vertical resolution, provided the station employs the same system. Standard PAL receivers will receive such a broadcast as a 16:9 image letterboxed to 4:3, with a small amount of color noise in the black bars; this "noise" is actually the additional lines which are hidden inside the color signal. This system has no equivalent in analog NTSC broadcasting.

Widescreen 3

Large gauge A 70 mm film frame is not only twice as wide as a standard frame but also has greater height. Shooting and projecting a film in 70 mm therefore gives more than twice the image area of non-anamorphic 35 mm film with no loss of quality. Few major dramatic narrative films have been filmed entirely on this format since the 1970s; the two most recent are Ron Howard's Far and Away and Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet. For many years, large budget pictures shot anamorphically used reserve stocks of 70mm film for SFX shots involving CGI or blue-screen compositing as the anamorphic format creates problems with said effects. It has also been used to sometimes strike 70 mm blow-up prints for "roadshow" tours in select cities from the 35 mm camera negative in order to capitalize on the extra sound channels provided. The introduction of digital sound systems and diminishing number of installed 70 mm projectors has made a 70 mm release largely obsolete. However, blowups from 35 mm formats to IMAX has recently become popular for a limited number of blockbuster films.

Paramount's VistaVision was a larger gauge precursor to 70 mm film. Introduced in 1954, it ran standard 35 mm film through the camera horizontally to achieve a widescreen effect using greater negative area, in order to create a finer-grained 35 mm prints in an era where standard monopack stock could not produce finer results. Frames were eight perforations wide. Eight-perf photography is sometimes used for shooting special effects in order to produce a finer grained matte that can be used in optical printing without image degradation, and is notable for its use in Lucasfilm's original three Star Wars films, among others.

Multiple cameras/projectors The Cinerama system originally involved shooting with three synchronized cameras locked together side by side, and projecting the three resulting films on a curved screen with three synchronized projectors, resuting in an ultra wide aspect ratio of 2.89. Later Cinerama movies were shot in 70 mm anamorphic (see below), and the resultant widescreen image was divided into three by optical printers to produce the final threefold prints.

The technical drawbacks of Cinerama are discussed in its own article. Only two narrative feature films, The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm and How the West Was Won, were filmed in three-camera Cinerama, and several sequences from the latter were actually filmed in Ultra-Panavision. With the exception of a few films created sporadically for use in specialty Cinerama theaters, the format is essentially dead.