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Better Projection Pays!

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As to using full open apertures...for what lens? You take a precut 446 x 825 aperture and chalk up several different brands and focal lengths of lenses and you'd be amazed at the variance of what is shown. The new ISCO plus series RED lenses practically look around the aperture plate trying to get all of the light!

I say, anything beyond .825 on width is undefined...there is no obligation to protect beyond it (and likewise for height). Therefore I vote for option 1...that is...your plate just shows a slight portion of the line in question then mask it off for a crisp picture. There is a safe action area and I believe up to 10% crop on all directions is supposed to be safe.

Steve

I am trying to get the 'right' amount of picture on the screen .. had to buy new lenses as the ones originally installed here were the next size along resulting in cropped images all the time ..... anyhoo ...

Caring About Composition:
here

But whereas anything outside of the allowable space is undefined...say beyond .825 one should never see the .825 line once the screen is masked. Now some projectors and gates allow for a much smaller fringe area but it will have a fringe area none-the-less. The only way it can make any sense is to have a safe area (10% crop) and that space is used to hide any of the mechanics of showing the image...this includes the fringe area and any keystoning anomolies. If the film makers play by the rules then no significant information is lost by the cropping and no extranious garbage (soundtrack, splice flash, pad roller scuffing...etc) is shown.

Steve

But the standards DO define much of what lies outside the projectable image area. For example, SMPTE 93 and SMPTE 139 define the film perforations. SMPTE 59 defines the camera aperture. SMPTE 111 defines the printed area. SMPTE 40 and SMPTE 203 define the analog track area. RP115 defines the DTS time code area.

I do agree that extraneous items may appear in the printed picture just outside the projectable image area, so filmmakers need to be diligent in keeping microphones, light stands, flags, and other items from being seen, even if only on the image that spills onto the masking.

I'm sorry that you have found it necessary to sometimes crop the image by up to 10% from the standardized projectable image area for reasons other than simple keystone correction. SMPTE 195 defines the projectable image area that should be seen by the audience. SMPTE 195 states in Note 2: "In the absence of specific instructions to the contrary, it is intended that the actual projected film image area be the largest appropriately-shaped figure that can be inscribed within the specified dimensions".

If "...extraneous garbage (soundtrack, splice flash, pad roller scuffing...etc) is shown...", someone is not meeting the published standards, and "violating" the standard projectable image area (that has actually been larger in the past). Taking another 10% crop seems the wrong way to go...we need to address the reasons the SMPTE 195 projectable area is "violated". (You oppose cyan dye tracks, which will completely eliminate soundtrack developer splashes and bleeding into the picture area).

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John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7525A
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: +1 585 477 5325 Cell: +1 585 781 4036 Fax: +1 585 722 7243
e-mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: here

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