Aspect Ratio & Director's Intent

With IMAX releases like Villeneuve’s DUNE Part 2 and Nolan’s Oppenheimer comes the perennial debate on aspect ratios. Which framing is best? Who’s getting more? Who’s getting less? But there’s a bit more nuance to this debate. These questions miss a key component of the filmmaking process: the DIRECTOR’S INTENT. They fail to acknowledge the way cinematographers like Greig Fraser or Hoyte van Hoytema are carefully composing these frames with multiple deliverables in mind - this is not pan & scan. So let’s look at films ranging from Titanic to DUNE to Oppenheimer to see just how filmmakers compose their movies with every frame in mind.
//SOURCES
Dune: Part Two｜Behind-the-Scenes Featurette｜ Filmed For IMAX®
imax.melbourne Filmed For IMAX Instagram Post
DUNE Part 1 (2021)
Beyond Sand & Spice: The VFX of Dune｜DNEG Deep Dives
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
TIME Magazine “The Shape of Things That Were” by Jay Cocks August 30th, 1982
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
The Girl Can’t Help It (1956)
ASC Magazine’s Dec. ‘97 - Titanic Coverage
ASC Magazine July ‘23 - “Aspect Ratios for Home Exhibition”
Titanic (1997)
Christopher Nolan on his career, including Oppenheimer and the Batman trilogy｜BFI in conversation
The Dark Knight (2008)
IMAX.com “Experience”
DUNE｜DP Greig Fraser ACS, ASC｜ShotDeck: Shot Talk
Dune (2021) - DNEG Demo Reel ⧸ IMAX
What Is IMAX?
Oppenheimer (2023)
T2 Ground Glass - cinematography... “super-35”
Oppenheimer｜Shooting For IMAX
Titanic Crew Documentary
The Cinematography of Oppenheimer, with DP Hoyte Van Hoytema｜The DolbyInstitute Podcast
//MUSIC
Actually, Like by Twin Musicom is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommon...
Artist: www.twinmusicom...
Blue Danube by Strauss
Also Sprach Zarathustra ("Thus Spoke Zarathustra") by Strauss
Sun Awakening by Futuremono
Icelandic Arpeggios by DivKid
#imax #filmmaking #dune