VistaVision

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A VistaVision 35 mm horizontal camera film frame. The dotted area shows the area actually used.

The VistaVision logo

VistaVision is a variant of the 35 mm motion picture film format created by Paramount Pictures in 1954 based on the Glamorama and Superama widescreen systems. Paramount, who did not buy into one of the anamorphic widescreen systems available, such as CinemaScope, looked for a more satisfying alternative.

Paramount's intention was to create finer-grained negatives through shooting with larger surface area on film, which when printed and projected on the screen in the new flat widescreen formats, would register as clear as those which were not magnified for variable ratios.

Loren L. Ryder, chief engineer at Paramount, expressed four general reasons to why Paramount's VistaVision would be the forerunner of widescreen projection in most theaters:

• VistaVision may be shown at any aspect ratio from 1.37 to 2:1.
• VistaVision does not requre the purchase of additional equipment (unlike CinemaScope).
• VistaVision will not cut down the number of seats in any theater (such as Cinerama and CinemaScope).
• VistaVision will permit the patrons to see more and therefore gain more enjoyment out of a feature. Independent Film Journal, 33:25, March 20, 1954.

With all of the other major studios using CinemaScope, Paramount debuted VistaVision in 1954 with White Christmas. The film is run horizontally, as in a still camera, with a width of 8 perforations per frame. (It is sometimes colloquially called "Lazy 8" among film professionals because it is "lying down".) This gave a wider aspect ratio of 1.5 against the conventional 1.33, and a larger image area. The film was usually then matted to a standard aspect ratio and optically printed onto vertical reels. VistaVision films were shown in a number of aspect ratios, the most popular being 1.85:1. Others included 2:1 and 1.75:1. Framing for these ratios were always adjusted with special cue marks, printed into to the start of each reel.

White Christmas, Strategic Air Command, To Catch a Thief and The Battle of the River Plate (a.k.a. Pursuit of the Graf Spee) had very limited (two or three) prints struck in the 8-perf VistaVision format as the films were shot. Generally, these were for premiere or preview engagements and required special projection equipment. This process was impractical as the footage travelling through the projector at the normal 24 frames per second resulted with a traveling rate of 180 feet per minute, double the speed of normal 35 mm film and opening itself up to many technical problems. As the process specified, all of the titles were printed in the conventional vertical format and could be shown on the standard 35 mm projector.

Whereas most competing widescreen film systems utilized magnetic audio, VistaVision only carried Perspecta Stereo, encoded in the optical track.

Alfred Hitchcock took to the format and used it for many of his films in the 1950s. However, the process saw limited usage, as it required considerable labwork including optical printing and matting down to a conventional aspect ratio on vertical film (with the exception of a very small number of theaters between 1954 and 1956), as well as the cost of twice as much film stock during filming.

VistaVision lost out in the general market to the less expensive, anamorphic systems such as Panavision and the more capable 70 mm format. It has virtually disappeared as a primary imaging system for feature films, although it was still very infrequently used in lesser-known Japanese films up to 2000.

Since 1977 the format has enjoyed a brief renaissance, due to Lucasfilm's handmade retooled VistaVision cameras called "Dykstraflex", as an intermediate format used for shooting special effects, thanks to the reduced grain and easy adaptability of compact still cameras. However, both the advent of computer-generated imagery and usage of 70 mm for similar optical work has largely rendered this usage of VistaVision obsolete as well.

Technical specifications

• spherical lenses
• 8 perforations per frame
• horizontal pulldown, from right to left (viewed from base side)
• slightly less depth of field than vertical pulldown 35 mm
• camera aperture: 1.485" (37.72 mm) by 0.981" (24.92 mm)

Famous films made using VistaVision

• White Christmas (1954)
• Richard III (1955)
• The Rose Tattoo (1955)
• Artists and Models (1955)
• The Desperate Hours (1955) (first b&w film shot in VistaVision)
• Strategic Air Command (1955)
• To Catch a Thief (1955)
• The Trouble with Harry (1955)
• We're No Angels (1955)
• War and Peace (1956)
• High Society (1956)
• The Court Jester (1956)
• The Searchers (1956)
• The Ten Commandments (1956)
• The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
• Funny Face (1957)
• Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957)
• The Pride and the Passion (1957)
• Vertigo (1958)
• Rock-a-Bye Baby (1958)
• Desire Under the Elms (1958)
• North by Northwest (1959)
• One-Eyed Jacks (1961)

• In the Realm of the Senses (1976)
• In the Realm of Passion (1978)
• Vengeance Is Mine (1979)
• Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (1983)

Special effects process work only

• [[Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope]] (1977)
• [[Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back]] (1980)
• Tron (1982)
• [[Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi]] (1983)
• Back to the Future (1985)
• RoboCop (1987)
• Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
• Back to the Future Part II (1989)
• The Abyss (1989)
• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
• Forrest Gump (1994)
• Apollo 13 (1995)
• Twister (1996)
• Contact (1997)
• Men in Black (1997)
• Meet Joe Black (1998)
• The Matrix (1999)
• The Mummy (1999)
• The Perfect Storm (2000)
• Pearl Harbor (2001)
• The Mummy Returns (2001)
• Men in Black II (2002)
• 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003)
• Spider-Man 2 (2004)
• Batman Begins (2005)

References