Open matte is a filming technique that involves matting out the top and bottom of the film frame in the

movie projector A movie projector (or film projector) is an optics, opto-mechanics, mechanical device for displaying Film, motion picture film by projecting it onto a movie screen, screen. Most of the optical and mechanical elements, except for the illuminat ...

(known as a ''soft matte'') for the

widescreen Widescreen images are displayed within a set of aspect ratio (image), aspect ratios (relationship of image width to height) used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ...

theatrical release and then scanning the film without a matte (at Academy ratio) for a full screen

home video Home video is recorded media sold or Video rental shop, rented for home viewing. The term originates from the VHS and Betamax era, when the predominant medium was videotapes, but has carried over to optical disc formats such as DVD and Blu-ray. ...

release, thus not only providing a much better full frame presentation than cropping, but considerably more convenient than pan and scan. It is roughly equivalent to an uncropped version of the film. Open matte can be used with non-

anamorphic Anamorphic format is a cinematography technique that captures widescreen images using recording media with narrower native Aspect ratio (image), aspect ratios. Originally developed for 35 mm movie film, 35 mm film to create widescreen pres ...

films presented in 2.20:1 or 2.39:1, but it is not used as often, mainly because it adds too much additional headroom, depending upon how well the framing was protected or for aesthetic purposes. Instead, those films will employ either pan and scan or reframing using either the well-protected areas or the areas of interest. Films shot anamorphically use the entire 35 mm frame (except for the soundtrack area), so they must use pan and scan as a result.

History

The rise of television and home media saw the use of a narrow aspect ratio of 4:3. To avoid letterboxing for broadcast releases, films were therefore reframed and cropped shot by shot to fit appropriately the full screen with the 4:3 aspect, with a process called pan and scan. Hence, only a cropped small portion of the theatrical frame was broadcast. Many films over the years have used the open matte technique for home video releases and television broadcasts, the most prominent of which include the ''

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'' trilogy, the ''

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'' trilogy, '' Schindler's List'', '' Titanic'', '' Top Gun'', '' Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory'', '' The Fugitive'', '' Silverado'' and ''

Predator Predation is a biological interaction in which one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common List of feeding behaviours, feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation ...

'', as well as many films that have been specially formatted for the

IMAX IMAX is a proprietary system of High-definition video, high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and movie theater, theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (image), aspect ratio (approximately ei ...

expanded aspect ratio of 1.90:1 and 1.43:1. Stanley Kubrick also used this technique for his last three films '' The Shining'' (1980), '' Full Metal Jacket'' (1987) and '' Eyes Wide Shut'' (1999). Films such as

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's '' Terminator 2: Judgment Day'' (1991), Michael Bay's '' The Rock'' (1996), and Steven Spielberg's '' Minority Report'' (2002), all of which were shot in Super 35 also utilize the open matte technique, but this is mixed with pan and scan due to the visual effects being rendered in a wider aspect ratio.

Open matte and pan and scan

Pan and scan is an important process to optimise the film presentation for home viewing and television. For

HDTV High-definition television (HDTV) describes a television or video system which provides a substantially higher image resolution than the previous generation of technologies. The term has been used since at least 1933; in more recent times, it ref ...

, a combination of zooming and cropping is done to a portion of a frame, usually in accordance to the most important details in a shot. Pan and scan can be done on a scope (2.40:1) master for a film, or even the open matte version. Open matte helps in the pan and scan process, as there is more image to work with, and use the extra image on the top and bottom to fill a 16:9 display for HDTV broadcasts. Additionally, filmmakers may choose to release the open matte version for a film's "widescreen" home video release, such as with James Cameron's '' Avatar'' and the Blu-ray 3D release of '' Titanic''.

Usage

Usually, non-anamorphic

4-perf Negative pulldown is the manner in which an image is exposed on a film stock, described by the number of film perforations spanned by an individual frame. It can also describe whether the image captured on the negative is oriented horizontally ...

films are filmed directly on the entire full frame silent aperture gate (1.33:1). When a married print is created, this frame is slightly re-cropped by the frame line and optical soundtrack down to Academy ratio (1.37:1). The

then uses an aperture mask to soft matte the academy frame to the intended

aspect ratio The aspect ratio of a geometry, geometric shape is the ratio of its sizes in different dimensions. For example, the aspect ratio of a rectangle is the ratio of its longer side to its shorter side—the ratio of width to height, when the rectangl ...

(1.85:1 or 1.66:1). When the 4:3 full-screen video master is created, many filmmakers may prefer to use the full Academy frame ("open matte") instead of creating a pan and scan version from within the 1.85 framing. Because the framing is increased vertically in the open matte process, the decision to use it needs to be made prior to shooting, so that the camera operator can frame for 1.85:1 and "protect" for 4:3; otherwise unintended objects such as boom

microphone A microphone, colloquially called a mic (), or mike, is a transducer that converts sound into an electrical signal. Microphones are used in many applications such as telephones, hearing aids, public address systems for concert halls and publi ...

s, cables, and light stands may appear in the open matte frame, thus requiring some amount of pan and scan in some or all scenes. Additionally, the un-matted 4:3 version may often throw off an otherwise tightly framed shot and add an inordinate amount of headroom above actors (particularly with 1.85:1), depending upon how well the framing was protected or for aesthetic purposes. With high-definition television now in common usage (with its standardized 16:9 (1.78:1) aspect ratio), the need to reformat 1.85:1 movies for television viewing has virtually evaporated, although television broadcasts still reformat 2.39:1 movies by means of using open matte or pan and scan. For films with wider aspect ratios (2.39:1, for example) the matting bars will appear on the top and bottom of the screen of the broadcast image, thus preserving each director's framing intent.

References

{{Film formats Film and video terminology

History

Open matte and pan and scan

Usage

See also

References