Interestingly television ultimately copied the same 4 x 3 aspect ratio, a picture shape that people were accustomed to in cinemas. Television – was at first a novelty, but very quickly became a threat to the cinema. People got used to the idea of being entertained at home from this new box in the corner. In the late forties and early fifties, television began to take hold, and studios and cinemas began to see their audience numbers decline. There was however something around the corner that would provide that impetus. Shot in black and white on 65mm film it was John Wayne’s first lead role, but at the time there was no real impetus for wider formats, so the 4 x 3 box-shaped image remained. Since its early beginnings, the shape of the screen (its aspect ratio) was almost square at around 4 x 3, (4 units wide and 3 units high) and it stayed that way for more than seventy years.Īlthough several early tests had been conducted on wider formats, ‘The Big Trail’ released in 1930 was possibly the most notable. To really talk about CinemaScope and its impact on cinema we need to understand a little of what cinema was like pre-1950s.

Cinescope vs