Is there a way to visually determine aspect ratios in movie theaters?

[yoda313]

I was wondering if there was a way to visually determine the aspect ratios of movies in movie theaters.

I know how you can estimate the ratio on home sets be it sd or hdtv via the lack of or size of any black bars.

However when you actually see a movie in a movie theater is there any visual clue as to what the aspect ratio was for the movie itself? I know the general rule of thumb seems to be 1.85:1 or so for things like comedies and some dramas (non epic types) and romantic fair. Then for a majority of action flicks or at least major budget action movies will be 2.35:1 or slightly higher (I still don't get how some can be 2.40:1).

But anyway since generally speaking any movie generally seems to take up the same "screen space" on a movie screen as any other movie do they manually adjust the projector to create this illusion of sameness?

I mean if there is a "native" function on movie projectors like dvd/bluray players would you actually see the movie displayed differently on the same movie screen? Do projectionist manually adjust the lens in theaters for a given movie to fill the screen properly so you don't feel cheated out of screen size?

Or am I misreading how the aspect ratios work in film/digital theaters in the professional settings? I know how the home widescreen ratios work in general (albeit probably in a simplistic fashion). Is it more straightforward then this?

[Reelman472]

Yoda313,

"I mean if there is a "native" function on movie projectors like dvd/bluray players would you actually see the movie displayed differently on the same movie screen? Do projectionist manually adjust the lens in theaters for a given movie to fill the screen properly so you don't feel cheated out of screen size?"

The answers to your question varies by circumstance. Currently we have 3 different types of theaters. IMAX Film & Digital, Digital Theaters and Film Theaters. There are many different aspect ratios projectionists must deal with. For example, almost all of the early films from 30's & 40's were black and white and had an aspect ratio 133:1. Modern screens in todays multi-plexis can't handle that ratio. Its taller than its wide so we need a lense that can shrink the image to fit the modern screen which is wider then it is high. Regardless of the projector the image is cropped, zoomed, or masked to fit the screen. To achieve this with film projectors we use masking curtains (motorized), scope and flat lenses, and aperture plates. Digital projectors acomplish changes in aspect ration via software, and masking curtains.

Reelman

[handyguy]

Why not just ask someone at the theater what it is?

[Constant Gardener]

I was a projectionist in a small-town cinema in the 1960s - we had one lens and aperture-plate pair for "flat" films and another pair for anamorphic. The aperture plates were sized to match the screen. You would not be able to determine the original aspect ratio by looking at the projected image, since quite a bit of the film frame was masked by the aperture plate.

[yoda313]

@reelman472 - Ok. I do remember seeing the curtains move from time to time.

handy guy - I could but I was wondering if there was a self test way to do it.

@constant gardner - thanks for the additional insight.

[bendixG15]

Another way to get the aspect ratio is to look it up in the IMDb site under Addition Details

(It was there for the 2 movies I looked up)

[FulciLives]

Pretty much all movies today are either 1.85:1 or 2.35:1 and you can easily tell looking at the screen which it is since one is much wider than the other.

IMAX is of course a different thing ... I don't know what ratio or ratios it can be.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman