On July 25th, 1953, Francois Truffaut wrote an article in Cahiers Du Cinéma titled "A Full View." It was an unabashed endorsement of the then brand-new American introduction of widescreen filmaking. As he put it:"With the wide screen the cinema of its own account reinvents the bas-relief, the essential medium of sculptural narrative, and in the same way gives 'depth' a primacy over 'relief', which, as we have seen in the recent 3-D films, points in the direction of an affectation with nothing to offer us but a vision of the world that is naively monstrous and totally unrealistic."
54 years later, in an age of Play Stations, Cell Phones, and iPods, CinemaScope still retains a magnificence when contrasted against any subsequent technological development. Its introduction was feared by many, but eventaully embraced. However, Truffaut's enthusiasm for the new medium is important to read accurately; he makes it very clear that the purpose of the technology is only as valuable insomuch as it does not detract from the inherent qualities of the motion picture art. Furthermore, widescreen dimensions actually recreate human panoramic vision with greater similitude than the traditional "box."
Fearing technological progress can certainly be a bit ironic in a profession that is mechanical by its very nature. Yet we should always make certain that it enhances, not mutilates, the art of making films. Makes sense to me, particularly when James Cameron is out giving lectures on the necessity of switching to 3-D filmaking or forever losing the world's movie audiences. Yet here we are with people are still paying top dollar to be entertained by widescreen projection.
Cinemascope was not available to the filmakers of the French New Wave however, so they had to make do with makeshift systems such as DyaliScope. It must have really irked the boys in berets that their favorite word "cinema" had been Shanghaied by Les Americains. Now, if Shoot the Piano Player showed any flair in using widescreen composition I might take the above quote a little more seriously. In fact it might have been a better film if it had been shot normally and Truffaut wasn't trying so desperately to be artsy. More on that and his problematic auteur theory in a later post.
Fearing technological progress can certainly be a bit ironic in a profession that is mechanical by its very nature. Yet we should always make certain that it enhances, not mutilates, the art of making films. Makes sense to me, particularly when James Cameron is out giving lectures on the necessity of switching to 3-D filmaking or forever losing the world's movie audiences. Yet here we are with people are still paying top dollar to be entertained by widescreen projection.
Cinemascope was not available to the filmakers of the French New Wave however, so they had to make do with makeshift systems such as DyaliScope. It must have really irked the boys in berets that their favorite word "cinema" had been Shanghaied by Les Americains. Now, if Shoot the Piano Player showed any flair in using widescreen composition I might take the above quote a little more seriously. In fact it might have been a better film if it had been shot normally and Truffaut wasn't trying so desperately to be artsy. More on that and his problematic auteur theory in a later post.
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