Editing VistaVision (section)

==History==
As a response to an industry recession caused largely by the popularity of [[television]], the Hollywood studios turned to large-format films in order to regain audience attendance. In 1952, the spherical format [[Cinerama]] debuted in September, and consisted of three strips of 35&nbsp;mm film projected side-by-side onto a giant, [[curved screen]], augmented by seven channels of [[stereophonic sound]]. In 1953, [[20th Century Studios|Twentieth Century-Fox]] announced the introduction of a simpler version of Cinerama using [[anamorphic]] lenses instead of multiple film strips, a widescreen process later known as [[CinemaScope]].<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://archive.org/details/americancinemato34unse/page/113/mode/2up |title=CinemaScope--What It Is, How It Works |magazine=[[American Cinematographer]] |date=March 1953 |pages=112–113 |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref> 

By January 1953, Paramount Pictures decided to convert ''[[Sangaree (film)|Sangaree]]'' (1953) into a 3D production, which had originally been filmed "flat" for the prior two weeks.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1953/01/27/archives/paramount-starts-3dimension-movie-sangaree-being-filmed-flat-for.html |title=Paramount Starts 3-Dimension Movie |newspaper=The New York Times |date=January 27, 1953 |page=22 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> When the film was screened for Paramount president [[Barney Balaban]], he talked in length with [[Spyros Skouras]], president of Twentieth Century-Fox, in which Balaban stated he had preferred the CinemaScope process.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://archive.org/details/variety189-1953-02/page/n6/mode/1up |title=No Letup in 3-D |magazine=Variety |date=February 4, 1953 |page=7 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> By the next month, Paramount Pictures devised its own system to augment its [[3-D film|3-D]] process, known as Paravision. This process utilized a screen size that yielded an [[Aspect ratio (image)|aspect ratio]] of five units wide by three units high.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://archive.org/details/variety189-1953-02/page/n202/mode/1up |title=Clarify 3-D Systems |date=February 25, 1953 |magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |page=7 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=Par. Rides Bandwagon with 3-Dimension |date=February 12, 1953 |page=5 |magazine=The Film Weekly |location=Sydney, Australia |issn=0015-1467}}</ref> The first film released by Paramount to use the Paravision process was ''[[Red Garters (film)|Red Garters]]'' (1954).<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1953/01/30/archives/studios-push-films-in-stereoscopics-paramount-metro-warners-to.html |title=Studios Push Films in Stereoscopics |newspaper=The New York Times |date=January 30, 1953 |page=24 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> 

This "flat" widescreen process was adopted by other studios, and by the end of 1953, more than half of the theaters in the U.S. had installed wide screens. However, because a smaller portion of the image was used and magnification was increased, excessive grain and soft images plagued early widescreen presentations. Some studios sought to compensate for these effects by shooting color films with a full aperture gate (rather than the academy aperture) and then reducing the image in [[Technicolor]]'s optical printer. This process is a predecessor of today's [[Super 35]] format, which also uses a 1.85:1 ratio but one-third more frame area than does a standard 1.85:1 matted into a [[Aspect ratio (image)|4:3]] ratio.

The idea behind VistaVision originated with John R. Bishop, the head of Paramount's camera department. He had been impressed with the Cinerama process, although he took exception to the blow-up process.  He told ''[[Popular Science Magazine]]'': "the negative is the bad boy. We simply can't store enough detail in its small size. Sit close to the screen, and your eyes tire. Too fuzzy, too grainy."<ref name="HollywoodNowShoots">{{cite magazine |last=Boone |first=Andrew R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zSADAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA62 |title=Hollywood Now Shoots |magazine=Popular Science |date=July 1954 |pages=61–64 |issn=0161-7370 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> He became interested in projecting the widescreen image in sharp detail. He installed a Leica lens in a [[Mitchell Camera]] after remembering an abandoned two-frame color system developed by the William P. Stein Company that exposed both negatives to form a single projection image. Bishop turned the camera on its side and shot a film test which proved successful.<ref name="HollywoodNowShoots" /> In shooting in the VistaVision process, the film was run horizontally rather than vertically, and instead of exposing two simultaneous four-perforation frames, the entire eight perforations were used for one image.<ref name="WideScreen1">{{cite web|url=http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/widescreen/wingvv1.htm |title=The VistaVision Wing |website=Widescreen Museum |access-date=2016-09-01}}</ref> The negative frame area was approximated to be 1.472 x 0.997 inches.<ref name="Lazy8">{{cite magazine |last1=Bishop |first1=John R. |last2=Ryder |first2=Loren L. |url=https://archive.org/details/american-cinematographer-1953-12-cbz/page/n19/mode/2up |title=Paramount's 'Lazy-8' Double-Frame Camera |magazine=American Cinematographer |date=December 1953 |volume=34 |issue=12 |pages=588–589 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Raimondo-Souto |first=H. Mario |title=Motion Picture Photography: A History, 1891–1960 |year=2014 |publisher=[[McFarland & Company]] |page=315 |isbn=978-0-786-48407-2}}</ref> 

During its technical development, Paramount's camera technicians dubbed this process the "Lazy 8" system, by which the term "lazy" stood for the horizontal film path, and "8" for the eight-sprocket image width.<ref name="Lazy8" /> Paramount trade-named the process "VistaVision" early in 1954, and the first production to utilize the camera process was ''[[White Christmas (film)|White Christmas]]'' (1954).<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Gavin |first=Arthur E. |url=https://archive.org/details/americancinemato35unse/page/174/mode/2up |title=Tomorrow's Wide-Screen Camera... |magazine=American Cinematographer |date=April 1954 |volume=35 |issue=4 |pages=174–175 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> The process afforded a wider [[aspect ratio (image)|aspect ratio]] of 1.5:1 versus the conventional 1.37:1 Academy ratio, and a much larger image area. In order to satisfy theaters with various screen sizes, VistaVision films were shot so that they could be shown in one of three recommended [[Aspect ratio|aspect ratios]]: 1.66:1, 1.85:1 and 2.00:1.<ref name="WideScreen1" />

In its lead-up to ''White Christmas'', Paramount Pictures' publicity department stressed the CinemaScope process was "uncomfortably wide", in which their "VistaVision" process would emphasize that "height is as important as width."<ref name="HistoryofAmericanCinema">{{cite book |last=Lev |first=Peter |title=History of the American Cinema, Volume 7: 1950–1959 |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_2900520249669/ |year=1994 |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |pages=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_2900520249669/page/120/mode/2up 120–121] |isbn=978-0-520-24966-0}}</ref> By then, several theaters had been equipped with horizontal screen projectors for VistaVision's eight-sprocket image frame. For theater exhibitors that were not equipped, an alternate 35 mm film print was used with a compatible sound system known as the "[[Perspecta|Perspecta Stereo]]", encoded in the optical track.<ref name="HistoryofAmericanCinema" /> The VistaVision fanfare, heard in most of the films produced in this ratio, was composed by [[Van Cleave|Nathan Van Cleave]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The VistaVision Wing |url=http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/widescreen/wingvv2.htm |access-date=2019-12-03 |website=Widescreen Museum |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250115083247/https://www.widescreenmuseum.com/widescreen/wingvv2.htm |archive-date=2025-01-15 |url-status=live}}</ref>

''White Christmas'' held its West Coast premiere at the Warner Beverly Hills Theatre on October 27, 1954. The ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' detailed the VistaVision process was "a simple innovation, but not easy to grasp" by which they noted the "enlargement and compression process gives the picture a depth of focus which enhances its clarity."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/385837725/ |title=VistaVision Debut Nears |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |at=Part I, p. 13 |date=October 16, 1954 |access-date=January 20, 2025 |via=Newspapers.com |url-access=subscription}}</ref> Prior to its release, in March 1954, Paramount chief engineer [[Loren L. Ryder]] believed that VistaVision would become the forerunner of widescreen projection for the following reasons:
* VistaVision could be shown at widescreen aspect ratios between 1.66 and 2.00:1.
* VistaVision could be (and most often was) further printed down to standard vertical 35&nbsp;mm reels, keeping its 1.66:1 widescreen aspect ratio, which meant that exhibitors did not need to purchase additional projection equipment, as was often required for [[CinemaScope]].
* VistaVision did not force the elimination of seats in any theater (as did [[Cinerama]], and CinemaScope at first).
* VistaVision allowed patrons to see more and therefore gain more enjoyment from a film.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Ryder |first=Loren L. |url=https://archive.org/details/independentfilmj3233unse/page/n673/mode/1up?q=ryder |title=Para's Vista Vision System Offers Benefits To Theatre |journal=Independent Film Journal |volume=33 |issue=5 |page=26 |date=March 20, 1954 |access-date=January 31, 2025 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref>

Following the film's release, Paramount reiterated its policy to have their standard film prints "available to play in any theatre anywhere in the world with no requirement that the exhibitor alter [their] equipment in order to play a VistaVision picture."<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Ryder |first1=Loren R. |last2=Bishop |first2=John R. |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_american-cinematographer_1954-11_35_11/page/552/mode/2up |title=VistaVision Moves Forward |magazine=American Cinematographer |pages=552–553 |date=November 1954 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> Subsequent Paramount films including ''[[Strategic Air Command (film)|Strategic Air Command]]'' (1955), ''[[To Catch a Thief (film)|To Catch a Thief]]'' (1955), ''[[The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956 film)|The Man Who Knew Too Much]]'' (1956), ''[[The Ten Commandments (1956 film)|The Ten Commandments]]'' (1956), ''[[Funny Face]]'' (1957), and ''[[Vertigo (film)|Vertigo]]'' (1958) were filmed in VistaVision.<ref name="HistoryofAmericanCinema" /> Though it was not as prevalent as CinemaScope, rival studios adopted the VistaVision process, including MGM's ''[[High Society (1956 film)|High Society]]'' (1956), Warner Bros.' ''[[The Searchers]]'' (1956), and [[United Artists]]' ''[[The Vikings (film)|The Vikings]]'' (1958).<ref name="HistoryofAmericanCinema" /> 

By the late 1950s, VistaVision became obsolete with the industry preference for [[Panavision]] and more refinements in [[Eastmancolor]] film stock. Paramount produced their last Vistavision film, ''[[One-Eyed Jacks]]'' in 1961. By the 1960s, they adopted [[Technirama]] as its primary widescreen projection system.<ref>{{cite web |last=Hart |first=Martin |url=https://www.widescreenmuseum.com/widescreen/vvstory.htm |title=The Development of VistaVision: Paramount Marches to a Different Drummer |website=Widescreen Museum |date=1996 |access-date=January 20, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250118232840/http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/widescreen/vvstory.htm |archive-date=January 18, 2025 |url-status=live}}</ref> 

Since the last American VistaVision film, ''One-Eyed Jacks'' which began shooting in 1958 but was not released until 1961, the format would not be used as a primary imaging system for a feature film until 2024. However, VistaVision's high resolution made it attractive for some special-effects work within some later feature films.