Anamorphic format
A widescreen technique using cylindrical lenses to squeeze and expand images.
Anamorphic format is a way of shooting widescreen footage on a recording medium that is not itself widescreen. It was first created for 35 mm film, letting filmmakers produce wide images without losing any of the film’s usable area. Since then, it has been used with other film sizes, digital sensors, and video systems.
Instead of cutting off parts of the image to make it wider, anamorphic capture uses special cylindrical lenses. These lenses squeeze the picture horizontally while it is being recorded. Later, during projection, another lens stretches the image back to its proper wide shape. Because the full height of the film frame or sensor is used, this method keeps more image detail than cropped widescreen formats that are not anamorphic. It also gives a naturally wider horizontal view. Anamorphic lenses are more complex than standard spherical lenses and need more light. They can also create unique visual effects, like lens flares and oval-shaped bokeh, which filmmakers sometimes like for their look.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, anamorphic formats became less common. Improvements in film stocks and processing, followed by digital intermediates, meant that the lower resolution from cropping spherical formats like Super 35 was no longer a big problem. Many productions switched to spherical lenses because they are simpler, lighter, cheaper, and free from the distortions and artifacts of anamorphic optics. Later, as digital cinema cameras and projectors became widespread, interest in anamorphic formats returned. Digital sensors with higher base ISO sensitivity made it easier to shoot in low light with anamorphic lenses.
The word “anamorphic” comes from the Greek *anamorphoo*, meaning “to transform” or more precisely “to re-form.” It combines *morphé* (“form, shape”) with the prefix *aná* (“back, again”). Anamorphic format should not be confused with anamorphic widescreen, which is a different video encoding concept that uses similar ideas but different methods.
**History**
The optical process behind anamorphic lenses was invented by Henri Chrétien during World War I to give military periscopes (tanks and submarines) a wide-angle viewer for observation. He called it Hypergonar, and it provided a 2x horizontal squeeze. After the war, the technology was first used in a cinema in the 1927 short film *Fait-divers* (or *Construire un feu*), based on Jack
- field
- Cinematography
- known_for
- Widescreen film technique using cylindrical lenses to horizontally compress images
- key_innovation
- Hypergonar optical process by Henri Chrétien
- first_feature_film
- The Robe (1953)
- common_aspect_ratio
- 2.39:1 (often approximated to 2.4:1)
Lore & Background
The process of anamorphosing optics was developed by Henri Chrétien during the First World War to provide a wide angle viewer for military periscopes (tanks and submarines) for observation. The optical process was called Hypergonar by Chrétien and provided a 2x horizontal squeeze. After the war, the technology was first used in a cinema in the short film Fait-divers (or Construire un feu) in 1927 by Claude Autant-Lara. In the 1920s, phonograph and motion picture pioneer Leon F. Douglass also created special effects and anamorphic widescreen motion picture cameras, though how this relates to the earlier French invention and later development is unclear.
Anamorphic widescreen was not used again for mainstream cinematography until 1952 when Twentieth Century-Fox bought the rights to the technique to create Cinem
Reader's Guide
Anamorphic format holds a significant place in the history of cinematography as a technique that allowed widescreen presentations without sacrificing image area, using the full height of the film frame or sensor to retain more resolution than cropped non-anamorphic widescreen formats. Its development in the 1950s, particularly through CinemaScope, helped bring audiences back to cinemas by offering a wider, more immersive experience compared to television. The format's distinctive optical characteristics, such as lens flares and oval-shaped bokeh, are sometimes deliberately embraced for aesthetic appeal. After a decline in the late 1990s and early 2000s due to advances in film stocks and digital intermediates that made matting spherical formats less limiting, anamorphic formats saw renewed interest with the widespread adoption of digital cinema cameras and projectors, as higher base ISO sensitivity made low-light filming with anamorphic lenses easier. The term 'anamorphic' stems from the Greek 'anamorphoo' meaning 'to transform', and the format should not be confused with anamorphic widescreen, a different video encoding concept.
Did You Know?
- The word 'anamorphic' derives from the Greek 'anamorphoo', meaning 'to transform' or 'to re-form'.
- The first feature film released that was filmed with an anamorphic lens was The Robe in 1953.
- Anamorphic lenses can introduce distinctive distortions such as lens flares and oval-shaped bokeh, sometimes deliberately embraced for aesthetic appeal.
- Cinerama, an earlier widescreen system, required three cameras and three projectors, leading to synchronization problems that anamorphic widescreen avoided.
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