The Shape of the Screen and
The Darkness of the Theatre
Paul Goodman
IN
A CONTROVERSY
some ten years ago on the best shape for the
cinema screen-the occasion was the abortive introduction of the
Grandeur screen-Sergei Eisenstein contended for the Square as
against the Flat Oblong (5:3, 8:5, etc.) His interest was to give
the director more latitude for "vertical compositions." In practice,
as it turned out, he lost the argument, for altho a few theatres have
square screens, all film-frames remain oblong. Partly to explain
this outcome, so far as it can be done on merely psychological and
esthetic grounds, I should like to discuss the Screen-shape in a
more fundamental context than was at that time proposed.*
For the sake of thoroness, perhaps I can first add a few notes
to the old discussion. Eisenstein summed up the arguments for the
oblong under three heads, which he then refuted: theatre-structure,
physiology, and esthetics.
l.
The overhung balcony requires a
screen lower than the square in order not to interfere with the line
of sight of the rear seats; but the new theatres, argued Eisenstein,
could dispense with such balconies (which were indeed invented
for audition without amplification, for reasons of rent, etc.) But
other architectural considerations must also be kept in mind which
militate against the Square, namely the pitch of the seats to insure
a good direct line of vision, and the avoidance of obstruction from
the heads in front. 2. More crucial are the physiological argu–
ments: that the field of stationary vision is broader than it is high
and that the moving eyes cover a wider angle horizontally than
vertically. It seems to me that these are refuted too cavalierly by
the great Russian when he says that the head itself can be moved;
for it is all very well to look up and down at a painting, but for the
ninety-minute-long attention to a movie, every cause of strain or
effort must be absolutely minimized before any other considera-
*Quite apart from this entire discussion, I should say that a sufficient explanation
ia
the physiological one that the
field of vision
is broader than it is high, so that the
Oat oblong presents a larger easily visible area than the square.
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