Can Aspect Ratio help tell the story? | Part 1 - What are we talking about?

Can Aspect Ratio help tell the story?

 Part1 - What are we talking about?

I recently saw something about the shape of the frame (AKA: Aspect ratio) and  how it can subtly influence or effect the story or message.

I think its' a pretty cool idea &  wish using different frames for different stories was considered acceptable by general audience.  In practical terms most of us will use the current standard for the majority of what we make.

We'll break here to familiarize ourselves with some of the common options when it comes to Aspect Ratio. If you want more info about what aspect ratio is I'll wait while you google it, as many people have already explained it better than I can.

... ... ...

Ok, now you know what aspect ratio is and you have probably seen a whole series of different ones.  For today I'm going to stick to 3 main categories. There are lots of  specific aspect ratios out there.

Squarish

For this post I'm simplifying to:






1) Square'ish  | "close to a square"
SD TV & a few social media Platforms are square or pretty close to square.

Wide

2) Wide | "wide  enough to notice"
These are pretty standard now days as they are the aspect ratios of HD & 4K and all the stuff that uses those terms. They are all noticeably wider than they are tall.

Very Wide

3) Very Wide  "wide enough to look thin"
Frame shapes that have, in the past, primarily been associated with theatrical releases. They went by names like pano-vision, vista-vision, cinemascope etc. While modern devices can display any shape content, not many are actually shaped this way.





I'll leave you with the basic premise.

Squarish is best suited to show people and stories that focus on them. 
Wide is best suited to conveying story elements and should be used for "plot driven" stories. 
Very Wide is best suited to show places and should be used when the setting plays an important roll. 

In the next post we'll look a little deeper at this idea.



*Photos from last summers visit to the Ten Thousand Buddha Temple in Niagara Falls. 
To see more photos from my visit to the temple follow my flickr Photo Stream.

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