Fa-la-la-la-la-la-sleighamorph wrote:Besides some artistic bollocks, is there any actual reason/point it was filmed in 70mm? I mean, why film in a format that 99% of theatres and 0% of TVs are going to be able to reproduce?
Then again, I don't get why films are still filmed in a way that means they're letterboxed when you buy the Blu-Ray rather than being filmed in 16:9 since that's the primary format they're going to be watched in.
I think you've linked the size of the celluloid film to the aspect ratio. One doesn't determine the other. Did you see The Dark Knight rises in a proper IMAX cinema? The 70mm film sections took up the entire screen as it went to 16:9 aspect ratio. Looked amazing.
A larger celluloid print means it should be vastly more detailed and sharper, with better brightness and better picture in every way. Although the added detail is perhaps not as immediately obvious to the eye if the screen is twice as big too. I believe this is the main reason to opt for 70mm, it looks better.
Hateful Eight despite being filmed inside for the most part is filmed in a very wide aspect ratio but it's not a feature of 70mm that it's so wide, it's just Tarrantino's vision for the film.
I personally agree that directors should where possible opt for 16:9 as it's not far off being the Golden Ratio but more importantly to me, the black bars mean you have a smaller image to view and a lower resolution film (as all 1080 lines aren't being used) which is counterproductive to owning a Full HD telly. Also, as you say, the vast majority of the time, the film will be watched on a TV. It's usually only the one time you see it in cinema.