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CinemaScope is an anamorphic lens series used, from 1953 to 1967, for shooting widescreen movies. Its creation in 1953 by Spyros P. Skouras,〔Ilias Chrissochoidis (ed.), (''CinemaScope: Selected Documents from the Spyros P. Skouras Archive'' ) (Stanford, 2013).〕 the president of 20th Century-Fox, marked the beginning of the modern anamorphic format in both principal photography and movie projection. The anamorphic lenses theoretically allowed the process to create an image of up to a 2.66:1 aspect ratio, almost twice as wide as the previously common Academy format's 1.37:1 ratio. Although the CinemaScope lens system was made obsolete by new technological developments, primarily advanced by Panavision, the CinemaScope anamorphic format has continued to this day. In film-industry jargon, the shortened form, 'Scope, is still widely used by both filmmakers and projectionists, although today it generally refers to any 2.35:1, 2.39:1, or 2.40:1 presentation or, sometimes, the use of anamorphic lensing or projection in particular. Bausch & Lomb won a 1954 Oscar for its development of the CinemaScope lens. ==Origins== A French inventor named Professor Henri Chrétien developed and patented a new film process that he called ''Anamorphoscope'' in 1926. It was this process that would later form the basis for CinemaScope. Chrétien's process was based on lenses that employed an optical trick which produced an image twice as wide as those that were being produced with conventional lenses; this was done using an optical system called ''Hypergonar'', which was the process of compressing (at shoot time) and dilating (at projection time) the image laterally.〔(CinemaScope: A Concise History ) 〕 He attempted to interest the motion picture industry in his invention, but at that time the industry was not sufficiently impressed. By 1950, however, cinema attendance seriously declined with the advent of a new competitive rival: television. Yet Cinerama and the early 3D films, both launched in 1952, succeeded at the box-office in defying this trend, which in turn persuaded Spyros Skouras, the head of Twentieth Century-Fox, that technical innovation could help to meet the challenge.〔Ilias Chrissochoidis (ed.), (''Spyros P. Skouras, Memoirs (1893-1953)'' ) (Stanford, 2013), 151.〕 Skouras tasked Earl Sponable, head of Fox's research department, with devising a new, impressive, projection system, but something that, unlike Cinerama, could be retrofitted to existing theatres at a relatively modest cost – and then Herbert Brag, Sponable's assistant, remembered Chrétien's "hypergonar" lens.〔"out of the Lens Cupboard – Anamorphosis part two, the coming of Cinemascope" Grant Lobban, Cinema Technology Vol 7 No.3 April 1994〕 The optical company Bausch & Lomb was asked to produce a prototype "anamorphoser" (later shortened to "anamorphic") lens. Meanwhile, Sponable tracked down Professor Chrétien, whose patent for the process had expired, so Fox purchased his existing Hypergonars from him and these lenses were flown back to Fox's studios in Hollywood. Test footage shot with these lenses was screened for Skouras who gave the go-ahead for development of a widescreen process based on Chrétien's invention, which was to be known as "CinemaScope". Twentieth Century-Fox's pre-production of ''The Robe'', originally committed to Technicolor Three-Strip origination, was halted so that the film could be changed to a CinemaScope production (using Eastmancolor, but processed by Technicolor). Two other CinemaScope productions were also planned: ''How to Marry a Millionaire'' and ''Beneath the Twelve-Mile Reef.'' So that production of these first CinemaScope films could proceed without delay, shooting started using the best three of Chrétien's Hypergonars while Bausch & Lomb continued working on their own versions. The introduction of CinemaScope would enable Fox and other studios to reassert its distinction from the new competitor, television. As Chrétien's Hypergonars proved to have significant optical and operational defects (primarily loss-of-squeeze at close camera-to-subject distances, plus the requirement of two camera assistants), Bausch & Lomb, Fox's prime contractor for the production of these lenses, initially produced an improved "Chrétien-formula" adapter lens design (CinemaScope Adapter Type I), and subsequently produced a dramatically improved and patented "Bausch & Lomb formula" adapter lens design (CinemaScope Adapter Type II). Ultimately "Bausch & Lomb formula" "combined" lens designs incorporated both the "prime" lens and the anamorphic lens in one unit (initially in 35, 40, 50, 75, 100 and 152 mm focal lengths, and later including a 25 mm focal length). These "combined" lenses continue to be used to this day, particularly in special effects units, although other manufacturers' lenses are often preferred for so-called "production" applications benefitting from their significantly lighter weight or lower distortion, or a combination of both characteristics. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「CinemaScope」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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