Widescreen = 16:9
Normal 4:3
Widescreen films have been available since 1953 whereas TV widescreen increased in availability later on. Films then changed to 4:3 to suit television. Changing films to suit TV is known as pan and scan. This involves re-editing the entire film to suit the smaller screen size. The central point of the shot remains whereas less vital areas of the shot are taken out. Pan and scan often means many areas of a shot which a director purposely composed are not included. This can cause a film to lose essence as many pieces of the film are left out e.g. reactions from surrounding characters or the location of the film etc.
Without using the pan and scan method, the whole of a widescreen image can fit onto a normal television but a letter box effect appears, with black bars at the top and bottom of the screen. Also, putting a 4:9 image onto a 16:9 screen can be done in two ways. The image may be stretched to fit the screen, but this often makes the image out of the proportion. Another method is to pillar box it and have two black bars on either side of the image (opposite of letterbox).
Letterbox effect:
Pillarbox effect:
http://www.azpbs.org/digital/grfx/pillarbox.jpg
http://exposureroom.com/GetMemberJournalImage.aspx?j=News&id=71
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