Friday Widescreen

Friday finds us at a presentation at the National Science and Media Museum in Bradford. It was all about widescreen movies. Back in the days when movies were things you went to, not things you made, a plucky band of souls formed the Amateur Widescreen Association. Impressed by the widescreen movies of the day they tried to create the same experience using films and equipment available for home use. At the time cameras and projectors were entirely mechanical, so the task was to use different lenses, film gate shapes and film sizes make the biggest and most impressive wide screen effect. Every year they held an event where they all gathered to show off their latest creations. They built some amazing hardware, including one presentation that used 3 synchronised projectors. Each year they had a competition to pick the best films, and we got to see a bunch of test films, along with some of the winners. It was great fun.

Of course, nowadays widescreen is an option you click on your phone camera and image quality is just something you take for granted. But the presentation showed that with determination and ingenuity you can make tiny negatives really sing on the big screen. Some of the movies were projected as film, in one case it was the original celluloid that went to Afghanistan, was exposed and mixed there in camera and then brought back for development. Lots of material ends up as being of historical interest, as we saw scenes of places that no longer exist. Thanks to Guy Edmonds and the rest of the team for doing such a great job of bringing the past back to life.

The presentation was part of a larger Widescreen Weekend in Bradford which runs once a year. There are lots of movies on show. Maybe next year I’ll sign up and spend an entire weekend eating popcorn…