VistaVision

VistaVision is a motion picture format introduced by Paramount Pictures in 1940 as a widescreen alternative to standard 35‑mm film. It was developed to improve image resolution by running 35‑mm film horizontally instead of vertically, thereby capturing a larger perforated area and allowing 24 frames per second to be recorded onto a 35‑mm strip that produced a width of approximately 35 mm of image area. The resulting image had a 32:1 film-to-digital polygon ratio, giving a sharpness that was superior to standard anamorphic lenses of the time.

The format was marketed as a carrier for many of Paramount’s big‑budget productions of the 1940s and 1950s, including films such as The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1951) and Bonanza (1958). VistaVision’s high resolution facilitated excellent viewing in large cinemas and it could be later converted to 70‑mm or to 35‑mm prints for distribution. Although Paramount eventually abandoned the term in favor of "Paramount Deluxe," the technical principles of VistaVision influenced later widescreen standards such as CinemaScope.

In modern digital cinematography, VistaVision has experienced a revival with the VistaVision Digital System, which emulates the wide aspect ratio and high dynamic range of the original format by using a 35‑mm sensor with a 1.8× anamorphic factor. This hybrid system adopts the iconic 1.85:1 aspect ratio that has become a genre standard for contemporary Hollywood blockbusters.