Pillar box (film)

The pillar box effect occurs in widescreen video displays when black bars (mattes or masking) are placed on the sides of the image.

It becomes necessary when film or video that was not originally designed for widescreen is shown on a widescreen display, or a narrower widescreen image is displayed within a wider aspect ratio, such as a 1.85:1 image in a 2.35:1 frame. The original material is shrunk and placed in the middle of the widescreen frame. Some older arcade games that had a tall vertical and short horizontal are displayed in pillar box even on 4:3 televisions. Some early sound films made 1928–1931, such as "City Lights", were filmed in an even narrower format to make room for the Sound-on-film track on then-standard film stock. These will appear pillar-boxed even on 4:3 screens. [http://www.imdb.com/SearchRatios?1.20%20:%201]

Pillar boxing is the vertical equivalent of letterboxing and is sometimes called reverse letterboxing. Its name is derived from its resemblance to pillar box-style mailboxes used in the UK and the Commonwealth of Nations. The four-direction equivalent is called windowboxing. Likewise, the vertical equivalent of pan and scan is called "tilt and scan" or "reverse pan and scan."

tylized Pillarboxing on Television

Some high definition television channels utilize "stylized pillarboxing" meaning they fill in the blank areas on the sides with their HD logo, when the program being shown is only available in 4:3 aspect ratio standard definition. Some channels that do this are ESPNHD, ESPN2HD, FSN HD, NFL Network HD, Big Ten Network HD, and CNN HD. The purpose of this is to assure viewers they are watching the HD version of channel, instead of them being confused and thinking they are watching the SD version.

ee also

*Letterbox
*Widescreen
*14:9
*Motion picture terminology

External links

* [http://www.widescreen.org/index.shtml The Widescreen and Letterbox Advocacy Page]
* [http://www.whywidescreen.com Why Widescreen?]
* [http://home1.gte.net/res0mrb7/widescreen/ Widescreen Resources & Information]