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Hi David – appreciate your response!
That’s a good point about how the biggest IMAX screens always contain stuff that’s outside any one person’s field of vision. In that sense, the viewers themselves do the cropping just by deciding where to look.
I suppose if you’re in favor of large-format projection of one kind or another, that means you want the image to be immersive and all-encompassing, which sort of makes the whole idea of a precise shot composition — something with clear, intentional boundaries — less relevant or important.
If someone uses a lot of center compositions, that’s not an issue. But I do wonder if it sort of limits the filmmaker’s ability to direct audiences’ attention to certain parts of the screen — in other words, limiting the filmmaker’s ability to have some kind of careful, deliberate framing be part of how the story gets told.
I once heard Spielberg talk about using an extended master shot of Hanks & Streep in The Post. Even though he also shot singles for both of them, he decided not to use any of the singles and to just let the scene play out as a wide oner — thus, as Spielberg described it, inviting the audience into the process of “cutting” the scene just by choosing who to look at at any given moment.
Given the huge range of different formats, venues, and devices on which to watch movies these days, maybe it’s unavoidable (and not necessarily a bad thing) that filmmakers have to relinquish some control over certain things and become okay with viewers having more control over the viewing experience. (Like with the new Spider-Noir TV show, where you can choose to watch in color or B&W.)
It also potentially makes things way harder for filmmakers though, too, because you have to anticipate how what you’re shooting is going to look in all kinds of different formats and aspect ratios — the whole idea of a “definitive” version is no longer possible (if it ever was).
