Cinematography Recaps - Aspect Ratios

Framing your shots plays an incredible part within your film, and every decision I decide to follow will be first shown by the dimensions of a frame. The most common aspect ratios are 2:39:1 (which is referred to as the anamorphic or scope framing), 1:85:1 (American, which is sometimes called 'flat'), 1:66:1 (European standard), 1:78:1 (HDTV, or 16x9) and finally the 1:33:1 (16mm and 35mm shooting formats)

By viewing the different aspect ratios, I've learnt that it is important to know both the aspect ratio of shooting, as well as the ratio for exhibition to ensure that the compositional choice of aspect ratio is kept throughout the production stages. For example, our work is being presented to European audiences as part of our module, therefore I need to ensure that the framing I choose can work in this format. Another note is I'm using the XF100 for our projects, which is the 16x9 format.

http://ccnmtl.columbia.edu/projects/filmglossary/web/pics/aspectratio.jpg 

Here is an image of the most common ratio's used today.