Experimenting with Aspect Ratios

 Waves

After recently re-watching Trey Edward Shults' movie 'Waves,' I might have fallen down somewhat of a rabbit hole. Apart from hearing not only about the director's creative process, I also took inspiration of certain techniques I noticed being used throughout the film.

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Aspect Ratios

Across the entire film, Shults uses different elements such as the lighting/coloring of scenes to reflect the characters' mental state. But another way he does this that stood out to me is through aspect ratios. The dictionary states that aspect ratios are "the ratio of the width to the height of an image or screen."

In an interview between Shults and Benjamin B, Shults states that he uses them as "another extension of the character’s state of mind." This ratio changes starting from 1.85:1, then 2.66:1, and finally 1.37:1 in order to show the confinement and rising tension Tyler's actions resulted in. 

And then it does the opposite to show how Emily becomes free of the guilt caused by her brother's actions. Like waves (in the ocean), the aspect ratios push and pull across the film just as their emotions do. 

 Okay? And?

Now, what does this have to do with Runner Up? Well, in this two minute film opening, the main character (I might go with Will so let's see how that feels) is pushing himself to a physical peak as his thoughts replaying his greatest failure replay in his mind. I feel as though I can utilize this example of aspect ratio changes to recreate the same effect of confinement Shults' implemented in Waves that changes as Will's mental state does. I will start with a typical 1.85:1 (or 2:1) for the beginning where he is just entering the training room and doing less intense workouts (ex. jump ropes), and then when the flashback scenes start to cut in as the training intensifies it will narrow to a 2.66:1 as Will starts to have more self-blaming thoughts. He becomes trapped in this constant loop of pushing himself until he breaks as if it can change the result of the final match. The change to a "tighter" aspect ratio will reflect how he is trapped in this mindset. Finally, when the flashbacks stop as he can no longer train it will change to the uncommon 2.66:1.

 Here are the videos I watched to research the film overall; they're pretty interesting if you want to check them out:

https://youtu.be/aFrFbw3w_cw?si=m17X19qJ-E-NFTNZ

https://youtu.be/p5kSaDfsdEw?si=1iWgN0okWJJNanh3

https://youtu.be/rG2rvf4bm6Q?si=nzHEyzn30BzGzYPS