A TIKTOK tech guru has lifted the lid on a piece of little-known Netflix trivia.<\/p>\n
In a recent video, user Adam Grasso explained a \"secret cinematic trick\" that the US streaming service uses to make its original content look better on your telly.<\/p>\n
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The quirk is the reason that black bars appear at the top and bottom of the screen over some shows and movies available on the platform.<\/p>\n
\"You're probably familiar with seeing black bars on your TV screen,\" Adam, who posts under the username @heyadamgrasso, said.<\/p>\n
\"The ones that Netflix use are actually a bit smaller in size.\"<\/p>\n
He added that this is because Netflix films in an unusual 2:1 aspect ratio meaning images are twice as wide as they are tall.<\/p>\n
The result is a taller image than those filmed in 16:9 or 2:35:1, the most popular aspect ratios for TV shows and feature films respectively.<\/p>\n
Adam explained: \"Two-to-one, also known as Univisium, is preferred by many Netflix shows.\"<\/p>\n
He added that because 2:1 images are both tall and wide, they are excellent at conveying scale horizontally and vertically.<\/p>\n
\"Shows like The Witcher can show off epic wide landscapes and the weird creatures in Stranger Things have enough headroom to convey a believable scale to viewers,\" Adam said.<\/p>\n
The 2:1 aspect ratio was invented by visionary cinematographer Vittorio Storaro.<\/p>\n
He's an Academy Award-winner who has worked on many classic films including \"The Conformist\" and \"Apocalypse Now\".<\/p>\n
In the late 1990s, Storaro noticed that the rise of widescreen TVs, which use a 16:9 aspect ratio, were the future of movie watching.<\/p>\n
However, most films were not shot in that aspect ratio, meaning people watching at home would not be seeing the director's original vision.<\/p>\n
You've probably noticed this dissonance when watching a film at home. To fit a wider cinematic image onto your telly, thick black bars fill the gaps above and below the film's imagery.<\/p>\n
Storaro cooked up the 2:1 aspect ratio as a compromise that would ensure his movies looked good on both home TVs and on much wider cinema screens.<\/p>\n
Netflix has adopted it as a filming standard to ensure its content works across TVs, smartphones and at theatres.<\/p>\n
Adam said: \"Until we're all rich enough to afford huge cinema screens in our homes, this is probably the best middle ground we're gonna get to enjoy cinematic content on our 16:9 screens.\"<\/p>\n
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In other news, the mystery surrounding why prehistoric Brits built Stonehenge has finally been solved after research confirmed that the monument served as anancient solar calendar.<\/p>\n
In other news, the iPhone's virtual assistant, Siri, is getting a new,\"gender-neutral\" voice.<\/p>\n
A British woman hastold of her horrorafter scammers used photos of a \"silver fox\" politician to trick her out of 80,000.<\/p>\n
And, Norfolk County Councilis suing Appleover what it says was misleading information about iPhone sales.<\/p>\n
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online Tech & Science team? Email us at tech@the-sun.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n See the original post:<\/p>\n Every Netflix original TV show and movie has BIG tech secret have you spotted it?... - The Sun<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A TIKTOK tech guru has lifted the lid on a piece of little-known Netflix trivia. In a recent video, user Adam Grasso explained a \"secret cinematic trick\" that the US streaming service uses to make its original content look better on your telly Continue reading