One afterthought to this thread: I was reading John Belton's book "Widescreen Cinema" (Harvard UP, 1992) over the w/e: He mentions that studios encountered boom mike problems whilst the early sound ratio (which he puts at 1:1.5) was in use. Belton says the frame was so tall that, in order to keep the mikes outside it, they had to be positioned so far above the actor's head that there were problems recording the dialogue. Apparently this situation got so bad that it was one of the reasons why the Academy ratio was eventually introduced. Perhaps this principle also accounts for why boom mikes regularly appear in the unused part of a spherical w/s frame. Leo __________________________________ Leo Enticknap Postgraduate Common Room School of English and American Studies University of Exeter Queen's Building, The Queen's Drive Exeter Devon EX4 4QJ United Kingdom email: [log in to unmask] ---- Screen-L is sponsored by the Telecommunication & Film Dept., the University of Alabama.