Star Wars, Selected scenes, Super8 reel (17 mins.), Color/sound, Ken films, USA 1977

Cinemascope version

As you can see, the covers are the same as for the regular Ken Films release, only a Cinemascope sticker has been added. The Cinemascope process enabled a widescreen image to be squeezed onto regular 8mm film. It required the use of an anamorphic lens on the projector to unsqueeze it to regular proportions. Cinemascope 8mm prints used the entire width of the frame for their anamorphic process, but had to crop information from the top and bottom to do so. Compare this to the similar Cineavision prints, which reduced the image and included black masking on the sides to preserve the full 2.35:1 aspect ratio. Theoretically, the Cinemascope image should be superior because they utilize the entire image area of 8mm film. Is it just me, or was Cineavision more common in Europe, while Cinemascope prints dominate in the U.S?