How film projection got so complicated — and how it can make or break your movie experience

Vox:

Just as the arrangement of food on a plate is an important part of a restaurant experience, and the framing and placement of paintings is integral to a museum visit, the way a movie is projected can have a meaningful impact on your theatrical experience. Great projection can make a movie sharper, more colorful, more vivid and engaging — while poor projection can be a movie-ruining distraction.

Understanding the nuances of movie projection, and the different projection options available to moviegoers, can help you make the most of the cinematic experience you pay good money for. But understanding those nuances means understanding how projection has changed over the years, and how technological advances have affected not only what we see on the screen but how it gets on that screen.

The process and history of how and why movies look the way they do today is fascinating.