Univisium (macaronic Latin for "unity of images") is a proposed universal film format created by cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, ASC, AIC and his son, Fabrizio, to unify all future theatrical and television films into one respective aspect ratio of 2:1. Predecessors The 2:1 aspect ratio was first used in the 1950s (April 1, 1953) for one of the two flat formats that Universal Pictures developed (alongside 1.85:1), the RKO Superscope format, and as an option in several other cinematographic formats. Another predecessor is Toho's Toho Pan Scope, used in the 1958 kaiju film Varan the Unbelievable and the 1957 Japanese re-release of Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (which in turn was the American localization of 1954's Godzilla), using an anamorphic process similar to Superscope with film shot on monochrome flat 1.37:1 before being cropped to 2:1 during editing, The main proposal In 1998, cinematographer Vittorio Storaro announced his plans for a new film format, originally to be called Univision, in an interview with International Photographer magazine. As Storaro stated in his written proposal, "Recently, any movie – no matter how big or small, successful or not – will, after a very short life on the big screen, have a much longer life on an electronic screen. Today the answer print is made for both of these two different media. ...Having these two different media, with essentially two different aspect ratios, each of us (directors, production designers, cinematographers, camera Operators, etc.) shares the nightmare of compromising the composition of the Image. Looking through a viewfinder, a camera, or a monitor, we are always faced with at least two images of the same subject." Storaro feels in the future of cinema, films will be photographed in either high-definition video for small, intimate digital projection theaters, or in 65 mm for "big audience... large screen" films. In the cinematographer's opinion, as all films will be one of the two formats, he suggests that a common aspect ratio compromise of 2.00:1 (mathematical average of 65 mm 2.20:1 and HD 1.78:1) be adopted for all films, 65 mm theatrical, HD theatrical and television. As he told American Cinematographer writer Bob Fisher, "I believe it is very important for audiences to see films exactly the way they were composed by the director and cinematographer. This is a solution." 35 mm Univisium camera proposal Storaro recognized that ubiquitous HD origination was not yet viable and therefore proposed an