The very first image we see announces Chazelle's grand ambitions: we see a black - and - white square frame — the old pre-1953 Academy aspect ratio of 4:3 — with the word
CinemaScope framed in the center, its right and left syllables cut off, which
suddenly expands to the wider aspect ratio that the word implies (in this case, 2.55:1), gaining color at the same time.