I Didn’t Know That. . .

Q: Is the black that we see on a movie screen projected onto it or is it simply the absence of light? If it is the latter, why do black areas appear black when the screen is actually white?

A: Black cannot be projected because it is, in fact, the absence of light. Black areas on movie film simply absorb the light emitted by the projector so that no light strikes the screen in those areas. Black areas in a movie appear that way, even though the screen is white, because the areas around the black are so much brighter.