posted
I only really like widescreen when it's in a ratio like Enterprise... Watching movies with two thick black bars on the screen doesn't appeal to me...
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posted
Well, if your country got off it's arse and started making widescreen TVs more common...
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
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-------------------- Lister: Don't give me the "Star Trek" crap! It's too early in the morning. - Red Dwarf "The Last Day"
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posted
Proteus... The fullscreen version actually shows more of the image than the widescreen version. The 4:3 aspect ratio was the original motion picture film ratio, and indeed, movie screens pretty much dictated the ratio of the first television screens, which we still use today.
In an attempt to snag viewers back from TV, the biggest movie studios started coming up with wider images to give a more engrossing movie-viewing experience, such as Cinemascope, Panavision, and so on.
BTTF was filmed in 4:3, and then cropped top and bottom to fit anamorphic movie screens. When you watch the fullscreen version, they just use the uncropped version. The so-called "widescreen" versions of BTTF add nothing to the sides, and just crop the top and bottom as with the theatrical film release.
--Jonah
-------------------- "That's what I like about these high school girls, I keep getting older, they stay the same age."
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Registered: Feb 2001
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quote:Originally posted by Peregrinus: Proteus... The fullscreen version actually shows more of the image than the widescreen version. The 4:3 aspect ratio was the original motion picture film ratio, and indeed, movie screens pretty much dictated the ratio of the first television screens, which we still use today.
In an attempt to snag viewers back from TV, the biggest movie studios started coming up with wider images to give a more engrossing movie-viewing experience, such as Cinemascope, Panavision, and so on.
BTTF was filmed in 4:3, and then cropped top and bottom to fit anamorphic movie screens. When you watch the fullscreen version, they just use the uncropped version. The so-called "widescreen" versions of BTTF add nothing to the sides, and just crop the top and bottom as with the theatrical film release.
--Jonah
Not exactly. The first BTTF was indeed shot in anamorphic widescreen, so the “fullscreen version” is pan and scan and is cropped on the sides in its entirety.
BTTF II and III, however, were shot in “open matte” and there is more picture (in principal photography shots) seen at the top and bottom of the fullscreen version, since it is not matted. However, special effects shots were not filmed in open matte, and were produced only in the 1.85:1 aspect ratio. As I understand it, it is generally considered cost prohibitive to produce effects shots in 4:3, only to crop-off or matte part of the image later. (Although interestingly, it was done for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.)
So, all scenes involving special effects shots in BTTF II and III are still pan and scanned.
The “open matte” is, in point of fact, the reason that there are framing issues on Parts II and III. Since Part I was shot in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, there was basically no opportunity for Universal to screw it up.
In the case of Parts II and III however, Universal went back to the original open matte images for the DVD transfer, and apparently, some technician “feel asleep at the wheel,” so principal photography shots in the movie are misframed.
Keep in mind, however, that scenes with special effects shots in BTTF II and III are framed correctly; for the same reason that all of BTTF Part I is framed correctly: They were shot in 1.85:1 widescreen.
For more info on aspect ratios, open mattes, and widescreen in general, check out the Letterbox and Widescreen Advocacy Page at: http://www.widescreen.org/
[ January 09, 2003, 19:18: Message edited by: Commander Dan ]
Registered: Apr 2001
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quote:Originally posted by Commander Dan: Not exactly. The first BTTF was indeed shot in anamorphic widescreen, so the “fullscreen version” is pan and scan and is cropped on the sides in its entirety.
Hang on. I thought "anamorphic widescreen" was another name for "we shot it at 4:3 and matted the top and bottom for the cinema"?
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
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quote: But here's the cool thing about current DVD technology: by mastering widescreen movies on DVD using the format's anamorphic feature, content providers can ensure that today's DVDs will look great even on tomorrow's Digital TVs (which are starting to become available now).
quote:Originally posted by PsyLiam: Hang on. I thought "anamorphic widescreen" was another name for "we shot it at 4:3 and matted the top and bottom for the cinema"?
Uh…, no. The term that you are looking for is “open matte”
-------------------- “My experience with Rick Berman is, you know, he does not understand what he's doing, he does not understand science fiction.” -- Andrew Probert
Registered: Apr 2001
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Hang on, the BBC have been doing TV shows like that for about 2 years now. Sort of. They do the B5 approach, of shooting in the middle and having the sides be "extra". Watch on a 4:3 TV, and you get a full screen image. Watch on a 16:9 TV (which a fair few people have), and you get a widescreen image. So that's actually different, and I don't know why I mentioned it.
Still annoyed that the PgP DVD wasn't widescreen. Grrr.
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
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