Pirates of Caribbean - Blockbuster - widescreen only

[Growin'upDisney]

So to clarify - with a widescreen TV I still want to buy widescreen DVD's and tell my DVD player I have a 16:9 ratio TV? I thought I had done that but still got the bars, but I must have missed a step somewhere.

 

[Princess_Aurora]

Originally posted by Michelemouse
You actually lose almost half of the movie with fullscreen versions.

I know that...that's why I was asking why people perfered full screen.

 

[Princess_Aurora]

Originally posted by ErikdaRed
Actually, its not all on the screen. The most famous example I've seen is a seen on Bridge over the River Kwai where 2 guys are having a discussion with a bottle between them. The "camera" plays ping pong from side to side when both men are in the shot in wide screen.

That's the pan and scan...that bugs the heck out of me and actually makes me sick!

 

[wdwoldtimer]

Originally posted by Growin'upDisney
So to clarify - with a widescreen TV I still want to buy widescreen DVD's and tell my DVD player I have a 16:9 ratio TV? I thought I had done that but still got the bars, but I must have missed a step somewhere.

Yes, except there's a caveat. Some movies, like Star Wars, are filmed in a wider aspect ratio...called anamorphic something or other. These are wider so that even widescreen TV's get a small amount of black bars to fit the whole image in. But these bars aren't that big. If you're getting big bars and a tiny picture, something else isn't configured right. Possibly in your TV set??

 

[wdwoldtimer]

Originally posted by tkyes
thanks Mickey for the comparison website. It kind of looks like when you crop a picture for scrapbooking - you take out the unnecessary stuff and just leave the important part of the picture.

ALERT....ALERT...all DIS Widescreen Task Force members!!!!

tkyes said, "you take out the unnecessary stuff"!!! The horror!! We're losing her!! We're losing her!! Sound the alarms!

 

[Princess_Aurora]

Sweet...now I can be a member of The DIS Widescreen Task Force

Throw out your old fullscreen versions everyone!!! Widescreen is the ONLY way to go...it's the way the movie was meant to be seen

 

[MICKEY88]

Originally posted by tkyes
thanks Mickey for the comparison website. It kind of looks like when you crop a picture for scrapbooking - you take out the unnecessary stuff and just leave the important part of the picture.

if everything but the characters in the center were unneccessary, then you could make all movies with the main characters and leave everyone else out...

 

[WDWguru]

So HERE you all are! I thought I was the loan member of the DIS widescreen task force!

I think the point that's being missed here is that it's not just the LITERAL image you're taking out. Yes, there may be action and side characters you don't "need" to see, but you're missing the entire artistic vision of the movie. The cinematography and art direction are based on a certain sized canvas.
Imagine the scope of Titanic but down to half its size. It just doesn't have the grandeur and drama. The "flying" scene without that whole beautiful sunset behind them and the ocean stretching on forever?! NEVER!

It can sometimes even come into play in the context of the film. A good example of that is Pillow Talk with Rock Hudson and Doris Day. There are a couple of great scenes played in split-screen where their movements make it seem like they are flirting, playing footsie and so forth. In the pan and scan version, you miss that entire thing. There's a similar scene in Down with Love that would be completely ruined.

 

[wdwoldtimer]

Well tkyes?? What's the word? Do you want to be part of the DIS' newest clique or are you going to continue with your black-bar-hating ways?

Someone shine a bright light in her eyes! Who wants to play the bad cop?

 

[tkyes]

LOL Oldtimer. I'll still have to do a comparison at home eventually. Not sure when that will be, as the issue isn't keeping me up at night.


Trust me, I will have an open mind when I do a comparison. Just looking at the comparison images on that website didn't help though, I looked at both scenes and thought the fullscreen looked better because the image was nice and big.

 

[Miss Jasmine]

Once upon a time, I felt the same way you do, Tykes. But the truth of the matter is I didn't realize the true difference. Once I saw it with my own eyes I was an instant convert, much like Mickey88 here.

Yeah, yeah I know it's not as important as world peace, but still come to the widescreen side. Plus no more of that ping-pong, back and forth between people having a conversation. You get to see both of them on screen at the same time. I HATE pan and scan. Blech. When I rented The Princess Diaries I didn't realize I had picked up the pan and scan, and barf city. I had to watch it though since it was a special afternoon treat for me and my DSD.

 

[wdwoldtimer]

Originally posted by tkyes
LOL Oldtimer. I'll still have to do a comparison at home eventually. Not sure when that will be, as the issue isn't keeping me up at night.

Yeah but it's keeping all of US up at night. After mumbling all night in a restless sleep, my DW demands to know who the heck is Tamie and why I must convert her to the Widescreen side.

Switch! You must! Resistance is futile.

 

[tkyes]

Yeah but it's keeping all of US up at night. After mumbling all night in a restless sleep, my DW demands to know who the heck is Tamie and why I must convert her to the Widescreen side.

Switch! You must! Resistance is futile.

ROFL!! Your poor wife!

I think we need to get you a hobby Oldtimer - you're scaring me a little.


tamie

 

[MICKEY88]

Originally posted by wdwoldtimer
Yeah but it's keeping all of US up at night. After mumbling all night in a restless sleep, my DW demands to know who the heck is Tamie and why I must convert her to the Widescreen side.

Switch! You must! Resistance is futile.

If your wife is concerned about who Tamie is, how does she feel about you looking for a bimbo to roll around on your hood...

 

[caitycaity]

Most film enthusiasts will point you towards the widescreen edition. This is the version that best preserves the filmmaker's original intent. You get to see the entire frame as it was envisioned; nothing gets cut out. Considering how visually dense a Star Wars movie is, scenes like the Geonosian arena, the Clone War ground battle or the Coruscant speeder chase are jam-packed with characters and action, so cropping the image invariably results in losing some intricately-designed detail. Easter egg-hunting viewers won't be able to find the X-wing and TIE fighters in the full screen Episode II DVD, for example; they were cropped out of frame in order to fit the more important action on the screen.

this sums it up for me. movies are an art form. pan and scan/full screen is like going to an art museum and cropping the "unneccesary stuff" that isn't in the middle. that's just silly. it's not that you can't follow the plot, it's that you lose art and the director's vision for what it was originally supposed to look like. and also, the pan and scan when two people are talking makes me feel sick.

and tykes, there are better pictures on the second page:
http://www.starwars.com/episode-ii/feature/20020925/indexp2.html

 

[wdwoldtimer]

Originally posted by MICKEY88
If your wife is concerned about who Tamie is, how does she feel about you looking for a bimbo to roll around on your hood...

She doesn't know about that....ssshhh! My plan is to hide the bimbo in the trunk when I'm at home and DW will never be the wiser.

 

[cardaway]

Adding a few comments:

1) If you have a smaller 4x3 TV consider buying only VHS until you can get a bigger or widescreen TV. You'll thank yourself later. The full screen out now can be zoomed in to fill a widesreen TV but then you will be losing even more of the picture. A widescreen DVD might seem to bother you know but it will blow you away when all TV's are widesreeen in the future.

2) Older movies only made in fullscreen (1:33:1) aspect ratio are many times "open matte" which means when you convert them using a widescreen TV you are doing what newer moves do anyway. Some newer movies have been released in their open matte form as well. Zooming acheives the same thing with them. On those movies you rarely lose anything important. Without the zoom look at how much head room there is at the top of the picture and how much wasted space there is at the sides. A good example of a DVD like this is Kubrick's The Shining that was shot with a reguar camera and matted for the theater but not matted on the DVD.

3) Folks that have widescreen TV's and still see black bars are still seeing the whole picture, it's the aspect ratio that is still wider than it is tall. The advantage of the widesreen TV is alowing you to see ALL of the movie as large as your TV is without losing any of the picture. This is much better than a pan and scan format and a standard large TV where they crop the image to achieve a similar picture size. Check out the links people have posted and compare the boxes and what is getting cut off. Lawrence of Arabia still has black bars on widescreen TV's and that is what you want. David Lean (the director) is famous for using evey inch of the scope and too much is lost when it is cropped. Somebody mentioned Bridge on the River Kwai - same thing - same director.