filmmaker2 |
06-22-2005 06:57 PM |
Everyone should bear in mind, of course, that films are shot in ALL KINDS of aspect ratios...from 1.33:1 (your TV set's ratio) to 1.66:1, 1.85:1, 2.35:1, 2.40:1 and god knows what else. Whether those black bars are hiding some details that were originally photographed or not, depends on the ratio that the film was shot in in the first place.
As a rule, if something was shot in Panavision or a similar process (2.35:1), it looks pretty yucky when it's finally formatted for TV...everything looks like a closeup, you can't see anything of the backdrop people are standing in front of, and so on. Most people agree that STAR WARS, JAWS, THE MATRIX and ZOMBIE all look much better in their original ratio.
Occasionally, a film shot in something more "square" like 1.66:1 will get black bars on the top and bottom to create a wider-looking frame, but you will lose stuff on the bottom, stuff that, if it is there, sometimes improves a shot. GROSSE POINTE BLANK features at least one moment (the scene in which Benny the Jet's body is thrown off the steps onto the floor of the boiler room) that I thought looked much better in the full-frame version, because you see more. The "widescreen" version featured a less interesting version of the shot, I felt.
Again, I can't always get both versions, but I try to, but that's just wackiness on my part.
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