Fullscreen or Widescreen?

ShredHead42 · #1 10-25-2006, 03:24 AM

I work at a video store and it irks me when people prefer fullscreen over widescreen because of "them little black bars." I don't have a widescreen tv either, but chopping off the sides because the picture won't be quite as big seems crazy! I mean, you wouldn't cut the sides off a painting to make it fit the frame you had (i hope!).

What do you guys think?

Lefty Robb · #2 10-25-2006, 03:49 AM

Widescreen allows you to see the movie as the Director wanted it to be shown.

ShredHead42 · #3 10-25-2006, 06:19 AM

Yes, great point on how the director wants it seen! Interestingly enough though, a friend of mine got to watch while hollywood filmed a scene at his church, and he said they had cameras set up with monitors that showed both the widescreen shot and also alowed them to simultaneously show a fullscreen version.

Crazy technology!, but I'd still rather see the widescreen!

Myst and rain · #4 10-25-2006, 07:45 AM

Definetly widescreen. Although on TV, widescreen is very small. Unless you have a really big screen. The cinema is still the coolest place to watch a movie. Although there, you sometimes aren't really able to watch anything properly because of a lot of distractions. Check out this excerpt from an interview with Terry Gilliam:

Terry Gilliam: But on the other hand, you know, you go into the cinema now and these people are walking back and forth or eating popcorn or talking... That's not a great cinematic experience!

Interviewer: Or they're on the telephone...

Terry Gilliam: Yes, they're on the telephone: it's grazy! I mean, sometimes I'm much happier just to sit at home, sit very close to my television set, and watch DVD's!

Kind regards,
Myst and rain

**elcid** · #5 10-25-2006, 08:00 AM

Widescreen, I don;t even see the black bars anymore, but I do hate the way some 4:3 tvs stretch a 16:9 image so the people all look tall and thin.

**jemsite** · #6 10-25-2006, 09:52 AM

gotta be OAR... original aspect ratio. with my limited time to watch movies/dvds or HDTV... i WILL NOT WATCH a pan/scanned/cropped movie. i cancelled HBO-HD and MAX-HD because they mostly butcher the movies in regard to proper aspect ratio (even when broadcast in hi def), especially the scope films shot real wide 2.40:1 in panavision. 95% of the films they broadcast are cropped down to 1.77:1 the same aspect ratio of HDTVs... glen

**jemsite** · #7 10-25-2006, 09:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShredHead42

Yes, great point on how the director wants it seen! Interestingly enough though, a friend of mine got to watch while hollywood filmed a scene at his church, and he said they had cameras set up with monitors that showed both the widescreen shot and also alowed them to simultaneously show a fullscreen version.

Crazy technology!, but I'd still rather see the widescreen!

some directors/studios do that for consideration to broadcast TV. for example most all prime-time shows are shot wide now, but composed with 4x3 viewers in consideration. Sopranos and Lost are notable exceptions where the director has enough clout to tell the studio bean-counters to STFU and stay away from the production

... glen

Lefty Robb · #8 10-25-2006, 10:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jemsite

some directors/studios do that for consideration to broadcast TV. for example most all prime-time shows are shot wide now, but composed with 4x3 viewers in consideration. Sopranos and Lost are notable exceptions where the director has enough clout to tell the studio bean-counters to STFU and stay away from the production

... glen

Another Lost junkie like me? I'm getting into Heroes too now...we went from nothing but **** reality TV to all kinds of kick ass shows now..

universalcalvin · #9 10-25-2006, 06:28 PM

umm widescreen only who the hell wants to see half a picture?

ChopTart · #10 10-25-2006, 07:31 PM

Don't really matter to me. Just voted fullscreen because it looked a little lonely with so many widescreen votes.

Planeflux · #11 10-25-2006, 08:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lefty Robb

Another Lost junkie like me? I'm getting into Heroes too now...we went from nothing but **** reality TV to all kinds of kick ass shows now..

Count me in as a Lost junkie as well. Heroes is interesting too.

Team J Crafter · #12 10-26-2006, 12:53 AM

Nothing beats Star Wars Empire Strikes back and Jurassic Park on Widescreen. Add in some 5.1 with the biggest sub you can afford and make the house shake. I like watching my live shows on Widescreen too. I'm like 10 feet tall and 10lbs lighter.

Distantshore · #13 10-26-2006, 06:33 AM

I used to be a fullscreen junkie, for the little black bar argument. Now that I have a widescreen TV I hardly notice them. I can't even stand to watch 4:3, just seems akward.