DVD BUYING: SHARE WEIRD STORIES, NUMBER YOU BOUGHT and FOR WHOM?

[rtprod]

Yes, isn't that true?  Now that Star Wars film is in 2.35:1, which is wider than Brokeback's 1.85:1, and so the transfer problems with full screen are a bit more apparent.  However, you don't want to miss a blade of grass, a tree or any items in Jack Twist's bedroom near the end of the film.

Also, PAN and SCAN bastardizes physical relations between space and characters.  For instance, when Ennis is speaking to Mrs. Twist and she's got her back turned on Mr. Twist, and she puts her hand to her throat, we should be able to see Mr. Twist in the rear of the frame perfectly.  However, I'm not sure if this is going to happen when the film is cropped for full screen.  We may just see Roberta Maxwell.  I could be wrong. 

rtprod

[rtprod]

Someone posted this strange item on the main IMDB board -- anyone else experience this yet?

"Purchased the DVD last night, the widescreen version, and the only thing that appears in so called widescreen (letterbox) are previews. When feature film starts, letterbox goes away, becomes regular (distorted) full screen. Is anyone else having the same problem? Returned DVD once, same problem with second one as well. Brand new DVD player, and other films in my collection that say widescreen appear as letterbox on DVD/TV. All settings are the same for all my DVD's, so it's not the player or the television. Was this a screw up at Focus Features/Universal? Any ideas?"

[Nicole]

Someone posted this strange item on the main IMDB board -- anyone else experience this yet?

"Purchased the DVD last night, the widescreen version, and the only thing that appears in so called widescreen (letterbox) are previews. When feature film starts, letterbox goes away, becomes regular (distorted) full screen. Is anyone else having the same problem? Returned DVD once, same problem with second one as well. Brand new DVD player, and other films in my collection that say widescreen appear as letterbox on DVD/TV. All settings are the same for all my DVD's, so it's not the player or the television. Was this a screw up at Focus Features/Universal? Any ideas?"

RT - I am having that problem!  I watched a couple of the special features and they were letterboxed, and now when I watch the actual movie, it's not!  I was wondering if it was my tv - I was just about to put it on the big screen one to see if that makes a difference. 

[amh]

I remember John (jmmgallagher) talking about the same letterbox problem when he got his DVD from that Kim's Video in NYC a few weeks ago.  He was afraid it was his television too, but from what you guys are saying maybe that's not the case?   

[Nicole]

Okay, this is weird.  On my big screen tv, it IS letterboxed.  Is that normal for it to do that?  The other tv I was watching it on isn't tiny - 27 inches.  And other widescreen movies are letterboxed on it.  Hunh?!?!??!

[rtprod]

Nicole,

Please tell me -- is your big screen TV widescreeen, 16x9 or regular 4:3?

If it is 16x9, we should not see any letterbox at all -- the 1.85 image will fill the screen.

rt

[wtbgirl]

I agree - Pan and scan is THE worst way to watch a film, especially for a film as beautifully shot as Brokeback Mountain and particularly for viewers that want to absorb every detail (like US!!!!!!!).  Pan and scan literally crops off the sides of the original widescreen image. This is considered destructive to the director's original vision and intentions, because it can remove up to 45%!!!!!!!! of the original image, and hinder the viewer's understanding of the film.

During the "pan and scan" process, a random operator selects the parts of the original filmed composition that seem to be significant and makes sure they are copied — "scanning." When the important action shifts to a new position in the frame, the operator moves the scanner to follow it, creating the effect of a pan shot.  This method can severely alter compositions and therefore dramatic effects.

[sparkle_motion]

There are certain movies that look really weird to me. The camera seems to move awkwardly. It's hard to describe. One example that sticks out in my mind is The Fan with DeNiro. Watching that movie almost made me dizzy. Is that an example of pan and scan?

[wtbgirl]

In re The Fan - yeah, sounds like pan and scan - in certain films it is so cropped you literally see the camera panning left and right, back and forth, when two characters are speaking to each other.   

Other examples of dramatic difeerences:  in Jaws, in many key sequences the shark can be seen approaching for several seconds more in the widescreen version than in the pan and scan version. For the opening crawl in each Star Wars film, on the pan and scan versions the viewer has to wait until a line of text of the opening crawl reaches the center of the screen to read through that whole line. On the widescreen versions, the each line of opening crawl text appears in its entirety right at the bottom of the widescreen.

[montferrat]

Howdy folks,

OK, here's my BBM DVD afternoon.

First I went to Amazon.com and bought my older sister in Kentucky a copy and had it shipped off to her as a surprise. She hasn't seen BBM yet.

Left the house at 2:00 pm and drove into the nearest big town and went to Blockbuster and bought a second copy. They had 2 big ole Narnia displays in the front and no BBM display. However there were a bucnh of copies on the top shelf of the New Release rack.  More Narnia at each register, but no BBM. Anyhow the clerk asked if I'd seen BBM yet, I said yes, and then she went on about how much she loved it. I then said "You guys aren't really promoting the heck out of BBM though..." And she asked what I meant. I said "Well you've got these 2 Narnia displays and no BBM one..." She said "yes, we do!  It's in the back."   ahh.....   good amount seemed missing.

Anyhow, I drove across the road to the local Barnes & Noble and purchased copy #3. I was like, "wow! you guys have it right up front!, not like Blockbuster!" and they were all pleased and everything and were like "Yeah, Blockbuster thinks thier a FAMILY store...blah blah blah...look how liberal we are! blah dee blah..."      good amount seemed missing.

OK, then I drove around the corner to the local mall and went to Target for copy #4 and noticed that Narnia had a huge display and poor BBM was relegated to the THIRD shelf down on the new release rack. Lots of copies, but had to be sure I got Widescreen. The Audio CD of the book that people were talking about? In my Target it only came with the Fullscreen version. about half the copies were gone.

Then I walked through the mall and bought copy #5 at the FYE record/DVD store. Man they tried selling me batteries, discount cards, fullscreen version, asked if I need the soundtrack...I barely made it out of there alive.

Headed back towards my tiny town as it had started snowing out and stopped near my house at our local non-chain video store and purchased copy #6. IT WAS THE LAST COPY IN MY TOWN!!!!!  I live in a very rural part of Connecticut in a really small town , boy was I shocked. They said they'd gotten a lot of copies for sale too and sold them all in like 4 hours. Like I said, I bought the last one.  I went over to the rentals and saw that they had 31 copies out for rent and there were only 7 left on the shelves. WOW! How cool is that?  That was at like 3:00 pm. So my little rural neighbors are pretty hip I guess!

SO, I then went to the local library , and like a someone else here on this forum, I intended to donate copy #6 to them. I had to ask for directions to the darn place. I've been here 3 years and never saw it. Anyway, I got there and proceeded to get my library card, and then asked if they'd accept a donation of BBM. They nearly fell over with delight!
One librarian was like, didn't that just come out? And I was like, yeah, today!  And she was like "OMG!!!  THANK YOU!"
Then she ran to another librarian and showed her the DVD and they were like BEAMING!  I felt really excellent!


Well, that was my afternoon!

I feel really good about today!

Paul