What's the difference between Serenity Widescreen and Serenity Fullscreen DVDs?
POSTED BY: iccledames
UPDATED: Wednesday, December 14, 2005 01:09
VIEWED: 25496
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Yes, there is absolutely no reason to buy a FOOL screen movie. With FOOL screen, if you have a wide shot in the movie of two people talking to one another on screen, someone has to make a directorial decision as to who (or what) you see as each person speaks, because there isn't enough space in the 4:3 picture for both people to be on screen at the same time. Do you really want some lacky in the DVD transfer room choosing what you will see, and what you won't???? Get the WIDESCREEN version for EVERY DVD you buy, and be sure you see the film the way the director intended you to see it!
Jayhawk
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Zoë: "Preacher, dont the bible have some pretty specific things to say about killing?"
Book: "quite specific. It is however somewhat fuzzier on the subject of kneecaps"
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Thanks guys (and girls!) - so many replies and so fast! I think I'm gonna go for the Widescreen one!
I'll probably end up getting the Region 2 one as well if the coverart is different so I'm probably gonna spend hours deliberating over whether to watch Region 1 or 2. Random point for you all there lol.
Thanks again, I'll head over to Play and order the Widescreen one now!
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Quote:
Originally posted by lissa:
except for full screen tv shows like buffy which were shot for full screen...but this is the only exception.
Of course. I should have used the term "pan & scan" instead of "fullscreen" to better illustrate my point, which is that anything you get should be in its original aspect ratio. The problem almost always involves a widescreen picture getting truncated to fit into a 4x3 television, but in rarer instances there are cases of films that have the top and bottom chopped off to fit into a 16x9 screen.
For example, the latest release of Dr. Strangelove is an anamorphic widescreen DVD, whereas Kubrick presented it with a shifting aspect ratio ranging from, I believe, 1.33:1 to 1.66:1. When it came time to get it on DVD, I had to go with the transfer that was approved by the director. I believe a similar thing happened with Anchor Bay's Book of the Dead edition of the original The Evil Dead.
So, basically, the rule of thumb is just to go with the director's preference.
Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:
You sure, M?
It looked more like 1.85:1, like the show.
But I could be wrong.....
I double-checked IMDb to make sure, and it is listed as 2.35:1.
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"Remember, there's a big difference between kneeling down and bending over."
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Quote:Hence the phrase "pan and scan", which is a synonym for fullscreen. It means that certain scenes include "camera motion" from side to side that wasn't in the original film, as the technician tries to keep the current "talking head" in the frame.
Originally posted by Jayhawk35:
Yes, there is absolutely no reason to buy a FOOL screen movie. With FOOL screen, if you have a wide shot in the movie of two people talking to one another on screen, someone has to make a directorial decision as to who (or what) you see as each person speaks, because there isn't enough space in the 4:3 picture for both people to be on screen at the same time. Do you really want some lacky in the DVD transfer room choosing what you will see, and what you won't???? Get the WIDESCREEN version for EVERY DVD you buy, and be sure you see the film the way the director intended you to see it!
Or, sometimes, you see the nose and lips (and nothing else) of two actors wagging at each other from either side of the frame!
Some of the worst pan and scan disasters have involved old musicals, where dance numbers can be horribly mangled. Not my favorite genre, but I'm just sayin'...
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Ain't about you, Jayne. It's about what they need.
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First, let me start by saying that I am NOT recommending getting the Fullscreen version over the Widescreen version. I am getting the Widescreen version for myself.
But
I believe Serenity was filmed in Super 35. That means that the fullscreen version has more to the top and bottom than the widescreen (which has more to the left and right than the fullscreen).
Usually a fullscreen version is the same from top to bottom as the widescreen, so the only difference between the 2 is the sides getting cropped. But with Super 35 each version has something the other doesn't.
Look at this picture from T2 
You can see that the widescreen has more on the sides and the fullscreen has more on the top and bottom.
I do not know if the fullscreen version of Serenity will have more on the top and bottom than the widescreen, but it might.
So, those of you that plan on purchasing more than one copy just to help support the film might consider getting the fullscreen. You may actually get something that you wouldn't have gotten by getting a 2nd widescreen.
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I bought Airforce One with Harrison Ford, the flick was shot Super 35, and on one side of the disk, it had the widescreen, on the other, it had full frame, and the full frame had more at the top and bottom, but was very slightly cropped at the sides missing maybe 3-5% left and right (just as in T2 above). It was interesting to compare, but nothing essential was added to the visuals with the addition top and bottom. The decision to release it pan and scan, or full super 35 frame lies with the company most times, so I'm gonna wait 'till someone sees it. If it has the extra top and bottom, as opposed to just having the sides chopped to fill the frame, then I'll get it just out of curiosity and complete-ism. I'm getting two copies in any case.
Anyone with more time available than me care to research it a little?
Chrisisall, on a short break
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A couple other notes about Super 35:
Sometime when exposing the top and bottom of the screen, things are revealed that shouldn't be (example: Pee Wee's Big Adventure - the gag of him pulling the endless chain from his pack is shot since you see the chain feeding in through the bottom).
The other issue, is that special effects are always done for the widescreen print (no point in putting the work in if it's off screen). So, if Serenity was shot in Super 35, even if they showed more at the top and bottom (rather than cropping the sides) durring some shots, any with digital effcts would be cropped to pan and scan, as there is nothing extra at the top and bottom to expose.
It's all moot to me. I've been a widescreen nut since before DVD even showed up. I won't even watch a pan 'n scan movie for free.
"Well, my days of not taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle."
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Storymark and Rhuttner, thanks for the info on Super 35. I had never heard this before!
One question: in the above T2 example, what would have shown at the theatre? Do they chop off edges when they make the print that we all see? If so, how much? Or do we see the entire Super 35 image?
"Don't say 'ka' until you've tried it." Daniel Jackson
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*bump*
Let me rephrase my question: Is the widescreen version pretty much the same as the theatrical prints, or is the theatrical print closer to the Super 35 original film?
"Don't say 'ka' until you've tried it." Daniel Jackson
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The widescreen IS the theatrical print, the super 35 is the master from which a widescreen or fullscreen (for TV or DVD) is produced.
Answerman Chrisisall
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