Digital Bits interviews Buena Vista's Senior VP of Worldwide DVD Production (1 Viewer)

[Seth Paxton]

I wrote Bill because of one item that he got wrong. He said that when everyone has widescreen sets that these problems will become moot.

Of course we all know that black bars on the side and a picture that doesn't fill your brand new $3000 TV is going to cause just as many problems as horizontal bars do now.

Bars will always be there. Heck, they are even there in the theater basically. It's not like the screen changes shape, they just have a nice masking system. But at a theater you are going to have either wider films looking bigger or Academy films looking bigger depending on the adjusted aspect (either height or width).

Screen size is "fixed" in terms of tube size, reflective screen size, area on your wall used to show films, whatever. That will always mean that some films won't fit...always. This aspect can never change.

So waiting till it becomes moot is ridiculous...and studios need to address this issue.

I mean, was the public clamoring for widescreen films in 1940? Nope. Who shoved that down the public's throat? Studios.

They love to play that "it's out of our hands" game but we know that marketing and money can push the public in a lot of directions. It's just that the studio figures "why spend to convert when I can just sell P&S as is right now?"

 

[Scott Weinberg]

This interview was 75% double-talk and 25% advertisement. (That's not at all a slight on Bill Hunt or TDB. You don't kill the messenger...)
I'm looking forward to next week's interview with the marketing VP. Either we'll get some good news and say thanks ... or we'll have more miserable news to stew over.
My least favorite part of the interview was the implication that SOME movies are less than worthy and therefore can be saddled with P&S, while the "GOOD" movies (i.e. the expensive "annuals", theatrical cashcows, etc.) are pieces of cinematic art that would NEVER earn a FS treatment. So now they're judging aspect ratio on some person's opinion of the film at hand. Makes about as much sense as this whole mess.
Looking forward to your "mission statement", Ron!

 

[Dharmesh C]

I still don't understand why studios don't charge more for pan and scan titles.

 

[David Lambert]

By the time our call was done, the Disney representative knew that an interview was not in our best interests.

I'm pretty sure that's the way it went, that Ron was sticking up for OAR and that the Disney guy realized he was fighting a losing battle here, because at this point the HTF aren't gonna listen. That's what he wanted, to get us to listen. Because if they can get us, the OAR contingent, to accept their MAR decision, then they can proceed as they are without spending money to change anything, right? That's what Disney is trying to do here. Get US to accept the J6P decision they've already made, and just take it as a loss.
[c]NO![/c]
Don't buy into this message! Don't stop calling 1-800-72-DISNEY and complaining that you want your OAR! Keep on them, and let them know that NO OAR = NO SALE!, and that it will NEVER be a sale. Get your friends to call and give the same message: I contacted group of friends #3 on this last night, and will start working on the in-laws this weekend! Hit 'em with more calls, and let Disney know that no excuses will be accepted, and we will accept no quarter, and no alternative!

 

[SteveK]

I guess it won't be much longer before we get our first movie starring nald Du and Mickey Mo. I can hardly wait.

I'm looking forward to reading Ron's big statement next week. I hope Disney (and all studios) hear it loud and clear. This P&S nonsense has to stop. Nobody forced J6P to buy a DVD player. Apparently they just wanted the latest cool thing and didn't bother researching what the movies might actually look like on their TV. I think that all retailers selling DVD should ALWAYS demonstrate it with widescreen movies so the consumers could see before they even buy the player that DVD will look different than VHS. Not just a better picture, but a different picture.

I've often wondered why J6P, who supposedly wants his screen filled, is the same J6P that television manufacturers cater to with their Picture in Picture gimmick. If J6P can make sense of the image in a tiny corner of the screen (without sound), he can surely see the image between the black bars.

These are troublesome times for DVD, or more specifically, for OAR devotees. My only hope is that studios will carefully track sales and see that the sales of P&S only titles are consistently lower than sales of comparable widescreen titles or titles offered in both formats. Only if studios realize that catering exclusively to the P&S crowd is costing them many sales will they pay any attention to our demands for OAR.

Frankly, I'm worried.

Steve K.

 

[todd s]

Our forum cannot change the way J6P feels about widescreen, neither can Walmart or any other store chain. The only ones that can are the studios. Disney has an amazing and far reaching marketing system. If they produced a short film using Disney characters to explain "Why Widescreen". Then put it on dvd's, Disney channel, ABC tv & ABC family. They would get the information to almost all of J6P. And maybe, just maybe more would understand that you are not "cutting" the picture by using widescreen.

On a similar note. I have a friend who has a 27" tv. He is not a big videophile. When he bought "Princess Diaries" he noticed it said widescreen. He returned it because on his smaller set it will make it hard to see. Well the other night we were watching Enterprise and he made no comments about the size of the picture. I told him you know that show is run in WS? He said he never noticed. I said exactly! People are ingrained with the fact that WS will make it hard for them to see. But, in reality when you watch it, you get used to it and then prefer it. By the way his kids come over to my house to watch movies with my kids. And they have never complained about the "black bars" on the tv. And they have watched a lot of movies. Kids are a lot more adaptable than adults.

 

[Mark Bendiksen]

I have nothing new or insightful to add, except for the fact that this whole issue is making me sick to my stomach...literally.
This trend is extremely disturbing, and each studio has taken their own approach to sending us back to the grand days of VHS:
1. Columbia: Last year the same studio that once gave us OAR-only presentations of most movies began giving us flippers with OAR on one side and MAR on the other. Then, as we all know, within the past month numerous MAR-only releases have been announced. The executives in charge need to reverse their policy...FAST!
2. Dreamworks: Like Columbia, Dreamworks used to be the purveyor or DVDs that offered only OAR. Within the past few months, however, they've gone to a "dual release" system (see A.I.). I'm willing to bet that if Gladiator had been released today it would have also fallen victim to this new method, which confuses both retailers and consumers.
3. Fox: Fox has taken an intriguing approach. They are dipping their cold feet into MAR waters by rereleasing catalog titles in pan'n'scan. It will be most interesting to see how profitable this venture is for them.
4. Disney: Here's a studio that's on the verge of going from zero to hero and back to zero again. Disney was late getting into the DVD game, but once they finally got on a roll a couple of years ago they consistently offered top-notch quality product. It's hard to believe that this same studio is about to release pan'n'scan-only DVDs of "new release" titles, but that's the intended fate of Snow Dogs and Max Keeble's Big Move. Shame on you, Disney. Shame on you.
5. Warner: A couple of years ago Warner temporarily lost their footing by releasing a batch of full frame "discount" DVDs. Luckily, this "brilliant" idea was dropped fairly quickly, and although we have some movies that desparately need to be revisited (Arthur, Funny Farm, The Man With Two Brains, etc.), at least Warner currently shows no outward signs of caving into this supposed pressure from retailers. Bravo, Warner. Keep it up!
6. Paramount: Say what you will about Paramount, but they've been consistent in their commitment to OAR. DVDs such as Braveheart and Forrest Gump are a testament to this. Paramount, we are all extremely thankful for your efforts.
7. MGM/UA: I'm honestly not sure what to make these guys. In general their new release titles have been handled well. However, their catalog titles have been a mixed bag of OAR, MAR, OAR/MAR, and non-anamorphic OAR. The jury is still out with this studio.
This is the current situation as I see it. We clearly need to continue the campaign, folks, especially with Columbia and Disney.
Link Removed

 

[Patrick Larkin]

I think Ron is absolutely correct in that this is coming from heavy retail pressure. Its the Walmarts and Kmarts of the world that are making this happen. You see what Blockbuster can do to DVD.

It is more important than ever to keep our pressure on the studios.

All these threads about studios going P&S, I heard, "no widescreen will never be relegated to a niche. The sky is falling." Well, it it falling. Believe it now?

As far as technicalities, the Disney guy is right in one respect. Those damn dual sided dics, WS on one, FS on the other. They SUCK! First, I had to figure out if the little ring says Widescreen, does that go up or down? Does a consumer know how the laser is oriented inside the player? Does the consumer even know what those terms mean? It is a bad idea.

As far as compression. So, you have some artifacts on Ernest Goes to Camp. Big deal. There are many movies that have two versions on one side.

One more thing, I personally did NOT buy Atlantis because of this issue. I am boycotting Disney to the best of my ability. (I have to have Beauty and the Beast and Monsters Inc). But I will try my best to vote with my dollars.

 

[GlennH]

I heard a radio interview yesterday with the guy who started this website:
www.planetfeedback.com
It provides the templates and tools to quickly provide feedback (positive or negative) to companies, which can be made public on the website. It also rates the companies based on feedback. He said that many companies are paying attention to consumer feedback and copying the website on their replies. They don't want to have a black eye on a consumer website.
I noticed that some people have provided some Disney DVD feedback there, stuff like "this disc wouldn't play," but I didn't see anything about OAR. Thankfully I also didn't see any complaints about black bars.
Would somebody like to start a campaign to post over there too? Just another avenue to get the message out and heard by more people.
I'm at work and can't take the time to compose a good letter right now. Maybe some would like to chime in or even just take some of your previous masterpiece writings posted here and post them over there it couldn't hurt.

 

[Dave Scarpa]

Well bottom Line it to Disney. You can make all the P&S DVD's you want, we will not buy them. I know I won't. And I agree with others on this forum for losing alot of respect I had for Bill Hunt and TDB website. That was an extremely soft interview, it was almost like giving Disney a full page in Variety. Pathetic.

 

[Troy LaMont]

Hot Damn Ron!!!
Let the battle begin! I'm so glad that you've taken such an immense stand against the studios and their support of the ill-fated 4:3 format.
I say, WE got DVD into the mainstream and supported it from the start because of it's higher picture and sound quality and the capability to do OAR. We fought nail and tooth with the studios to get anamorphic releases of all widescreen DVDs. Now, they want us to accept the release of any widescreen movie in a 4:3 aspect because of some late-to-the party smuck who doesn't give a rat's ass about the 'real' merits that DVD can bring.
I CAN'T STAND PAN & SCAN SUPPORTERS! Period!
DVD has come this far with over 95% of widescreen movies being released in widescreen, why change that?!
Troy
Damn mad at 4:3!

 

[Dave Scarpa]

I'll add one more comment that I do not agree with Ron that the Studio Should "Force" Widescreen down the general Public's throat. I disagree with that as much as I disagree that they should force P&S down our THroat. THe whole issue here is Choice. Don't allign with one side or the other, but give us a choice. And if a small Studio like MGM can do it. A Huge corp like Disney certainly can.

 

[GlennH]

I'm sorry, I do not agree with the moderate view about "choice." Choice has gotten us where we are now. Choice made J6P and Wal-Mart demand P&S only. If they never got any P&S there would be nothing to complain about.

If the studios had steadfastly stuck to a principle that DVD would be an OAR-only format there would be no problem. If customers want P&S they should get VHS, end of discussion.

Frankly, I don't want a P&S (or open-matte) version on the opposite side of the disc, or on a second disc. I don't want a separate P&S SKU available because then the Blockbusters of the world won't have the OAR version for rent. I want all DVDs to be OAR only.

And now that the cease-fires are over and it's full-fledged war, trying to take the middle ground of "choice" just won't cut it anymore.

You know, a wise man named Mike Knapp said this would happen.

 

[Glenn Overholt]

This bites the big one, for sure! Just some random thoughts to follow.

Back in the 'good old days' ('98?), we were waiting for the sales of players to get to a certain point, after which IJ and SW would come out, so we were told, but it didn't happen. At any rate, sales have since gone through the roof, several times. I only wish that when the first P&S came out, more people screamed enough to stop it.

The Wonka campaign was successful, but can we repeat it today? No more petitions means to me that either it can't be done or we don't care enough.

The sales of P&S disks is not limited to K-Mart and Wallmart, or whatever. I am sure that Blockbuster still buys them for rental as well, and that is a lot of copies sold. We can't forget that when we talk about J6P not buying DVD's. No, they rent them, but Blockbuster had to buy them first.

So, we are a vast minority today. I fear that if this current trend continues, no mar OAR disks will be released and we'll just buying. I don't think that the studios are going to care.

Any thing that we do will only work if we can get the publicity behind it. J6P does not read and watch the news. It's just like a tree falling in the woods...

Glenn

 

[BrettB]

If the studios had steadfastly stuck to a principle that DVD would be an OAR-only format there would be no problem. If customers want P&S they should get VHS, end of discussion.

On this point I totally agree. I guess I don't have a good understanding of how Hollywood works. Hollywood can get mobilized behind all sorts of causes (some quite questionable), but when it comes to what they actually do for a living they don't seem to give a rats ass. It's just hard for me to believe that the people who actually make movies (i.e. directors, actors, DPs, gaffers, best boys, and the whole lot of them) can't or won't get organized in an effort to overcome the beancounter/marketing types.
I'm very anxious to see what battle plan Ron has come up with. Looks like the excrement is about to hit the fan.

 

[Dave Scarpa]

I agree the the studios are turning DVD's into "VHS with a better Picture quality" It's a real boondoggle and I'm afraid there's no easy answers. If they appease the HT community they alienate the masses lookng for "Cheap" entertainment. We may say well hey too bad for them, but the studio's are looking to make a buck and unfortunately we are the minority. All I can do is make my displeasure known with my $$$. I'll give my money to studios like Paramount that still values a film's presentation. I will not buy MAR'd disks.

 

[Malcolm R]

I've read many an article, and it's not new news to you - the vast majority of America wants full frame. They do. And when we put out a widescreen version, we get lots of, "What's wrong? My DVD is broken. I want my money back."

Well, up until recent months, OAR devotees have had little reason to complain. But now that the P&S discs are hitting the market, I bet they'll hear a fair amount from our side, as well (and they already are via Disney's phone/email). These companies (like Disney and Columbia) are far too focused on the "here and now" instead of positioning themselves for format dominance in the future.

I was in Sam's Club yesterday and saw a 16:9 HDTV running in 4:3 mode. It looked awful. Do the marketing execs realize that in a few years, they'll have just as many complaints about black bars on the sides as the black bars on the top and bottom?

I was beginning to give some serious thought to purchasing a 16:9 HDTV, but I've decided to hold off until I see where this OAR debacle is heading. I also hope to contact the major 16:9 manufacturers to inform them why my purchase is on hold, as well.

 

[Marc Colella]

It's just hard for me to believe that the people who actually make movies (i.e. directors, actors, DPs, gaffers, best boys, and the whole lot of them) can't or won't get organized in an effort to overcome the beancounter/marketing types.

You bring up a good point.

If the directors don't care, then what hope do we have in this effort?

The filmmakers should be pushing OAR. Why are we solely left with the task?

 

[DustinDavis]

Why are we solely left with the task?

I suspect that in most cases the film becomes the property of the studio once it is done, so the filmmaker may have less influence than you think.

 

[Marc Colella]

I suspect that in most cases the film becomes the property of the studio once it is done, so the filmmaker may have less influence than you think.

I understand that, but shouldn't they be raising hell over this anyways? We have less control, but we seem to care more.