Mike DB
Agent
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2002
- Messages
- 38
I know this is a tired subject but I don't think this specific question has been covered:
When a film is available in both letterbox and full frame on DVD, is there any way to tell whether the full frame is an unmatted version or a pan and scan version?
To elaborate, in some film formats, the film's actual framing is letterboxed and widescreen even as it is shot. In these formats, the only way to derive "full screen" AR for video is to crop the image, i.e. pan and scan it.
In other formats like 35mm (spherical lense?) the original film framing is actually more or less a full video frame AR and then it is matted to create a wide screen image for theatrical release. In these cases, generating the full frame for video is a simple matter of presenting it un-matted.
So, to re-iterate: is there any rule or guideline to check in the specs that would tell us which way a film was created? If it was shot in a widescreen AR and then cropped for video full frame, or if it was shot unmatted and then cropped for theatrical? :b
When a film is available in both letterbox and full frame on DVD, is there any way to tell whether the full frame is an unmatted version or a pan and scan version?
To elaborate, in some film formats, the film's actual framing is letterboxed and widescreen even as it is shot. In these formats, the only way to derive "full screen" AR for video is to crop the image, i.e. pan and scan it.
In other formats like 35mm (spherical lense?) the original film framing is actually more or less a full video frame AR and then it is matted to create a wide screen image for theatrical release. In these cases, generating the full frame for video is a simple matter of presenting it un-matted.
So, to re-iterate: is there any rule or guideline to check in the specs that would tell us which way a film was created? If it was shot in a widescreen AR and then cropped for video full frame, or if it was shot unmatted and then cropped for theatrical? :b