Is the word "Letterbox" officially dead? (1 Viewer)

[Gary->dee]

Are movies even referred to as being in letterbox anymore? I get the impression that the term "widescreen" has been more widely accepted(no pun intended) in favor of "letterbox" when describing aspect ratio.

 

[Artur Meinild]

Yes, I believe "letterbox" is still used.
For instance, a 2.35:1 movie is still "letterboxed" within the 16:9 DVD frame, since there are still black areas above and below the picture.
Likewise, a 1.66:1 movie is "windowboxed" within the 16:9 frame, since there is a small black band on the sides.
Correct me if I'm wrong...

 

[David Lambert]

I view it as "widescreen is anything which, when displayed on a 4x3 set, contains black bars on the top and bottom; there are two types of widescreen: anamorphic, and non-anamorphic; for simplicity's sake, non-anamorphic is refered to as letterbox".

That is how the online DVD community at HTF and other sites has "raised me" to use those terms.

 

[Cees Alons]

'Letterbox' is not dead. It's that aperture through which a gynecologist paints his hall.

Cees

 

[Mark_vdH]

I view it as "widescreen is anything which, when displayed on a 4x3 set, contains black bars on the top and bottom; there are two types of widescreen: anamorphic, and non-anamorphic; for simplicity's sake, non-anamorphic is refered to as letterbox".

That is how the online DVD community at HTF and other sites has "raised me" to use those terms.

I also prefer the above "meaning" of letterbox(ing/ed), and I think it's strange that The Digital Bits has always used the term "letterboxed" with all widescreen titles, including the anamorphic ones.

Not in a confusing way though.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

"Letterbox" is the process by which the matted film is shown
on a non AR matching set

"Widescreen" describes the process used for theatrical presentation

 

[Ali B]

I view it as "widescreen is anything which, when displayed on a 4x3 set, contains black bars on the top and bottom; there are two types of widescreen: anamorphic, and non-anamorphic; for simplicity's sake, non-anamorphic is refered to as letterbox".

Frankly that's just wrong though - widescreen is a term which refers only to the 1.85:1 ratio or with the addition of the word European, to the 1.66:1 ratio. 2.35:1 is called 'scope, and is not widescreen.

 

[David Lambert]

Frankly that's just wrong though - widescreen is a term which refers only to the 1.85:1 ratio or with the addition of the word European, to the 1.66:1 ratio. 2.35:1 is called 'scope, and is not widescreen.

Frankly, you should explain that to studios, like Warner Brothers or Fox, who use the term "Widescreen" to describe DVD releases like Superman or Attack of the Clones which use aspect rations of 2.35:1!!

The former DOES mention the word "scope" in describing what widescreen means, though.

 

[Damin J Toell]

Frankly that's just wrong though - widescreen is a term which refers only to the 1.85:1 ratio or with the addition of the word European, to the 1.66:1 ratio. 2.35:1 is called 'scope, and is not widescreen.

Sorry, but that doesn't accurately represent the historical (and, indeed, current) usage of the term. "Widescreen" is used for any AR wider than 1.33:1/1.37:1. Even Webster's Dictionary has it right.

DJ

 

[Aaron Cohen]

Warner uses the term Letterbox all the time on the backs of their dvd cases. They use it to differentiate between whether or not the movie is "matted" or "letterboxed" in it's original aspect ratio. They then have "enhanced for widescreen tv's" follow that.

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

And who coined the word 'letterbox' for CinemaScope movies on a telecine?!

It was... some guy in the late 50s.


Gordy

 

[Paul Linfesty]

I thought LETTERBOX originated as a derogatory term coined by a British film critic describing the CinemaScope when it debuted in theatres. He had said the process was like watching movies through the slot of a mailbox.

 

[Gary->dee]

Well this has become an interesting thread.

Warner Bros. has it as either Standard Version for full screen or Widescreen Version and then goes on to describe it being presented in a "Letterbox" widescreen format. Excalibur is the only one I have missing the word letterbox in the description.

 

[Mike Graham]

I'm probably mistaken, but films shot with anamorphic lenses for 2.35:1 are to referred to as scope, but if you shot the film on Super 35 then matted it to 2.35:1, wouldn't that just be referred to as 'flat', like 1.85:1

 

[Kramer Lowry]

 

[Grant H]

Actually, as I was going to cite Fox and their usage of letterbox anyway, the 2006 Star Wars releases imply Fox has shifted their gears to the HTF usage, as the 2004 versions of the Star Wars films are listed as "Widescreen format enhanced for 16:9 TVs (Aspect Ratio 2.35:1)", whereas the original theatrical versions are listed as "4:3 Letterbox format (Aspect Ratio 2.35:1).

Like Star Wars, there will never be a definitive version of the definition of "letterbox."

No one wants to say "non-anamorphic" on the box because it's like saying "not-as-good". 4:3 letterbox is in a sense accurate since the DVD presents you a 4:3 image (as opposed to a 16:9 image), albeit a big chunk of that image is black bars. They can't really say "optimized for 4:3 TV's" either, since that could imply pan and scan.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

I'll go you one better, I never use the word 'Letterbox' OR 'Widescreen'. Over the years i've found that both of those words are too limiting when discussing the subject, I always use the term 'OAR' as it covers everything.

For instance when you say to someone "I want X film in widescreen." they might take it to mean that you want it with black bars despite the fact that said film was composed for 4x3. But if you say "I want X film in it's OAR." then you've effectively stated that you want said film in the ratio for which it was intended to be viewed by the filmmakers.

 

[Nathan V]

wouldn't that just be referred to as 'flat'

I always thought "flat" meant 1.85, "academy" meant 1.33/7, "scope" meant 2.35, and "letterbox" meant non-anamorphic. The confusing thing to me is that "anamorphic" means different things based on whether you're talking about lenses or DVDs. Everyone has their own meanings for these same words though. It's like sayng the word "formal" to a painter, writer, cinematographer, and dumbass- they'll all have totally different ideas of what you mean. I often simply use the word "wide" as slang for 2.35. People know what I mean. If I say "2.35 to 1," they'll look at me like I'm crazy.

Regards,
Nathan

 

[Damin J Toell]

"Flat" just means that spherical lenses, as opposed to anamorphic lenses, were used in shooting. A film shot flat could be for intended projection at 1.37:1, 1.66:1, 1.85:1, or even 2.39:1 if using Super35.

"Academy" means 1.37:1.

"Scope" means anamorphic lenses were used during filming. The current SMPTE standard for scope projection is 2.39:1, but it has changed over there years. There have also been other systems that used 1.5x and 1.25x scope lenses (as opposed to the standard 2x) that gave different results entirely.

"Letterbox" is a term that predates "anamorphic" video by decades. Through repeated misusage, it has unfortunately acquired the connotation you describe.

DJ

 

[Grant H]

Warner often uses "widescreen" (though I think they usually say "matted" whether or not that's truly how they got the image) to describe 1.85:1 transfers and "scope" to describe 2.35:1.

As far as layman's terms go, that's probably the best way to go about it, regardless of technical accuracy. Most people recognize the shape of a widescreen TV now, so to them "widescreen" means it will fit the TV, and "scope" tells them it's even wider than the TV, hence the thin black bars. Warner was using the words "enchanced for widescreen TVs" very early on, eliminating the confusion caused by "anamorphic." Though some (like MGM and Universal I believe) often used both terms on the boxes. Of course, Universal still has a habit of putting inaccurate information on the boxes.

But, sadly, yes, "letterbox" took on a negative meaning with many DVDs, as it often indicated a non-anamorphic transfer. But at least it could be used as an indicator (many times anyway) since no one says "NOT enhanced for 16x9 displays."