My OAR Ads: "See What You've Been Missing. See It In WIDESCREEN!" (1 Viewer)

[David Lambert]

Guys, I have to admit that - much like Ron - I'm getting tired of fighting this fight.
But I'm not giving up yet. With a few pics courtesy of John Berger's and Scott Moran's excellent pro-OAR pages, I've created some samples of the kind of simple, direct advertising campaign that ought to get the message across to everyone.
These are thrown together pretty quickly, and aren't very good. But the tagline is the sort of thing we need to emphasize: the advantage of widescreen (without stealing slogans from Pontiac ).
Please post criticism, feedback, threats, or your own variations below. Here are the examples:
[c][rant]Pictures Deleted due to stupidity of Dave's ISP[/rant][/c]
You get the idea. We could do these, or others like them, as quarter-page ads in magazines and newspapers. Or as billboards (even tandem billboards... the 1st one sets it up and, while the driver is thinking "hey, where's Chewbacca?", the 2nd one delivers the punchline!), or as internet ads.
It would be simple to add sponsorship logos to the bottom, whether it be Home Theater Forum, www.widescreen.org, or www.widescreenadvocate.com, The Digital Bits, or that Widescreen Education Consortium we've been kicking around.
Well...that's my best shot for now. Thoughts?

 

[David Lambert]

P.S. - for The Music Man, would you like it better as "Music To My Eyes"?

 

[rutger_s]

Great work. Although that Mummy cover is for the pan & scan version of the film. Why not have both covers next to each other so consumers can see what to look for.

As a side note, I say something really at one of my local Wal-Marts:

They have a TV/VCR combo right next to a TV/DVD/VCR combo. The sales clerk put Star Wars: The Phantom Menace VHS tape into the the TV/VCR and SW: TPM DVD into the TV/DVD.

The clerk then started both films at the same time. A lot of customers passed by it and watched...more than half of them put back the open-matte & pan & scan versions of the DVDs they wanted and went looking for the widescreen versions.

See what education and not badgering does?

 

[RobertCharlotte]

I thought 76 trombones led the big parade.

 

[Matt Stone]

Nice ads David.

 

[GlennH]

Looks good David. Nice concept.
One small issue -- these comparisons aren't entirely accurate. They don't show the black bars and reduced size of the widescreen version in letterbox. That's definitely one complaint I've heard from members of my extended family who (to my dismay) complained about widescreen one day when I was over there. They don't so much mind black bars as much as they do the smaller size of the image. They think they're being cheated out of something. Of course the counter-argument is that they are losing picture information in P&S, which your ads do show dramatically, even if they cheat a little with regard to size.
And yes, as Robert points out your lyrics for 76 Trombones are not correct. Here are the lyrics:
http://www.endresnet.com/76Trombones.txt

76 TROMBONES
(c)1957 M. Willson
Seventy six trombones led the big parade
With a hundred and ten cornets close at hand
They were followed by rows and rows of the finest virtuosos;
the cream of every famous band.
Seventy six trombones caught the morning sun
With a hundred and ten cornets right behind
There were more than a thousand reeds springing up like weeds,
There were horns of every shape and kind
There were copper bottom tympani in horse platoons
Thundering, thundering, all along the way
Double bell euphoniums and big bassoons
Each bassoon having his big fat say
There were fifty mounted cannon in the battery
Thundering, thundering, louder than before
Clarinets of every size and trumpeters who'd improvise
A full octave higher than the score
Seventy six trombones hit the counter point
While a hundred and ten cornets played the air
To the rhythm of 'Harch Harch Harch!'
All the kids began to march
And they're marching still, right today

 

[KyleK]

If you ever get to do something lage-scale with these type of ads, you'd probably have to get permission from the studios to use images from their films.

I like the clever slogans suited to each particular movie. Good idea!

Kyle

 

[Peter Kline]

Slightly off topic. What other song from "The Music Man" has the same melody but different lyrics than "76 Trombones"?

"Goodnight My Someone"

 

[MartinTeller]

Who's paying for these advertisements? Do you know how expensive it is? It ain't cheap.

 

[Patrick McCart]

Nice, but no mention of 1.66:1-1.85:1 matted widescreen films, nor Super-35.

Remember, most titles in P&S-only are 1.85:1 mattted widescreen films.

 

[LukeB]

Great examples, David. There's no way anyone cannot understand what they're gaining looking at your pics. Good choices!

 

[Charles Bober]

Love 'em David. Let me know if I can help,

 

[Holadem]

One small issue -- these comparisons aren't entirely accurate. They don't show the black bars and reduced size of the widescreen version in letterbox.

Actually, this is a rather big issue, and I entirely agree with you.
Those pics as they are are quite misleading, they litterally don't show the whole picture
For objectivity's sake, you need to show the pix on the same TV set: Black bars and reduced size.
An excellent idea nonetheless.
--
Holadem

 

[David Lambert]

re: 76 trombones LED...
Yes. My brain-fart. Sorry. I threw these together in a hurry.
re: Size of widescreen display and absence of black bars is deceptive, yada yada yada
Yes. I have been an advocate of ensuring that the correct size factor is understood by those being educated. You can look through my posting history to verify this. Again, I threw these together in a hurry to get the concept across. We can tweak for accuracy later.
re: Mummy cover art is for the P&S version of the film
Yes, you're right. I took the first version I came across at a Universal web site. I threw these together in a hurry.
re: Not accurately representing 1.66:1 - 1.85:1 matted or Super 35 or anything "Open Matte".
Yes, that's true. I had some thoughts for that for "Phase 2", but I'm not ready to share them yet. As you know, I threw these together in a hurry.
re: We have to get permission from the studios to use particular pictures from particular movies.
Yes, we would absolutely be in a legal bind if we didn't do that. I decided, for the purposes of the demonstration, to forego writing to the legal departments of Warner, Fox, Lucas, and Universal. I threw these together in a hurry!
re: Ads are expensive, and someone will have to pay big bucks for them.
Sure they're expensive. I'm the one who posted that it would cost around $5000-$6000 to take out a 1-time full-page ad in Variety. But, not to worry. I've already put a lien on MartinTeller's house.
I was gonna have Martin co-sign on the loan, but, as I've said, I THREW THESE TOGETHER IN A HURRY!! :rolleyes
Thanks for the compliments. The idea is now public domain, for the express purpose of promoting OAR. If you are a marketer of Widescreen TV's and want to use this for your next ad campaign for Panasonic or someone like them, I will accept the modest payment of free equipment for life as my fee for inventing the slogan.

 

[John CW]

Change to quote on the first one to

"Ever see a wookie angry?

Go for widescreen!"

Or something like that.

~ John

 

[Mike Hutman]

Thanks for opening up my eyes. I never really thought they cut so much out. Now I see why people love wide screen so much. Thanks again

 

[Joshua Clinard]

David, can we get those in Hi-Res?

I'll get them put on WA right away.

I don't know why people think we need to create a new education consortium, when that's what WA was intended to be all along. We can do whatever you guys want, so just let Eric or I know.

 

[GerardoHP]

David, try not to get too tired of fighting the fight. It's going to go on for a very long time, perhaps even permanently until the TV's themselves change shape to accommodate the OAR. Good work - keep it up.

 

[Paul D Young]

David Lambert,

By any chance, did you throw those together in a hurry?

 

[David Lambert]

Paul - yes I did!
Joshua - you've got mail, but not in hi-res. :frowning:
Gerardo - I feel like I'm banging my head against the wall!