The Interpreter: Sydney Pollack's featurette on widescreen vs. pan & scan
 

If you haven't seen this yet, it's a really good look at the differences between widescreen and pan & scan (besides the obvious). Pollack really goes into detail about what he tries to accomplish through widescreen and what gets lost/butchered in pan & scan. A much better featurette than the Die Hard one to show your pan & scan buddies the error of their ways.

Pollack is awesome. He actually sued Danish TV for showing Three Days of the Condor in pan and scan.

I noticed that the featurette is also listed on the back of the fullscreen version, so it will get to the right audience.

This has to be one of the best extras ever. It gives an explanation that everybody can understand about aspect ratio. The irony is that the Interpreter was also released full screen, although like Drexl said, it may get to the right audience instead of preaching to the choir.

I have'nt seen the film yet and was thinking of doing this exact issue for an "Informative Speech" I must give in a few weeks.

How long is the feature?

Since I own very few dvds which contain a P&S option. I was contemplating using A Fistful of Dollars as an example. The sequence where Clint confronts that gang in town at the begining is a great showcase.

And if I do use the film as an example. Would it be better to show the WS version first,then P&S. Or the P&S version first,then the 'big reveal' of the widescreen version where they may think "Wow" once realizing how much was missing?

I don't recall off hand, but it was about 5-10 minutes long. He actually uses The Interpreter as an example of the differences, showing what's in a regular widescreen shot and then showing what happens after it gets cropped. He uses "50%" a lot to describe how much is lost when pan and scanned.

Unless a movie was matted, full screen is such a misleading label.

The Interpreter should have ONLY been released in Widescreen, so when people wonder why there's no full screen and ultimately buy the widescreen version, then they can WATCH that feature and be properly informed.

Sort of defeats the purpose of making that feature where Universal offers a full screen version for sale :hairpull: :)

Christian

Kinda like the fact that retailers carry Full Screen, yet are pushing widescreen tvs.

Too bad this movie sucked. I'd love to have that feature on hand for some of my more ignorant relatives who insist Fullscreen looks better (even on my WS TV!). I just wish it was on Three Days of the Condor or Jeremiah Johnson instead. There's just no way I'm buying this movie.

rotfl rotfl rotfl rotfl rotfl rotfl rotfl rotfl rotfl rotfl

On the fullscreen copies it should play as soon as you pop it in your dvd player (like forced trailers) with NO way to go to the menu by chapter advance or fast forwarding. Make the P&S J6P watch it & see what he's missing.

They had a great featurette on the benefits of widescreen on the Vista Pearl Harbor too but of course Disney in their infinite wisdom hid it as a fucking Easter egg.

Yeah, that would go over real well...

DJ

This only works with movies that were shot in a actual widescreen process like panavision, cinemascope etc... However most movie are not. They are shot 4x3 and then matted to "widescreen" or were intended to be 4x3 all along (TV or low budget). It make no sense to "teach" someone about whats lost on a panavision movie with pan & scan and then not tell them that the most movies are not that way at all.

On TCM they show a segment alot with Martin Scorsese talking about the differences between p&s and widescreen. I know one of the clips they use are from 7 brides for 7 brothers. Very informative and easy to understand. The best way to describe it I have heard is to take the Last Supper, which is widescreen, and cut the sides off of it to make it fullscreen.

Pollack is a little spazzy in the featurette. If it was a more polished piece, it might have more impact. As it is, it looks like a DVDTalker at their keyboard rambling on about the benefits of letterboxing.

Anyone see Brad Bird's OAR rant on the non-R1 Incredibles DVD? It's awesome.

What's so funny? Including it on the widescreen version only would be fairly pointless.

What's so funny? Including it on the widescreen version only would be fairly pointless.

What's so funny? Including it on the widescreen version only would be fairly pointless.

that post was so important he had to post it 3 times.

I think it was the Danish TV lawsuit that brought forth the laughter.

DJ

:lol: :lol:

Just wanted to bump this. I bought the DVD a week ago, give or take. I was going to watch it tonight...but I came in to check up on the ol' internet first. I saw the most recent P&S vs. Widescreen thread, then recalled seeing that featurette listed on the back of the DVD. I went in and watched it, loved it, and figured this should be bumped for anybody who hadn't seen it yet.

-JP

Amen! Sheesh, aren't their more important causes out there? I've been all about widescreen since VHS, but I can give a hoot whether people buy fullscreen DVDs. More titles are available in widescreen than fullscreen nowadays. If a DVD is fullscreen only it's some P.O.S. movie that's got little artistic merit anyway. Can't we call this crusade over already?

As long as there are films that are only available in full screen when their original aspect ratio is widescreen, this "crusade" will keep on going. And besides, promoting full screen is like a math teacher telling you 2 +2 =3; it takes away from the directors vision and it cuts the picture and information on the screen for moronic reasons. This is why most of us give a "hoot" about the selling and purshasing of full screen dvds.

Exactly. I ordered Blue Thunder and Revenge from DVD Empire. Guess what? They're now fullscreen only, victims of Columbia's move to fullscreen catalog titles. I had to send them back.

Well, not only that, but I often go over to friends' houses to watch movies. Unless I convince them to let me bring the movie, I'm usually stuck watching a butchered fullscreen version. More often than not, I'll have to revisit the title shortly thereafter, in widescreen, to pick up on anything that I may have missed.

Only a fraction of this "crusade" has to do with what other people buy. In my opinion, the more important issue at hand is the fact that the work of numerous directors is chopped up and disrespected. Like Pollack said on this featurette; "I filmed in widescreen, not in fullscreen. (Widescreen) is what I wanted you to see. It's what I had in mind when I set up each and every one of my shots. Not (fullscreen)."

-JP

I watched the movie last week and checked out that featurrette. Sydney Pollack did a wonderful job explaining (visually) how much of the movie you lose, and all the "information" (story, characters and plot) that gets lost by P&S. He was empassioned about it which I really liked. He also pointed out knowing that his movie would eventually get panned and scanned, he decided to start shooting moveis in 4:3 ratio. When doing so, he purposefully fit everything into the parameters of that shot or aspect ratio. But, now with "The Interpreter", he's gone back to widescreen. I have a whole new appreciation for the guy now. I think this feature is a great reference to have handy should any visitors start spouting off about how they don't want to watch those "black bars" next time I pop in a movie.

Not that I disagree with the rest of your sentiment, but that statement is ludicrously false.