Widescreen in Classic Horror on DVD, Blu-Ray and Streaming Forum

0 Points

Forum Jump

Widescreen

Author	Comment
Bob Furmanek	Widescreen	Lead	[-]
Apr 10 13 6:00 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Our latest article, "The New Era in Screen Dimensions" is now on the website. http://www.3dfilmarchive.com/home/widescreen-documentation I hope that you will find it interesting. If so, please share. Thanks! Bob
Wich2		#1	[-]
Apr 10 13 6:05 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	(A.k.a., Ecclesiastes 1:9!)
Dr Acula		#2	[-]
Apr 10 13 7:37 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I took a tour of a motion picture projector repair shop, and the guy who ran it had a great wall-sized poster that showed every gauge of film from the begining of motion pictures through the 90's. It was awesome... anybody ever seen it as well? It would be great to have on my wall... A mighty gas flows all around, leaps from the ranks of the lost and found, ancient manuscript leather bound: we are the Mystery Men. http://www.eccentric-cinema.com/ Television Obscurities http://www.tvobscurities.com/
CapnDunsel		#3	[-]
Apr 10 13 7:40 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Wich2 wrote: (A.k.a., Ecclesiastes 1:9!) still, it's a pretty website. And you forgot a whole bunch of ingredients if you were posting your favorite Scripture Cake recipe. Scripture Cake Ingredients: 2/3 cup Psalm 55:21 2 cups Ecclesiastes 5:12 3 cups Exodus 29:2 2 teaspoons 1 Corinthians 5:6 1/4 teaspoon Matthew 5:13 1 cup 1 Corinthians 3:2 1/2 teaspoon Jeremiah 1:11 6 Job 6:6 Combine ingredients as you would any similar cake. Bake for about 1 hour in moderate oven (375°). Cook's note: Use the King James version Bible for reference.
Wich2		#4	[-]
Apr 10 13 7:57 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Cap, I didn't give that citation as a knock on Bob & co's usual great work. I meant that (as that page shows) Widescreen has been around in some form almost as long as Movies themselves - nothing new under that ~~sun~~ screen! *"SCRIPTURE CAKE - ummmmmmm!"*
Latarnia		#5	[-]
Apr 10 13 8:41 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Beautiful presentation! Mirek
Latarnia		#6	[-]
Apr 10 13 8:43 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	BTW, the curved screen of Cinemascope. Is this the reason for the Cinemascope "mumps" when a transfer is done for DVD/Blu-Ray? If so, shouldn't these "mumps" be easy to deal with by somehow digitally curving the final viewed element? An example of the mumps: Mirek Last Edited By: Latarnia Apr 10 13 8:46 PM. Edited 1 times.
Bob Furmanek		#7	[-]
Apr 10 13 10:59 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	It's not the screen, it's the lens. The curved screen helped but they weren't eliminated entirely. The problem can be fixed today but it's very expensive. Disney did a beautiful restoration of 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA and fixed this problem. We saw a demo at the Reel Thing in LA a few years ago. I'm not sure if the restoration has been released yet on Blu-ray. There's more info here: http://jv.gilead.org.il/forum/2011/08/0022.html The curved screen was introduced very early in the widescreen game. Both Paramount and Universal-International were using it for their demonstrations.
CapnDunsel		#8	[-]
Apr 11 13 7:13 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Wich2 wrote: I meant that...Widescreen has been around in some form almost as long as Movies themselves - nothing new under that ~~sun~~ screen! I understood exactly what you meant after finding the citation. As it was an oblique way to reference that adage, I thought you (and others) would enjoy another oblique biblical reference.
gerda		#9	[-]
Apr 11 13 12:12 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I tip my hat to you Bob for your excellent site..it's very obvious how seriously you take film, and even though I have (like others) my own preference for certain things, you surely know what you're talking about!!!!!!!!
gerda		#10	[-]
Apr 11 13 12:24 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Oh, by the way, for those interested in all things widescreen, you've just GOT TO check out the blu ray"smile-box" of MGM/ Cinerama's How The West Was Won, which I feel does a wonderful job of "recreating" the Cinerama experience dispite a T.V.'s flat plane. I know, the movie itself can be rather Hollywood lighthearted, but the restoration ( eg. removing the join lines of the 3 panels) is truly an accomplishemnt in improving a major flaw in the Cinerama process.
bgart13.thelatarniaforums		#11	[-]
Apr 11 13 12:40 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Bob, when films started to use other aspect ratios other than Academy, were they all called widescreen or did the term actually refer to a specific aspect ratio (ie, 1.85)? I'm curious if 1.66 was referred to as widescreen then too. Kundun Rat Terrier: 8/16/02 - 3/26/11. RIP, Ku.
Bob Furmanek		#12	[-]
Apr 11 13 1:07 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Thanks, Gerda. 1.66:1 was the first recommended ratio by Paramount and it was called Paravision. Their first use of that name was March 4, 1953. Universal-International used the name Wide-Vision for the first time on April 1, MGM had Metrovision, Columbia had Vitascope, Republic was Vast-Vision, etc. They all had different names for the same thing!
dracsback		#13	[-]
Apr 11 13 1:53 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	love the site! Thanks Bob. "I saw what I saw when I saw it!"
LCranston		#14	[-]
Apr 11 13 5:22 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I have an ongoing disagreement with my wife. She uses the term "HD" when referring to a film presented Widescreen. Now, am I understanding correctly that aspect ratio is independent of High Definition? If there was triangle-shaped film, then that could be processed HD, correct? For argument's sake, ANY film could be HD, but not every HD film is Widescreen? I am SO gonna get in trouble with her if she sees me posting about this... Deep water is dark and restful and full of peace.
dracsback		#15	[-]
Apr 11 13 5:59 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	LCranston wrote: I have an ongoing disagreement with my wife. She uses the term "HD" when referring to a film presented Widescreen. Now, am I understanding correctly that aspect ratio is independent of High Definition? If there was triangle-shaped film, then that could be processed HD, correct? For argument's sake, ANY film could be HD, but not every HD film is Widescreen? I am SO gonna get in trouble with her if she sees me posting about this... It's because when TVs went to high definition they called them HDTVs. So HD = widescreen - 1.78:1. "I saw what I saw when I saw it!"
BigScreenPete		#16	[-]
Apr 11 13 8:31 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	LCranston wrote: Now, am I understanding correctly that aspect ratio is independent of High Definition? If there was triangle-shaped film, then that could be processed HD, correct? For argument's sake, ANY film could be HD, but not every HD film is Widescreen? .. < Correct.
LCranston		#17	[-]
Apr 12 13 1:55 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Thanks Drac & Pete. Now to get this info to my wife... Deep water is dark and restful and full of peace.
ryanbrennan		#18	[-]
Apr 13 13 5:39 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Great article, Bob. As always. Regarding Magnascope, I believe I've read that many theaters held on to their Magnascope lens in the widescreen era and used it as a stop gap to help enlarge an image if their projector throw didn't allow for a full screen. My questions arise from seeing that Music Hall screen that looks to approximate 1.66. When you say that images were magnified on this screen were they simply blown up or did they end up being cropped top and bottom to a 1.66 ratio? Were they using a Magnascope lens or some other Second, how common was it for a theater to have a wider screen than the industry norm prior to the introduction of widescreen? I'm thinking back to that mini-boom of wide gauge, large film format spate of films of 1929 - 1931 and how they were accomodated on standard screens. We read a lot about formats and ratios but not a lot about actual screen dimensions. Third, other than the types of situations I've already cited, are you aware of any instances in which Magnascope was used to present a widescreen image of a movie not shot for widescreen rather than merely enlarging the image for dramatic effect? Last, I'm intrigued by what I've read of the Fantom screen which could be moved forward and backward. Do you have any info on its use and pervasiveness?
Bob Furmanek		#19	[-]
Apr 14 13 12:15 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Thank you, Ryan. I'm going to ask Jack T to chime in, he's got some actual data on screen sizes, circa 1930. I'm not aware of any complete feature being enlarged via Magnascope, it was strictly for key scenes. Off the top of my head, I don't recall anything about the Fantom screen. My research focused on the post-Cinerama era. Again, Jack may know.
ryanbrennan		#20	[-]
Apr 15 13 2:47 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Bob Furmanek wrote: Thank you, Ryan. I'm going to ask Jack T to chime in, he's got some actual data on screen sizes, circa 1930. I'm not aware of any complete feature being enlarged via Magnascope, it was strictly for key scenes. Off the top of my head, I don't recall anything about the Fantom screen. My research focused on the post-Cinerama era. Again, Jack may know. Thanks, Bob. I should have been a little more precise with one of the questions. I understand that Magnascope only came into play at critical moments in a film. OLD IRONSIDES is the film most often cited but I've also read that some of the flight scenes in WINGS got this treatment and I remember reading that Sid Grauman used a Magnascope lens when KING KONG ran at his Chinese Theater. But in those key scenes that were enlarged is there any indication that those images approximated a widescreen ratio? Or was it always a case of simply enlarging the entire image? My impression is that the latter effect is what was desired. I know next to nothing about the Fantom screen, just that it came along about the same time but after the Magnascope lens as an alternative. By moving the screen forward the image could be made smaller while moving it backwards, away from the audience, the image filled the entire screen. Seems like a lot of trouble -- with a lot more that could go wrong -- when the Magnascope lens made things much easier. Last Edited By: ryanbrennan Apr 16 13 12:03 AM. Edited 1 times.

<< Previous Topic Next Topic >>

Add Reply

Yuku free message boards

Widescreen

Widescreen