Standard To Widescreen Conversions
Dear Gary: I am familiar with the process of converting widescreen movies to standard format using pan-and-scan. This process is very common with VHS media and also occurs in DVD. However, I am not aware of any media originally formatted for standard (4:3) viewing that has been converted to widescreen. Is this even possible? If this has been done, please list a few titles for reference.
Ron Orczyk, Whitinsville, Massachusetts
Research Editor and Staff Writer Michael Coate Comments:
Yes, there have been some examples of programs converted from standard to widescreen on DVD. In essence, instead of a lateral “pan-and-scan” conversion technique, a vertical “tilt-and-scan” technique can be used to reframe narrow aspect ratio-format material to a “wider” ratio. In our previous issue, we reviewed The Freddie Mercury Tribute, which is presented on DVD in anamorphic widescreen recomposed to 1.78:1 from an original 1.33:1 broadcast format. A couple of other Queen DVD releases, We Will Rock You (reviewed in Issue 56, January 2002) and Greatest Video Hits 1 (Issue 68, January 2003), also incorporated reframed imagery. In these instances, the band and/or original filmmakers were involved with the conversion/remastering. In recent issues, we have reviewed a few films orignally produced for Large Format/IMAX exhibition (1.44:1 ratio) that had been reframed for 1.78:1 presentation on DVD. These included Adventures In Wild California (Issue 56, January 2002), Super Speedway (Issue 57, February 2002), and Michael Jordan To The Max (Issue 47, April 2001). Historically, this is nothing new. During the widescreen craze of the 1950s, particularly during the launch of CinemaScope, many films previously produced in the Academy format (1.37:1) were being optically converted to the new “wider” formats (such as Fantasia being converted to Superscope) or were being masked in projection to achieve a “wider” look. Eventually, cinematographers began composing their images within the “new” projection area and in the process created, ironically, what is now the most commonly used format. During the late-1960s, the same thing began to happen with the 70mm exhibition format. Once optical enlargements (“blow-ups”) became common, some distributors thought they could take advantage of having a film presented “in the splendor of 70mm” simply by converting their old Academy films to the large frame. These things are all-too-often driven by marketing. Of course, the only way to make a film wider in this case would be to actually make it less tall. The 1967 re-release of Gone With The Wind is probably the most notorious example of this, though other Academy films were re-released in 70mm as well including The Jolson Story (1946) and Julius Caesar (1953). In addition, contemporary spherical productions of the time (1.66:1, 1.75:1, 1.85:1) were being enlarged to 70mm in ratios approaching and sometimes exceeding 2.00:1. Obviously, readers can either recall or conclude that these modified presentations were often artistic and aesthetic disgraces, with altered, lopsided image composition and with a distracting amount of amplified grain due to the over-enlargement. Promotional trailers today are routinely prepared in both “flat” and “scope” formats; unless presented “letterboxed,” scope versions of films originally shot spherically obviously undergo this same vertical cropping. As 16:9 widescreen displays and broadcasts become more common one could expect program material originated in ratios other than 1.78:1 (everything from 1.33:1 on one end to 2.76:1 on the other end) to be modified to that ratio, just as material has been modified for 1.33:1 TVs for years now. Telecine colorists are routinely asked to prepare transfers in a variety of aspect ratios to serve a variety of markets. Now an obvious question would be that considering how much of a fuss WSR has made over the years advocating original format presentations, should we provide editorial space for and review standard format programs that have been modified into widescreen? Good question.
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