I just got my 2-disc DVD collectors edition of Rock & Rule, it shipped 2 weeks before the official release date which was great, except I'm really disappointed with it, my VHS (and subsequent DVD I made of it because the tape has now deteriorated) is in 4:3 fullscreen and the DVD is in 16:9 anamorphic widescreen which they've been pressing as one of the main features, but it appears as though this is not all it's cracked up to be because from the looks of things half the time they used the full original widescreen image and the other half of the time they cropped it down.
What I mean is in some scenes the VHS shows more picture than the DVD and in other scenes the DVD shows more picture.
Looks like I'll be hunting down the laserdisc release now so I can enjoy the full picture, sort of.
Posted by RonaldMcdonaldMiller (Member # 3657) on :
Actually that widescreen version is probably not cropped at all and is probably how the director intended you to see the movie. I dont know much about that particular dvd but I can tell you what happens in alot of widescreen cases.
Most movies are filmed using 35mm film. 35mm film itself is not widescreen. In order to achieve a "widescreen" look a director will ignore the top and bottom of a film because when they send out copies of the film to theaters those top and bottom sections will not be shown because they will be blocked out by adjustable plates on the projector. Whatever is on the film is still going to be there, people just arent going to be able to see that part of film because only the middle section is being used just as the directors intended. What people see on the screen is a widescreen movie but the actual film in the projector and as shot by the director is fullscreen. Since the director's intent is to only have the middle section shown many times you have things like boom mics and other equipment on the film in the top and bottom sections that are blocked out that you never know about.
What happens many times when movie studios go to release a fullscreen DVD version of a film is they get lazy and just use the entire film instead of editing the widescreen version those directors intended everyone to see. To prevent this from happening some directors now use plates on the actual cameras themselves so when the film is shot the top and bottom are blacked out from the begining and only the middle section is recorded on film. Any fullscreen version of those films will have to be edited from the widescreen vision the director intended.
