WIDESCREEN

What is widescreen?

Widescreen is exactly as the name suggests. The movie is presented in the cinematic style with aspect ratios such as 16:9 or 2.37:1. A standard television receiver has a ratio of 4:3, which is just a touch wider than it is high. Widescreen is approximately twice as wide as it is high.

Most people associate widescreen with those "awful black bars on the top and bottom of the picture" which apparently cut down on how much they can see.
In a way they are correct, it is not technically possible to cram more detail into a smaller space without a loss of resolution.
However, if you are prepared to make the trade-off (I am, and my TV is only 12 inches diagonal!) then you will actually be watching MORE.

The way this works... Most movies that are made for a cinema release will be filmed in widescreen because that is the traditional way a movie is projected. If the director is any good, then he will make best use of his media - which means creating imposing shots that fill the movie screen. If you then chop bits off to make it look 'proper' on a TV screen, you will lose a lot of the impact.

What is the difference between 16:9 and 4:3?

Time for a direct comparison.

Both of these images were recorded with my video digitiser, from the movie "Evita". You are looking at the same scene.

This is part of the funeral scene from the end of "Evita", as it would be seen on a normal television displaying a widescreen picture. The scene is in monochrome to aid compression and to boost contrast.

This is the same part of the funeral scene as shown by SKY television on the night of the 7th of July 1998.

Do you recognise it?
Look to the right of the widescreen version.
In the widescreen version, the camera does a slow tilt up the stairway above the hall. The "Pan & Scan" version does a fairly rapid pan across from the coffin to the stairs, then up the stairs.

Did the director intend the shot to be rapid? Or was it supposed to be slow and deliberate to catch the mourning.

This simple shot illustrates why it is preferable to watch movies in their original format - widescreen. You get to watch exactly what was intended, not what some techie decides looks good.

What is meant by Pan & Scan?

Pan & Scan is the method applied (usually by the broadcaster) to change anything that isn't television ratio into something that is. This often results in distracting pans, cuts and other forms of edit. Consider the Luke fights Darth Vader scene in Star Wars - in the widescreen version, both characters are on-screen at the same time. The pan & scan version cuts and pans between the characters.

But this butchery is accepted and continues to be practised because people would moan up a stink if they thought they were being done out of half of their picture. They don't realise the reality that they are being done out of as much as two thirds of the picture!

Congratulations to Channel 4 and the European 16:9 Action Plan for presenting some movies in their correct ratio. I hope SKY television will soon be brave enough to show some of its premiering movies in widescreen. Since this page was originally written, BBC 2 has shown movies in widescreen too.
Another update, Sky Premier on digital has a widescreen channel. Only one, mind you, but it is a start...

What is that sort-of widescreen on TV?

That is a compromise. It is anticipated that future television will be in widescreen, using widescreen devices. However current equipment is mostly 4:3 ratio and people seem to moan about widescreen a lot - as you will notice if you read the papers/magazines/newsgroups.

In order to try to please both groups, and to allow for future widescreen presentations, some television productions (such as "An unsuitable job for a woman") are recorded in the widescreen 16:9 ratio but with the main action framed to take place in the centre of the shot. This is then broadcast in a semi-widescreen 14:9 ratio with the sides of the image chopped off, and tiny black bars above and below. Little or no pan & scan is used. Since this text was originally written, the majority of BBC's live output is now broadcast to analogue equipment (ie, a normal telly) in 14:9.

To give you something to think about, take a look at these impressive images from Baz Luhrmann's "Romeo + Juliet".

"Romeo + Juliet" is presented here at a ratio of 2.37:1; which is 21.3:9 - even wider than conventional widescreen!

Both of these are taken from the UK video release, widescreen version.

Please try to imagine how the images would look on a television when shown at 4:3 ratio. How could you maintain the impact and power of these shots, when you will be losing a LOT of the image.

How would it look?

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