Stupid Format For Extras

Garrett

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I have just finished watching The Bourne Identity. and looked at the extras and there was an alterative ending, so I played it and it was in 2.35:1 but not anamorphic yet the film was.
Why do they always shoot or present the extras in the non anamorphic mode and usually in 4:3. Goodness sake they have been making TV programs in 16:9 for ages.
Also If you are able to watch the film in anamorphic you would think the producers of the disc would realise that you could watch the extras the same way.
 
Does a anamorphic picture take up more room than a 4:3?:confused:
 
The process of making it anamorphic does, why do you think that in the old days:laugh: most dvd´s were non anamorphic ,also why most trailers are stereo only not full 5.1(well at least in the lastest flicks)
 
Because there was not that many anamorphic TV out there origanaly.
I can see why this applies to stereo and 5.1 and you have more track info but I thought rightly or wrongly that a anamorphic picture was normal picture just compressed to 4:3 then de-compressed but the TV to fill the screen from left to right.
Also I’m sure I have seen extras where they have mixed the two together i.e. documentary 4:3 and an excerpt in 2.35:1 anamorphic.
 
Originally posted by Garrett
Does a anamorphic picture take up more room than a 4:3?:confused:
Yes and no.

Both are "4:3" on the disk. It's your TV that stretches it. However, the amount of 'black bar' in the image has implications for the compression. It can be argued that 2.35:1 takes up less space on a disk than 1.85:1 too because of the big black bars at the top and the bottom of 2.35:1 that will be compressed very efficiently as they remain throughout the feature. Consequently, a letterbox image uses less of the 4:3 space than an anamorphic image, so the extra black bars around the letterbox 4:3 image mean it can take up less space due to compression.

Not all deleted scenes are in letterbox though Garrett. Some are anamorphic, but admittedly it's rare. It's not to do with disk space - it's to do with costs and laziness.
 
Squirrel God
There is more visual info on anamorphic dvd´s then the non ones.
 
Originally posted by maggi
There is more visual info on anamorphic dvd´s then the none ones.
Yes, both use the same number of horizontal lines (PAL/NTSC), it's just that anamorphic has a higher ratio of "filled in" to "black border" lines for equivalent aspect ratios. However, the differences on the disk will be due to compression differences between the two. You can compress an anamorphic and a letterbox image down to the same size if you wanted to, but the anamorphic image would typically look worse. However, you could also argue that due to the poorer source quality of letterboxed images, that it makes sense not to compress them as much as anamorphic images. It's swings and roundabouts. So it's down to the chosen compression; it's not because letterbox and anamorphic intrisically take up more space - a subtle difference. It's not the reason why deleted scenes are often non-anamorphic either - it's just film studios with their usual cop outs. Most deleted scenes are terrible quality even though they're letterbox - they just haven't been cleaned up or had care taken in the transfer at all. Lion's Gate are very good for putting anamorphic deleted scenes on their disks IIRC :)
 
They would have more room on the disc to have it in the right format if the did not fill it with repetitive pap. E.g. typical interview: I just had to get a role in this film as so and so is the best director of this type of movie so I told my agent get me the role at any cost blah, blah, blah.
 
They are just lazy.

Since most extras are made for TV and 4:3 TVs still dominate america. The dvd extras are non-anamorphic.

At least Peter Jackson did the extras for Lord of the Rings : Extended in 16x9.

It's the only disc I own that has real behind the scenes insight instead of the usual bottom licking stuff. Who cares how wonderful the co-stars and the director are, etc...
 
The bottom licking stuff can be a pain, but sometimes it's quite justified. I watched Tom Cruise talking about Stanley Kubrick and how great he was and how affected he was by his death on the Eyes Wide Shut extras and I was quite moved.
 
Originally posted by Squirrel God
The bottom licking stuff can be a pain, but sometimes it's quite justified. I watched Tom Cruise talking about Stanley Kubrick and how great he was and how affected he was by his death on the Eyes Wide Shut extras and I was quite moved.
I wouldn’t call it that if it is true. I saw an interview with the team of X-Men and it was plain to see they where just that and having fun with each other. Which is nice to know when you are watching the film. The same can be said for the Bond films they are a bit like a family.
But the thing I mentioned above really adds nothing to the film or really you knowledge and to me so obvious.
 

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