Shots that simply look better in WS - DVDfile.com forum for DVD, Blu-Ray, and HD-DVD

IKEA_boy · 02-13-2002, 03:21 PM

What are some good examples of shots the undoubtedly look better in WS?
Two that come to mind right now are from the Matrix when Trinity is looking in the mirror of her motorbike while Neo is being arrested. I love how that shot looks with the mirror in the middle in focus and the people out of focus milling around in the bg. Another is from Se7en, when Sumorset and Mills (is that right) walk into the Gluttony scene. In the P&S copy the room is almost completely devoid of color but in WS in the living room three TVs are on, bright bluish color. IMO the TVs are a very (edit: meant "very important") aspect of that setting, and compliment the scene very well. It's so prominent though that when I saw the WS DVD the first time I thought a scene was added. Two good candidates to show people why WS is better. But then again if one can appreciate things like whats mentioned above they wouldn't was P&S anyway.

TheBlackKnight · 02-13-2002, 03:46 PM

In Raiders of the Lost Ark, when Indy and Sallah are lifting the Ark from it's chamber. In P&S it appears to levitate up all by itself!

Cinephile · 02-13-2002, 03:58 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by IKEA_boy
What are some good examples of shots the undoubtedly look better in WS?

All of them? .

They've been showing The Professional on Cinemax a lot lately, and if ever there was a movie that shouldn't be allowed a P&S version, this is it. For starters, the shot where Gary Oldman swings open the door and shoots the woman in the bathtub is broken up into two separate shots, instead of leaving it as a much more powerful single shot. The shot of Oldman in front of the window while his cronies look for the missing drugs is cropped down to just him, and you don't see the window. The beautiful composition of that scene gets completely lost.

I'm sure I'll think of more later.

smurdleman2000 · 02-13-2002, 05:19 PM

the shot in The Black Hole during the asteroid storm, where Reinhardt is in the Command Tower and says "Power to maximum! We are going THROUGH!" Asteroids are shooting by on all sides of the command tower in the 2.35:1 widescreen edition (very impressive F/X), but the pan and scan edition is cropped so narrowly that we only see Reinhardt most of the time.

Ghostbusters- theres a scene where someone (cant remember) has a conversation with Jenine that is one unbroken shot in widescreen but cut about five times (back and forth) in the pan and scan.

Nearly ever shot in blade runner.....

J Greer · 02-13-2002, 07:11 PM

Quote:

[i]

Ghostbusters- theres a scene where someone (cant remember) has a conversation with Jenine that is one unbroken shot in widescreen but cut about five times (back and forth) in the pan and scan.

[/b]

The final showdown when Winston is cut out stinks to!

The scene in Larence of Aribia, were they show the army before they "Hit" the train is a good example why P&S ruins great films.

tomdkat · 02-13-2002, 07:33 PM

The 3-way gunfight at the end of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. That scene is almost the definiitive scene to justify the widescreen format alone.....

(Now, are you guys shocked that I did NOT mention The Matrix this time......

)

Peace.......

Jerm · 02-13-2002, 07:50 PM

Any movie shot 2.35!
I was recently watching My Best Friend's Wedding on VHS, and I could tell it was 2.35, jerky shots :mad:. I found it for my wife's b-day a couple of days later on DVD.

Sid · 02-13-2002, 07:55 PM

Anything by Columbia/Tri-Star

They do the worst scanning.

But I do agree that everything looks better in oar

IKEA_boy · 02-13-2002, 08:06 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by tomdkat

(Now, are you guys shocked that I did NOT mention The Matrix this time......)

you just did :p

run1 · 02-14-2002, 12:05 AM

All of 'lawrence of arabia'.
I can't even imagine watching it i P&S

FilmFan16 · 02-14-2002, 12:44 AM

umm...try all 93 minutes of "Halloween." I swear, you just have not seen this film until you've seen it in widescreen, the way it was shot and meant to be seen. The pan-and-scan video version cuts off so much info on both sides that watching it in widescreen for the first time is like watching the movie for the first time, no matter how many times you've seen it.

Dustin

Personal DVD count: 610

Marty McFly · 02-14-2002, 03:33 AM

Let's just say every part of Ghostbusters. The day I bought that DVD was the day I realized how much of the film I was missing out of. Of course I saw it originally in theaters in its OAR, but 16 years was a long time.

med · 02-14-2002, 06:58 AM

I remember watching a bit of The Deliverance on tv a little while ago in P&S, and it was just hacked to pieces. There was a LOT of panning across the existing shots. It looked terrible. Some of the pans were really jerky and fast, which made them seem even more unnatural than they already are.

Eric · 02-14-2002, 02:44 PM

Which shots look better in OAR? Umm... everything? That's how it was meant to be shown, after all.

A few weeks ago I found myself watching A Few Good Men on cable. It's been a LONG time since I bothered to watch movies on cable (mostly because, even with hundreds of channels, they manage not to show anything watchable.)

Anyway, in this particular showing, they showed the opening credits sequences in widescreen, and there were some really nicely composed shots. But when the body of the movie started, it went straight to pan & scan. Looked like shit, particularly with the obvious artificial camera movements. I never noticed how jarring and distracting that was until I bought a DVD player.

Ambushbug · 02-14-2002, 05:24 PM

But I know of at least one shot that's better in P&S. In "Spaceballs", the scene where princess Vespa has been captured by the Spaceballs, and her father is being blackmailed to release the combination to Druidia's airshield. The gag is the Spaceballs will give the princess back her original nose if her father doesn't give the combination. Anywho, in the P&S version, the shot is cropped so that we can see Vespa turning her head left to look at the picture of herself with her old nose, and we can clearly see that the nose job was a *good* thing.

But in the original aspect ratio, the picture's nose is actually cut off by the sides of the TV! Completely spoiling the gag. Now, I'm sure it was fine in the theatres, but at least on my 33" JVC, that nose is just not visible.

I remember talking with folks here about the same problem on the "Sleepy Hollow" disc. The scene where the Horseman's coming is foreshadowed by 4 torches being extinguished by tendrils of mist. The torch on the far left is covered up by the side of the TV, but you can see the tendril of mist heading for the non-visible torch.

Of course, that's one that P&S can't fix; just another example of widescreen at home is not always perfect.

Not that I'm a fan of P&S or anything, just being a pain in the ass.

AB

Jerm · 02-14-2002, 05:46 PM

I was watching "Mrs Doubtfire" on VHS last night

and I don't think that I've watched that tape in a couple of years, because the 1st thing that I noticed was that the opening credits were 2.35:1, so you know it's gonna be screwy. And all throughout the film, you can see where the panned over to catch the other side of the shot! Another movie that I have to replace...is this even on DVD?

The Riddler · 02-14-2002, 06:03 PM

Gotta go with Marty McFly on this one! GB needed to be in WS ALL the time! One part that sticks out is the scene where Stay Puft is walking down the street! I grew up watching this on VHS & always thought that was the only thing in the shot....turns out our 4 heroes are watching him come down the street from the rooftops! Looks like a true SFX shot!!!

Also in Fright Night when Jerry Dandridge (Chris Sarandon), the main vamp sneaks into Charlie's (William Ragsdale) mom's room, walks toward the door slowly & closes it. The P&S doesn't show this, but there is a mirror in the background shot (not shown in the P&S) with NO reflection on it! Cool shot that was in my opinion "deleted". Something I've not known for years!!!!

IKEA_boy · 02-14-2002, 08:26 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Jerm
...is this even on DVD?

yup ... don't know the AR though. it looks like an older release

Dave McFly · 02-14-2002, 10:26 PM

Right after Doc clocks Biff in the face with the Deloreans door and and they leave the casino. The scene where Doc and Marty are in the flying delorean cockpit rig, you can clearly see only the roof of the cockpit in the P&S version, no Mr.Fusion, or any time machine stuff sticking out of it. But in the beginning of the movie when they back out of Martys driveway you can see the mrfusion and time machine stuff. If any movie deserves to be in WIDESCREEN this is it, Marty back me up on this bro

.

Marty McFly · 02-14-2002, 10:34 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Dave McFly
If any movie deserves to be in WIDESCREEN this is it, Marty back me up on this bro.

Most definately. I believe Part II more than the first or third one. After viewing the LD at a friend's house, I just noticed small, yet important things. Since BTTF2 is so complex, being in its OAR is the only way to watch it.

Newbomb Turk · 02-15-2002, 03:41 AM

Chariot race in Ben-Hur

Dave McFly · 02-16-2002, 01:17 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Marty McFly

Most definately. I believe Part II more than the first or third one. After viewing the LD at a friend's house, I just noticed small, yet important things. Since BTTF2 is so complex, being in its OAR is the only way to watch it.

Thanks Marty

cheers to you

DimWit · 02-16-2002, 01:30 AM

There's a really nice piece on P&S on the 5 star Die Hard with a scene shown in both Anamorphic and P&S. If that doesn't convince anyone, nothing will.

disclover · 02-16-2002, 05:28 AM

Jaws is a good one to compare the pan and scam with the widescreen. The Indianapolis monologue, quite possibly the best scene in the film, has Richard Dreyfuss visible for much of the sequence in the OAR. In the pan and scam, he is completely cropped out; you would think Robert Shaw is alone on camera in those shots.

souledge4 · 02-16-2002, 05:39 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Marty McFly
Let's just say every part of Ghostbusters. The day I bought that DVD was the day I realized how much of the film I was missing out of.

Me too, I never knew that Egon stands next to Venkman and "signs" the prices for the busting, or that he walks with them ever!

Also, the explosion of the glass windows in Die Hard, after he threw the C4 bomb down the elevator shaft. Much better in wide!

IKEA_boy · 02-16-2002, 07:15 AM

well this thread didn't turn out exactly how i wanted it to. i was looking for cool/stunning WS shots. not scenes in which the P&S cuts out some of the action.

DimWit · 02-16-2002, 07:27 PM

Ok, how about the opening desert sequence in The Cell? With P&S it would look lame. Hell, 50% of the movie would look lame in P&S.

disclover · 02-16-2002, 08:26 PM

I still go with Jaws as a film that has lots of excellent widescreen composition. Check out the shark cage sequence near the end, and the shots leading up to Dreyfuss going underwater. Have to watch this in widescreen to appreciate these shots!

Porkchop · 02-17-2002, 04:28 AM

Until I finally saw Jaws in widescreen, I always thought it starred Oy Eider and Rich Drey. Worst... Pan & Scan... ever...
:barf:

But on the proper subject of shots that are simply breathtaking in widescreen, I'd have to go with the approach of the helicopters out of the sunset in Apocalypse Now. Or the boat approaching the hellish bridge at night from the same film.

02-13-2002, 03:21 PM	#1 (permalink)
IKEA_boy Director Emeritus ~~Persista~~ Persistent Student Join Date: Oct 2001	Shots that simply look better in WS What are some good examples of shots the undoubtedly look better in WS? Two that come to mind right now are from the Matrix when Trinity is looking in the mirror of her motorbike while Neo is being arrested. I love how that shot looks with the mirror in the middle in focus and the people out of focus milling around in the bg. Another is from Se7en, when Sumorset and Mills (is that right) walk into the Gluttony scene. In the P&S copy the room is almost completely devoid of color but in WS in the living room three TVs are on, bright bluish color. IMO the TVs are a very (edit: meant "very important") aspect of that setting, and compliment the scene very well. It's so prominent though that when I saw the WS DVD the first time I thought a scene was added. Two good candidates to show people why WS is better. But then again if one can appreciate things like whats mentioned above they wouldn't was P&S anyway. Last edited by IKEA_boy : 02-13-2002 at 08:05 PM.

02-13-2002, 05:19 PM	#4 (permalink)
smurdleman2000 Actor Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Allendale, MI	the shot in The Black Hole during the asteroid storm, where Reinhardt is in the Command Tower and says "Power to maximum! We are going THROUGH!" Asteroids are shooting by on all sides of the command tower in the 2.35:1 widescreen edition (very impressive F/X), but the pan and scan edition is cropped so narrowly that we only see Reinhardt most of the time. Ghostbusters- theres a scene where someone (cant remember) has a conversation with Jenine that is one unbroken shot in widescreen but cut about five times (back and forth) in the pan and scan. Nearly ever shot in blade runner..... __________________ I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those... moments... will be lost in time, like tears... in rain. Time to die.

02-13-2002, 07:33 PM	#6 (permalink)
tomdkat Official Forum Warmonger "Dial Tone" Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: Hayward, CA, USA	The 3-way gunfight at the end of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. That scene is almost the definiitive scene to justify the widescreen format alone..... (Now, are you guys shocked that I did NOT mention The Matrix this time......) Peace....... __________________ My DVD Aficionado List "At last we shall reveal ourselves to the Jedi, at last we shall have revenge!"

02-13-2002, 07:50 PM	#7 (permalink)
Jerm Moderator Emeritus Magical Hall Monitor Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: In my house	Any movie shot 2.35! I was recently watching My Best Friend's Wedding on VHS, and I could tell it was 2.35, jerky shots :mad:. I found it for my wife's b-day a couple of days later on DVD. __________________ "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us."

02-14-2002, 12:05 AM	#10 (permalink)
run1 Actor Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Norway	All of 'lawrence of arabia'. I can't even imagine watching it i P&S __________________ My ever-growing collection "You cannot eat plutonium" -Colin Powell

02-13-2002, 03:46 PM	#2 (permalink)
TheBlackKnight Just a flesh wound Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: England. Considering moving to Moogleport	In Raiders of the Lost Ark, when Indy and Sallah are lifting the Ark from it's chamber. In P&S it appears to levitate up all by itself!

02-13-2002, 07:55 PM	#8 (permalink)
Sid Actor Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Antioch, California, U.S.A.	Anything by Columbia/Tri-Star They do the worst scanning. But I do agree that everything looks better in oar

02-14-2002, 12:44 AM	#11 (permalink)
FilmFan16 Actor Join Date: Feb 2002	umm...try all 93 minutes of "Halloween." I swear, you just have not seen this film until you've seen it in widescreen, the way it was shot and meant to be seen. The pan-and-scan video version cuts off so much info on both sides that watching it in widescreen for the first time is like watching the movie for the first time, no matter how many times you've seen it. Dustin Personal DVD count: 610

02-14-2002, 03:33 AM	#12 (permalink)
Marty McFly Moderator Emeritus Geezer Emeritus Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: Somewhere Between Hell and Hill Valley	Let's just say every part of Ghostbusters. The day I bought that DVD was the day I realized how much of the film I was missing out of. Of course I saw it originally in theaters in its OAR, but 16 years was a long time. __________________ Marty McFly - Forum Moderator Emeritus Granny, I'm gonna catch me some Vietcong! Well I ain't cookin' 'em!

02-14-2002, 06:58 AM	#13 (permalink)
med Actor Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Toronto, Ontario	I remember watching a bit of The Deliverance on tv a little while ago in P&S, and it was just hacked to pieces. There was a LOT of panning across the existing shots. It looked terrible. Some of the pans were really jerky and fast, which made them seem even more unnatural than they already are. __________________ I just got smoked by a rogue trapezoid... Xbox Live Id: med 5062

02-14-2002, 02:44 PM	#14 (permalink)
Eric doubting my own existence Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Detroit, MI	Which shots look better in OAR? Umm... everything? That's how it was meant to be shown, after all. A few weeks ago I found myself watching A Few Good Men on cable. It's been a LONG time since I bothered to watch movies on cable (mostly because, even with hundreds of channels, they manage not to show anything watchable.) Anyway, in this particular showing, they showed the opening credits sequences in widescreen, and there were some really nicely composed shots. But when the body of the movie started, it went straight to pan & scan. Looked like shit, particularly with the obvious artificial camera movements. I never noticed how jarring and distracting that was until I bought a DVD player.

02-14-2002, 05:24 PM	#15 (permalink)
Ambushbug Actor Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: No Name City. Population: Nuts	Not to be the fly in the ointment But I know of at least one shot that's better in P&S. In "Spaceballs", the scene where princess Vespa has been captured by the Spaceballs, and her father is being blackmailed to release the combination to Druidia's airshield. The gag is the Spaceballs will give the princess back her original nose if her father doesn't give the combination. Anywho, in the P&S version, the shot is cropped so that we can see Vespa turning her head left to look at the picture of herself with her old nose, and we can clearly see that the nose job was a good thing. But in the original aspect ratio, the picture's nose is actually cut off by the sides of the TV! Completely spoiling the gag. Now, I'm sure it was fine in the theatres, but at least on my 33" JVC, that nose is just not visible. I remember talking with folks here about the same problem on the "Sleepy Hollow" disc. The scene where the Horseman's coming is foreshadowed by 4 torches being extinguished by tendrils of mist. The torch on the far left is covered up by the side of the TV, but you can see the tendril of mist heading for the non-visible torch. Of course, that's one that P&S can't fix; just another example of widescreen at home is not always perfect. Not that I'm a fan of P&S or anything, just being a pain in the ass. AB __________________ "I'm an ex-citizen of nowhere; and sometimes I get mighty homesick." Ben Rumson, "Paint Your Wagon"

02-14-2002, 05:46 PM	#16 (permalink)
Jerm Moderator Emeritus Magical Hall Monitor Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: In my house	I was watching "Mrs Doubtfire" on VHS last night and I don't think that I've watched that tape in a couple of years, because the 1st thing that I noticed was that the opening credits were 2.35:1, so you know it's gonna be screwy. And all throughout the film, you can see where the panned over to catch the other side of the shot! Another movie that I have to replace...is this even on DVD? __________________ "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us."

02-14-2002, 06:03 PM	#17 (permalink)
The Riddler Actor Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Where Most "Fogies" Are Discounted & Votes Often Miscounted!	2 particular shots come to mind.... Gotta go with Marty McFly on this one! GB needed to be in WS ALL the time! One part that sticks out is the scene where Stay Puft is walking down the street! I grew up watching this on VHS & always thought that was the only thing in the shot....turns out our 4 heroes are watching him come down the street from the rooftops! Looks like a true SFX shot!!! Also in Fright Night when Jerry Dandridge (Chris Sarandon), the main vamp sneaks into Charlie's (William Ragsdale) mom's room, walks toward the door slowly & closes it. The P&S doesn't show this, but there is a mirror in the background shot (not shown in the P&S) with NO reflection on it! Cool shot that was in my opinion "deleted". Something I've not known for years!!!! __________________ "What's Green, Sits in a bathtub & Whistles?"

02-14-2002, 10:26 PM	#19 (permalink)
Dave McFly ...a lone crusader in a dangerous world Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: Hill Valley, California	BACK TO THE FUTURE PART II Right after Doc clocks Biff in the face with the Deloreans door and and they leave the casino. The scene where Doc and Marty are in the flying delorean cockpit rig, you can clearly see only the roof of the cockpit in the P&S version, no Mr.Fusion, or any time machine stuff sticking out of it. But in the beginning of the movie when they back out of Martys driveway you can see the mrfusion and time machine stuff. If any movie deserves to be in WIDESCREEN this is it, Marty back me up on this bro. __________________ The age old question "what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object" was finally answered when Chuck Norris roundhouse kicked Vin Diesel in the face. XBOX LIVE! gamertag:COMING SOON!

02-15-2002, 03:41 AM	#21 (permalink)
Newbomb Turk Actor Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Downriver "Big Lake"	Chariot race in Ben-Hur __________________ Uhhh......FRAH-JEE-LAY. That must be Italian!

02-16-2002, 01:30 AM	#23 (permalink)
DimWit Actor Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Windowsill Bay, Ajax, ON	There's a really nice piece on P&S on the 5 star Die Hard with a scene shown in both Anamorphic and P&S. If that doesn't convince anyone, nothing will.

02-16-2002, 05:28 AM	#24 (permalink)
disclover Actor Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Long Island NY	Jaws is a good one to compare the pan and scam with the widescreen. The Indianapolis monologue, quite possibly the best scene in the film, has Richard Dreyfuss visible for much of the sequence in the OAR. In the pan and scam, he is completely cropped out; you would think Robert Shaw is alone on camera in those shots. __________________ "You're nothing but a shadow on film... just a shadow. You're not flesh and blood." They are tasty, they are crunchy, they are warm because they toast them!!!

02-16-2002, 07:15 AM	#26 (permalink)
IKEA_boy Director Emeritus ~~Persista~~ Persistent Student Join Date: Oct 2001	well this thread didn't turn out exactly how i wanted it to. i was looking for cool/stunning WS shots. not scenes in which the P&S cuts out some of the action.

02-16-2002, 07:27 PM	#27 (permalink)
DimWit Actor Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Windowsill Bay, Ajax, ON	Ok, how about the opening desert sequence in The Cell? With P&S it would look lame. Hell, 50% of the movie would look lame in P&S.

02-16-2002, 08:26 PM	#28 (permalink)
disclover Actor Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Long Island NY	I still go with Jaws as a film that has lots of excellent widescreen composition. Check out the shark cage sequence near the end, and the shots leading up to Dreyfuss going underwater. Have to watch this in widescreen to appreciate these shots! __________________ "You're nothing but a shadow on film... just a shadow. You're not flesh and blood." They are tasty, they are crunchy, they are warm because they toast them!!!

02-17-2002, 04:28 AM	#29 (permalink)
Porkchop Actor Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada	Until I finally saw Jaws in widescreen, I always thought it starred Oy Eider and Rich Drey. Worst... Pan & Scan... ever... :barf: But on the proper subject of shots that are simply breathtaking in widescreen, I'd have to go with the approach of the helicopters out of the sunset in Apocalypse Now. Or the boat approaching the hellish bridge at night from the same film.