The Rage In The Kage (Vol. 3): Widescreen Vs. Pan And Scan
Written by: Kage Alan

Boy do I have some really cool things planned for this column in the future!  
I attended the Motor City Comicon a week ago and while I didn't attend for
the comics, it also doubled as a Science Fiction convention.  This somewhat
baffles me because along with actors from SciFi shows, there were also a
number of WWF wrestlers there as well.  Hmm...maybe what they do really is fantasy, but I certainly would never say that to their faces.  Please.  They
could twist me into a pretzel.  The funny thing is that you can always tell
where they are.  A prerequisite to being a wrestler is that you must speak
loudly...at ALL times.

Anyway, I still haven't finished my roll of film with the pics from the
convention, so as soon as I do, I'll post some of them along with the stories
I heard from each of the stars.  They were all extremely gracious and kind,
but more on them later.  Where was I again?  Oh, yes, two paragraphs in and
not a word about the whole Widescreen thing.

I am the first to admit that I am a DVD snob.  If it's not on DVD, I don't
care to watch it.  Worse yet, if it's not in Widescreen, I don't even want it
in the house (yes, there are a few exceptions).  A long time ago during the
age when owning a Mom and Pop video store was a goldmine and VHS tapes
retailed at $89, Warner Bros. took a HUGE chance when they released
"Innerspace".  Why?  Because it was the first time those little black bars
appeared at the top and bottom of the screen so that viewers could see the
film as it was originally intended.  It was too much for my young mind to
comprehend at the time and I HATED it.  Well, let's face it, bigger TVs have
gotten a lot more affordable since those days.  Aside from that, I couldn't
figure out why such a thing would exist when everything else looked so much
bigger and better when it took up the whole screen.  If only somebody had
been around to explain to me then what I know now.

The two general formats are "Pan and Scan" (or sometimes called "Full
Screen", though they do have different actual meanings) and "Widescreen" (or
"Letterbox").  With Pan and Scan, you have the potential to lose up to 1/3 of
the original picture and sometimes even more if you're watching a Ron Howard
film.  Imagine walking into a theatre after paying the full ticket price and
some guy in the projection booth covers up parts of the picture on either
side of the screen.  What would you do?  Complain?  I would.  I paid to see
the whole movie and I expect to see just that.  It's the same with DVD.  I
want the whole picture or I don't want to be bothered.

Now, the "Scan" part of "Pan and Scan" is this.  In order to get a "Full
Screen" transfer, the image is obviously resized to fit your TV and then
somebody must (I am assuming this is how it's done) watch the film and follow
the action to the right or the left whenever it moves.  I've also read, and
please correct me if I'm wrong, that it costs more money to create a "Pan and
Scan" transfer because of that certain somebody having to make sure the
picture on your screen follows the action.  You are still missing up to 1/3
of your picture, though.  Maybe that doesn't always mean much, but for
anybody watching a film like "Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula", it means you
are missing important stuff.  That film uses quite a bit of shadow play in
places where the actors aren't, so even when they are the action on the
screen, there is something happening away from them that you are now going to miss or only catch part of.

Okay, you still aren't convinced that Widescreen is a good thing.  Suffice to
say that the overwhelming majority of directors prefer the Widescreen format
over seeing their film chopped up in Pan and Scan.  How do I know this?  
Because I listen to a lot of audio commentaries.  They shot the film the way
they did for a reason and showed you information on the screen that they felt
was important and now some of their artistry is being taken away.  I respect
music artists, actors, painters etc. and I respect directors.  I believe I
should see something in the way they want me to see it, not the way some
studio executive with a sheet of numbers from some focus group wants me to.

Okay, take today's release of "Harry Potter" for example.  I went into Comp
USA and they were all out, not that they got an overwhelming amount of copies in anyway.  Fine and dandy, then I went to Circuit City.  I thought for a
moment that the disc was only released in "Full Screen" because there were
hundreds of them being ignored in the store.  One of the clerks informed me
that they had sold out of the Widescreen copies first thing this morning.  
Best Buy was next on the list and they had 3 sides of a display full of "Full
Screen" an only one side of "Widescreen", which was all but empty.  Curiosity
the got the better of me and I drove to Media Play to see what the situation
was there.  Same thing.  "Widescreen" down to a bare minimum, "Full Screen"
sitting there on the shelf looking lonely and ignored as it should.

Oddly enough, there is a very disturbing trend I've noticed recently looking
at future releases on www.dvdpricesearch.com in that studios are starting to
release "Pan and Scan" versions of some of their older titles that were
originally released in "Widescreen".  Why?  Are that many people out there
buying or demanding "Pan and Scan"?  I think not.  Furthermore, are the
studios trying to force this format on us?  Quite possibly, but I don't think
it's an "X-Files" conspiracy yet.  They are just uninformed.  I'm really
quite annoyed with Sony right now for their release of "84 Charing Cross
Road".  Oh, I loved the movie and gave it a decent review, only I found out
that it was released in Region 2 in Widescreen.  They are also releasing
"Perfect" in the next couple of months and while it wasn't the best Travolta
movie ever made, it's in Pan and Scan while the Region 2 is in Widescreen.  
Can you guess which version I'll be reviewing?

I was really looking forward to watching Disney's "Snow Dogs".  There are
lots of Siberian Huskies and Malamutes in it and I grew up with two beautiful
Siberian Huskies and a very handsome Cocker Spaniel, so I thought I would
really enjoy the film.  Heck, I was even willing to put up with a lecture
from the other half about spending money on another disc just so I could
watch the doggies!  Well, I picked up the disc, looked at the back, saw it
was "Full Screen" format only, sighed and put it back on the shelf.  I will
most likely never see the movie.  Maybe you think I'm stupid or ridiculous,
but I REFUSE to support a studio release of a brand new movie unless it is in
the Widescreen format.  I've also gotten into the habit of writing polite
e-mails to the studios and letting them know that they've missed out on a
sale.  If they get enough of these from others as well, perhaps they'll take
the hint.

One of the reasons some of us embraced Laser Discs so much is because it was the only way to get films in Widescreen.  They were terribly expensive and
were pretty much only for collectors, of which I was one, but did begin to
offer audio commentaries and short behind-the-scenes featurettes to give us a
little something extra for our money.  Then came DVD and phased Laser Discs
on out.  Well, if they're going to do that, then I expect the same kind of
format at a more affordable price.  I've never complained about a DVD release that contained both formats of the film so that we have a choice.  I would even encourage studios to take advantage of this in the future because my voice is not the only irate one out there.  The consumers have spoken and
they want Widescreen.  Even my parents have gotten used to the little black
bars and you cannot tell me that my mother is wrong.  That just isn't going
to happen, so Widescreen it is or face her wrath.

I used to be such a simple person to please.  First it was "Star Wars" action
figures and ships when I was younger, then graduated on to cassette tapes,
eventually moved to CDs, VHS, Laser Discs and now DVDs.  Like a fine wines, my taste in my field has matured and one doesn't just give somebody like me a cheap bottle of Pan and Scan when nothing quite beats the delicious taste of Widescreen.  In case you're wondering, the other half takes care of the whole clothing thing while I handle the entertainment.  I'm not allowed to pick out clothes, something about my taste in DVDs not equaling my taste in fashion
has been muttered on more than one occasion.  So, long live the little black bars!

Sincerely yours,
The DVD Snob

Previous installments:
Vol. 1 - Critic Kage Alan rants about dvds and Warner Bros.
Vol. 2 - Railing on Region Coding


Kage holds degrees in Creative Writing, as well as Film & Video. He has been featured in a Life Journey Tele-Course, published poems in several national anthologies, been a contributor to The Third Coast Magazine and written several novels. kage@modamag.com