Letterbox

Let me first say that it has been exactly one year since my blog started. To be honest, I began writing most of the reviews that are dated on December 25, 2009 between October and late December, and after viewing Terry Gilliam's "The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus" on Christmas, there was a mad rush to figure out a quick, efficient and inexpensive way to share my ideas on the internet, which brought me to blogger.com. Thus, there are more than several articles all dated December 25, 2009. Happy Anniversary.

Anyway, TCM often shows a short documentary about the letterbox format, a format many people complain about. I have truly never understood the complaints against this format, especially because those who complain never offer much reason behind their opinions. TCM's documentary features interviews with directors Michael Mann, Martin Scorsese, Sydney Polluck, and Curtis Hanson.

To paraphrase the directors, basically every film of the past fifty-plus years has been filmed in a widescreen format, and so when these films are shown on television, they require the letterbox format so that the viewer is viewing the entire frame, exactly as the director wished it to be shown. If the letterbox is not there, then what happens is a process known as pan-and-scan, which dissects the picture so that the central image is expanded to a format that will fit a television screen, thus rendering it pixilated and a bit claustrophobic. Not only are you losing the visuals that help convey the movie, but as Scorsese says, you are in a sense re-directing the movie.

So as the directors say, if you see the letterbox format, do not be angry or frightened, but instead be grateful and content.

Merry Christmas