Sunday, March 29, 2009

Tall Screen

I´m not a big fan of the widescreen format while filming snow/skateboarding. I think the 4:3 format works better in our industry. And especially when most widescreen tv´s in the past 7 or so years (I tried buying a 32-40 inch 4:3 tv in Sweden in 2002 and all they had then, and since are 16:9) weren´t suited for HD anyway.
I´ve been so bummed on people stretching a 4:3 image to 16:9 without understanding that it´s completely wrong.
Don´t they see that the news anchor is shorter and fat in their new wall mounted tv?
Doesn´t the people who run the sport bars think it´s weird when the soccer field is way longer than before?

Well I don´t need to ask that because I know the answer.

Like how they made all my 4:3 footage into some fat stretch mode in this clip:
www.iltasanomat.fi/videot/urheilu/1666690
Why?! WHY?!

Wonder what photograhers would say if magazines and/or online media started altering their photos to other stretched/squeezed versions. Pretty sure it wouldn´t go over so well. But when it´s video nobody cares.


And when HD started creeping into our little industry I was probably the last person to get a new camera. Sure the image is better (higher quality) but since 90% of the people who watch what we´re doing can´t set up their tv´s anyway, why am I bothering with getting a HD camera... The Panasonic one is so not my thing. So un-user friendly.
Even the Sony one I´m using now is limiting me in a lot of ways to capture the stuff I want, but was a much better option than the Panasonic one.



It´s mostly the improv and point and shoot stuff I was able to capture with my Sony VX, Super 8, Arri and A-Cam that I can´t get with this new technique + the look of course.
And in these times a lot of it will go online in some crappy flash encoding anyway..
Plus why film widescreen when most of our stuff is vertically based?
You can´t (well you usually don´t) cut of the talents head when filming. So you "get stuck" with all this shit on the side of your composition that you don´t know what to do with.

Like if you shot pole vaulting for a living, would you want to shoot 100% of your shots in panoramic widescreen format?
No you wouldn´t.

When I see vertically mounted tv screens in stores, airports etc I always thought; that would be a better format to shoot skating/snowboarding in than widescreen.
And now, someone did it. Even if it is a simple clip, Ty did beat me to it.


My tallest two cinemaphotographer friends Linus and David have also thought about this vertical format.
They are calling it "Leptoscope", based on the word "leptosome" which is a person with a slender, tall and frail body.

Here´s the clip:
http://skatefairy.com/9X16_Evans_Ultra_Definition.mov

14 comments:

Mikey. said...

agreed about the 4x3 format and the sucky prosumer HD cameras.

rosten said...

what does the HD stand for?

PH said...

16x9 is the new 4x3. it's all about how you film it.

rob said...

I myself watch everything in wide nowadays with my plasma screen and widescreen laptop but i ALWAYS watch all my snowboard vids in 4:3

peace

Anonymous said...

did That's it That's look good in 4x3?

Anonymous said...

did That's it That's all look good in 4x3?

PH said...

I hate to see skinny mountain goats.

Unknown said...

16:9 is a new standard, you just have to deal with it. Flat screens are wide, computer screens are wide, laptop screens are wide...

It is more natural, 'cause your eyes see your environnement widely don't they?

Sure that when film went from B&W to colour, some found it crappy and continued to shot in B&W...

That said, I respect Pierre's point of view, andlike the experiment of the vertical movie.

Does Pierre usualy answers to the comments on his blog?

Pierre Wikberg said...

I only saw That´s It That´s All in a movie theater. So it looked great.

THTS wasn´t supposed to be 4:3 ever. It´s a multi million dollar movie and was made to be seen on blu-ray, or in the theaters.

I know 16x9 is here to stay. The cinema world has shot widescreen for decades. But since they have control on how the movies are projected (aspect ratio, audio etc) in the movie theaters there´s never been a problem.

But since say, 2001, there´s been widescreen tv´s, but no proper broadcasting (until recently) + people are idiots and can´t set their tv´s correctly.

When done proper widescreen video looks good. But that´s so rare.

But there will still be different forms of widescreen. The movie industry still shoot on Super 16, 35, Cinemascope etc so your 16x9 tv won´t always display the image correct.

I like how you can´t change the aspect ratio on Mac´s if you watch a dvd. It always displays it correct. Unlike a tv + satellite box which has setting to where it´s going to get fucked up.

Kale said...

Pierre is pissed at the TV's and rightly so. I hate my anchor men short and fat. They need to be tall and statuesque like Ron Burgundy?

Pierre Wikberg said...

Speaking of anchors. Did you see Bill O´Reilly on Letterman last night. OMG is he an elitist fuck or what.

Anonymous said...

i think you should shoot in 3:4 and claim it before Ty does

Anonymous said...

Why would shoot a Sony? Just to say your not shooting a Panasonic? Weird...

Pierre Wikberg said...

Don´t understand what that last post was about.