Another victim of actual aspect ratio...

Everyone by now knows the famous Wampa scene from ESB. Where you see the guys arm in a giant glove arm of the Wampa. That's thanks to the exact aspect ratio exceeded to the limit, which most theaters don't use or follow. So you never see that till you get the DVD and watch it on your computer.

Today I was watching AOTC in the actual aspect ratio. The scene where Anakin is talking to Palpatine as they begin their walk to the left, look to the very left end of the screen, towards the small steps going down. You'll see the CGI effect frame get inserted in. That's just created the room they're about to walk in.

Obviously covering the blue screen or set that's actually there. I wonder how many more of these mistakes, if thats what you wanna call them, are? Although I don't think the film makers ever intended it to be watched in the actual aspect ratio, right?

 

"Although I don't think the film makers ever intended it to be watched in the actual aspect ratio, right?"

I'm pretty sure they intend people to watch it in the original aspect ratio...

 

The theater and original aspect ratio for most modern films is 1:1.85 or 16:9 (known as widescreen). This is the aspect ratio in which most films were recorded on set. They release this format on the widescreen dvds for people who have widescreen TVs, computer monitors, or just want to see the whole picture. For people with regular square TVs, they pan and scan it down to 1.33:1 or 4:3, cutting off the left and right edges of the film that you can only see in the original ratio.

With all that said, Star Wars is actually a special case and you may have a point. Star Wars movies are filmed in 2.35:1, which is the Anamorphic Scope ratio, just a bit wider than normal widescreen.

Back on topic, I watched the part you were talking about. The room at the bottom of the steps, with the two black couches, is definitely CGI and you can tell if you pause the movie right there, but I don't see how it's a mistake. If you continue to watch that scene, you see that Anakin and Palpatine never walk into that room and the frame fades away just as they are about to reach it. It was uneccessary to actually create the room just for a one tiny scene and LucasFilm decided to use CGI.

 

I know, but there's a slight jump in the upcoming frame, no biggie, most won't notice it, but it can take you away from the movie.

 

every movie has mistakes and this is a movie with one of them...but something like this people will not pick up on unless they read about it...

i mean i never knew of half the mistakes in ANH, untill i read about them all...and there was a lot

 

Are you sure you're not just having a glitch with your DVD? I've watched it several times, in the maximum widescreen format, and can't see anything.

Can you post a screenshot?

 

I own a 'widescreen' copy of AOTC on DVD and have noticed that it is not as 'widescreen' as most widescreen movies or even TPM. It seems almost halfway between widescreen and fullscreen. (Even the characters look slightly vertically 'stretched out' as is the case when making a film fullscreen.)

It annoys me and I have never found a proper explanation for this. Does anyone know what is going on?

 

sounds like the above poster needs to set his or her DVD player's aspect ratio to match the TV. Unless you own a widescreen TV, the aspect ratio on the DVD player has to be set at 4:3--even if the DVD is "widescreen." Check the THX video tests from the "options" section accessible from the DVD's main menu. If the second circle is tall and skinny, rather than a perfect circle, the DVD player's aspect ratio is set wrong. This would account for why the actors to appear "tall and skinny."

 

Hmm.. I don't think that is the problem as I can pop in othwer DVDS (like TPM for instance) and I get the normal widesrceen look, but when I pop in AOTC it looks half-way fullscreen. I am in Italy now and don't have my DVDs with me. Can anyone with TPM and AOTC widescreen pop both in and test this out?

 

They look the same for me. Are both of your DVDs from the same region?

 

Yea I got both of them in the states... both at Best Buy I believe.