Cool concept.

At times it works and others you can see the repitition of the cloned area to make it.

Would like to watch a complete scene from start to finish and see how it stands up

Reminds me of this.

In all seriousness, though, a novel concept, but in trying to create a horizontal image that doesn't exist, you'd need a miracle to get it to look right.

If you think I did the tests (apart assembling the clip itself) in just one hour, or two, is not that bad!

The images are picked randomly, because not many shots works well... what I discovered/thought:

• sky, desert, snow, rocks, space; it works pretty well
  
• it is not an automated process - the script "tries" to clone parts of the existing image, but of course is far from perfect, AND for EVERY shot (even the still ones) finds different parts to clone - a good script, but not that smart, sadly; so every frame is wildly different... then, I must choose the best one, and eventually copy&paste some parts from a frame, and another from the next or previous, or others...
  
• it can't be used for every shot; the still ones works pretty well, tough!
  
• other way to "fill" the screen: use real open matte shots (they are few); zoom&crop (you will lose a lot of image); use matte painting (better if original); recreate the missing parts using parts of other shots, set images or brand new CGI (yup!)
  

A very hard task, that could restore IMHO at least just few minutes for every movie in an "easy" way (clone); then few other seconds from open matte shots; then a lot(?) more using other shots, matte painting, pictures, CGI...

Then it's always possible to make the rest p&s - I tested it, and many shots works perfectly when zoomed out (to reach top and bottom borders) and "compressed" before cropping... let me explain: the proper way to do it is to zoom out the 2.35:1 image to fill the screen height, 1:1, to 2538x1080 pixels, and crop the sides; with this method, you will lose 618x1080 pixels (24%); however, it's possible to "compress" the image to 2.20:1 (2380x1080) and crop, so you lose "just" 460x1080 pixels (18% of the full, uncompressed image), or to 2.055:1 (2220x1080), losing "only" 300x1080 pixels (less than 12%); or even 1.9:1 (2060x1080), losing a mere 140x1080 pixels (less than 6%)...the 2:20 hack" works well in almost all situations, while 2.055 "hack" works well often (more than what i presumed) when people is in the shot, and almost perfectly with scenery, robots, space etc. and the 1.90 "hack" works in just rare occasion (the "pure" 16:9 compression could work in so few shots that I can't imagine which ones they could be) - you must try for yourself.

So, carefully choosing the "right" (read: that could work) aspect ratio for cropped scenes, and use open matte for the rest, it will be possible to create a full screen version - not an open matte one (well, just in a small part)...

Does all this worth the hassle? Probably not, but the idea is fun, isn't true?

O Andrea, your projects are like troopers in the desert.  I can't work out where they're going.

Thanks for the interesting demo-reel! Have you been tinkering with a way of automating the process or is this done with Photoshop?

EDIT: Never mind! I've just seen your recent post (above).

I know, I know... but I like to explore unhortodox, experimental ways to do things... for fun, but often I think "what if..."

I wouldn't call it "Open Matte" since it's not and the footage is not open as it is effects. I would call it "full size IMAX" or something.

Well, it was just a catchy title, I couldn't resist to use it!

There is a MUCH easier way which produces very high quality results & no nasty cloning at all:

Before:


After:


I like it!

LOL!


But there is a better solution IMHO...



THIS ONE! with this, every 2.35:1 movie is fullescreen!!!