[Idea] UAR: Ultimate Aspect Ratio - any interest?

[spoRv]

Apart the technical aspects - I must admit I spotted one scene with residual green screen, and at list one with mic on the top - I thought the same; still, after watching it, I kinda forgot about the missing angles, also thanks to the fact the movie is often dark, and sometimes image is almost full open matte. Give it a try, then let me know your opinion!

[Chewtobacca]

Sorry, but I'm not watching The Matrix for anyone!

[Bigrob]

It’s a really interesting idea. However, for educational purposes IMHO. Would be a fantastic special feature but I wouldn’t anyone to put loads of effort into it with colour grading etc.

That’s my 2c anyway

[Bigrob]

however

if anyone does The Abyss in this format, I'd absolutely love to see it

[Tylerdurden389]

A while back someone here told me they were gonna do a hybrid edit of Top Gun using both the fullscreen and the widescreen (since the VHS and first Dvd had the fullscreen option, which showed more information on top and bottom). I told them to snag a copy of the first dvd and use that as a source. Haven't heard any updates on it in a while. For the record, Top Gun is my 3rd favorite movie of all time, watched it probably 1000 times, and am so used to watching it in fullscreen that after watching it only once on DVD in widescreen (I noticed something was 'off' right from the get-go with the Paramount logo, btw) and not only noticing how much is missing, but it makes the flight scenes harder to follow, I actually bought the earlier dvd and haven't watched any remasters since. The new 'yellow' blu-ray is a travesty IMO.

[Bigrob]

A while back someone here told me they were gonna do a hybrid edit of Top Gun using both the fullscreen and the widescreen (since the VHS and first Dvd had the fullscreen option, which showed more information on top and bottom). I told them to snag a copy of the first dvd and use that as a source. Haven't heard any updates on it in a while. For the record, Top Gun is my 3rd favorite movie of all time, watched it probably 1000 times, and am so used to watching it in fullscreen that after watching it only once on DVD in widescreen (I noticed something was 'off' right from the get-go with the Paramount logo, btw) and not only noticing how much is missing, but it makes the flight scenes harder to follow, I actually bought the earlier dvd and haven't watched any remasters since. The new 'yellow' blu-ray is a travesty IMO.

What I would like to see is a version of Top Gun (prob have to be on BD for file size issues) that has an option where you can toggle between the ratios in film using the multi angle button.

[FrankT]

It's certainly worth a shot. I think the Harry Potter series would be suited to this kind of thing!

[spoRv]

Now that I'm experimenting AAP-AR using three sources (with The Matrix), I think a new moniker is needed... one that let the viewer know the type of aspect ratio, and how many sources are actually used... maybe a 2xAR or 3xAR could be enough explicative, where the first is the number of sources, the x could mean multiplication (2xAR = two different aspect ratio) and, at the same time, it resembles the cross of the AAP-AR using two sources.

Opinions?

[spoRv]

Small digression onto AAP-AR in general

First of all, it's not impossible to generate an AAP-AR using films shot in anamorphic - see for example Event Horizon as proof of concept (by the way, I MUST test it ASAP!!!) - but the gain would minimum, usually around 40/48 lines at most, and limited to a portion of the image. So, not a huge gain, I must admit, but still nice to get more image, and, for the purists, could also be possible to mask it with YAO hack.

Said so, leave the anamorphic films apart (and 2-perf 35mm, and hard matted, and... you got the point), and let's talk about flat ones, which would gain a substantial part of the image - we are talking about 30, 40%, if not more.

Until now, I tested AAP-AR using two and three different sources, but in theory it's possible to use even more ones, but I don't know how good the result would be, and if there are films with four or more different aspect ratios, with the same color grading, which actually have more image in each one, in relation of the others. So, let's stick with the three main usual aspect ratio found (always taking in account each must be open matte, at least partially, because, if a source is cropped, there is no point in using it)...

The usual OARs for movies are 2.35:1(2.40:1) and 1.85:1; often the latter has an open matte version at 1.78:1, hence it would be pointless to use three different aspect ratio, where two would suffice. Then, there is the open matte aimed to fill the widescreen displays, and it is 1.78:1. Finally, we got the 1.33:1 - usually called fullscreen - that in few cases are full open matte (it contains the whole OAR version), while usually is partial open matte (more image on top and bottom, less on left and right). During the last years, 1.33:1 fullscreen and pan&scan DVD versions are slowly disappeared, but in exceptional cases it's still possible to find out broadcast recording of them; but I'd say that, for the movies produced since the last 10/15 years, it would be almost impossible to find out a non-cropped 1.33:1 version, so a triple source AAP-AR version would likely be of a film before 2005, more or less; for the newer ones, there is still good chance to find out also a 1.85:1 open matte version, to build a dual source AAP-AR.

What could stop a possible AAP-AR project is the eventual color grading difference between sources; sometimes is limited to just a different matrix, but often the difference is so big, including different contrast (like The Matrix), or one of the source with poor quality (like ATV captures) that would be impossible to build a good AAP-AR.

At the end, why create an AAP-AR, what's the point? Well, I don't think anyone would elect an AAP-AR version as the only version to watch, nor the main one; still, would be interesting to rewatch a movie perfectly known, and discover new pieces of image, and also a perfect tools to analyze cinematography. And, if ever a version would be popular enough, there is a really remote chance that studios will be aware of it, and say "see? there is a version with more image than the OAR we released usually... it seems there is some interest... so, why don't we release the full image version? we'll earn more money!"

[spoRv]

Even if, for the moment, it seems the only ones interested in the AAP-AR are me and two other members here, I strongly believe that, when the first complete "finished" project would be released, someone else would see the potential of this kind of version, at least for studying cinematography.

I'm thinking to put my hands back in the following projects, and release an AAP-AR version - maybe also using a different color grading, to add insult to injury!

Alien: Covenant 2xAR (don't think a 1.33:1 source exists)
Alien: Resurrection (1997) [Fundamental Collection #004] 2xAR (3xAR if I will find a 1.33:1 good source)
Aliens (1986) [Fundamental Collection #002] (2xAR if I will find a 1.33:1 good source)
Aliens Vs Predator: Requiem (Unrated) [spoRv] 2xAR (3xAR if I will find a 1.33:1 source)
AVP: Aliens Vs. Predator (2004) [Fundamental Collection #012] 3xAR
Halloween (1978) [Fundamental Collection #006] 2xAR
Harry Potter saga 2xAR (3xAR if the 1.33:1 has more image)
Minority Report (2002) [Fundamental Collection #007] 3xAR
Prometheus (2012) [Fundamental Collection #023] 2xAR (don't think a 1.33:1 source exists)
Supernova (2000) [spoRv] 3xAR (if I will find a logo-free open matte)
The Arrival (1996) [Fundamental Collection #008] 2xAR
The Chronicles of Riddick (2004) [Fundamental Collection #011] 2xAR (3xAR if I will find a 1.33:1 source)
The Matrix [spoRv] 3xAR
Timeline (2003) [Fundamental Collection #010] (2xAR if I will find a 1.33:1 source)
Waterworld (1995) [Fundamental Collection #009] (2xAR if I will find a 1.33:1 good source)

and few others titles (mainly 3xAR whenever possible, if the 1.33:1 exists, has more image, has the same color grading, has good quality)

The Matrix 2, 3
Jurassic Park 1, 2, 3
Resident Evil 1, 2, 3, 4 (5 2xAR as it seems no 1.33:1 exists, and 6 seems to be available only in widescreen)
Back To The Future 1, 2, 3
Lord Of The Rings 1, 2, 3
Terminator 1, 2, 3, 4
Gattaca
The Fifth Element
Oblivion
Johnny Mnemonic
Total Recall

DO... NOT... EXPECT... THEM... ANYTIME... SOON! indeed, each take A LOT of time!

Note: I'm temporary using 2xAR and 3xAR because I'm too lazy to write each time AAP-AR using two (three) sources... still open to another acronym, like 2+AR (as the image looks like a cross, often), or 3JAR (J for jigsaw).