[Released] Panic Room Special Edition

[pipefan413]

Amazing work! I'm curious, though - what made you opt for an open-matte transfer?

I get that people love to see the maximum possible picture, and that these transfers are released for home viewing to get the most out of 16:9 displays.

But David Fincher makes his films for 2.35:1 (with the full-frame image a byproduct of the Super35 process) so this isn't the way an official release - which, in every other respect, this is equal to - would be done. More picture is nice but, to my mind, the *intended* picture is more important.

Hope this doesn't come across as critical - just wondering what your reasoning is.

I actually agree with this, I think of open matte as more of a cool alternative than the ideal way to watch something, and would generally expect a Criterion release to use original AR. That said, they have done open matte at least once: BRAZIL. Possibly others. But I believe BRAZIL was already *nearly* 1.78:1 (1.85:1) and the difference between 1.78:1 and 2.35:1 is much more significant.

[PDB]

I assume his choice was based on the fact there aren’t too many hd copies of panic room in 2.35 and they are all low quality.

[jonno]

I suppose the 2.35:1 version could be reconstructed from the open matte if it's much better quality, but I appreciate that it's going to be a chore if the framing varies from shot to shot (and it almost certainly does).

[pipefan413]

I assume his choice was based on the fact there aren’t too many hd copies of panic room in 2.35 and they are all low quality.

Aye, that's probably it; I think all these customs are based on "as-is" video from other projects, rather than editing it further. That said, I think some (all?) have been re-encoded anyway for space reasons, in which case it would probably be somewhat straightforward to mask off the expanded part of the frame if desired before re-encoding, although there's no guarantee that the "open matte" would be a straight centre crop to get it back to original AR.

At the end of the day though, it's a really nice custom from the point of view of what @alleycat's done to the assembly of elements, I'm always really impressed by these.

[alleycat]

If there is something off with the video I'll fix it, such as the colour on Dead Presidents or the dust/dirt on Young Sherlock Holmes, but if it's ok I tend to leave the video alone without re-encoding. Most of the time webrips fit comfortably on a disc without needing to compress, but depending on the size I've got the option of going BD50 like I did with this. If the project is say 25 gig I'll possibly compress down to 23.5 gig, but if it's much higher I go for BD50 and avoid compressing. Just a pain that printable BD50 discs are so expensive.

For Panic Room I sampled two different webrips but the open matte had a higher bit rate and looked better to my eyes so I opted for that. I guess I could have put a 2:35:1 frame over it but like you say it would most likely involve shot for shot framing and I didn't have the time to invest for that. I guess the ultimate way to have done it would be to include one disc with the open matte and one with 2:35:1, but again it's just time. The main thing for me was that everything was together in one place - and I've got this on my shelf now

[Kynch]

Alright, @alleycat, I'm giving this a watch as I type this. I'll report back. Sounding great so far with the Cinema DTS track. I love how quickly you're exposed to the main plot of the film. And those opening credits are stunning.

Found a small mistake on the English subtitle track at 1:12:47 where she is listing Beatles albums, she says "Revolver" but the subs say "Reviver". Thought you might want to know!

[NiceNightForAWalk]

I'd like a link, please

[X5gb]

As an Open Matte fan, unless there are totally cropped scenes in which case VAR would be my choice, I am actually glad you went with it in this case, If the Super35 is opened up without missing frame on the side (or even mininal), I have no issue with it. Another couple I much prefer in Open Matte are Top Gun, way to tight headroom wise in 2.40:1 and the flight scenes are much better opened up, FBDO which also add's to the sides, The Game (again, Fincher) and True Lies (a couple of the Harrier scenes are slightly cropped due to effects but still have plenty more top/bottom so I give them a pass rather than go VAR).

[Beber]

The real deal (hopefully) is finally happening: https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=35649

[dvdmike]

New restoration from the man that also loves Park Circus.......