The Diane_K thread 2010

[diane_k]

Save Annie Hall from aspect ratio hell

Films shot in 4:3 and adapted to 1.85:1 for the cinema are now viewable on DVD in 16:9. Can't we keep things in perspective?




Proportional representation ... Diane Keaton and Woody Allen in Annie Hall. Photograph: Ronald Grant Archive


You don't have to be a dyed-in-the-wool luddite to recognise that technology can be a two-edged sword. A list of wholly positive developments might, in the end, turn out to be quite a short one: the printing press, certainly; the telescope, yes; rear parking sensors …

Annie Hall
Production year: 1977Country: USACert (UK): PGRuntime: 93 minsDirectors: Woody AllenCast: Carol Kane, Diane Keaton, Paul Simon, Tony Roberts, Woody AllenMore on this filmThe emergence of DVD alongside the advent of the widescreen TV falls into the "mixed blessing" category. That vast expanse of flat, matt, glare-free screen, coupled with the crystalline clarity of DVD, allowed us to enjoy our favourite films all over again with a richness of detail that can seem almost hallucinatory. As The Sopranos's Paulie Walnuts poetically put it, having recently seen On the Waterfront on a widescreen: "Karl Malden's nose hairs looked like ****in' BX cables."

But for every revelatory glimpse up the nostrils of Father Barry there's a bafflingly circuitous DVD menu system, seemingly designed by MC Escher on LSD and intent on dropping you back repeatedly into the onslaught of the main menu screen's excruciatingly loud jingle.

Probably the most troublesome aspect of the modern viewing experience is the matter of the aspect ratio. Consider the format history of Woody Allen's Annie Hall. That film was shot in a 4:3 ratio, "matted" to the more widescreen 1.85:1 for cinemas, and is now available on DVD in 16:9. Leaving aside the fact that 1.85:1 and 16:9 are roughly equivalent but not identical, it's natural to regard the widescreen DVD as adhering to the definitive format for the film. But after its cinema run ended in 1977 and prior to its release on DVD in 2000, Annie Hall would generally have been seen only in 4:3, via TV broadcasts and on VHS. Which means that millions of people have had key scenes from Annie Hall indelibly imprinted upon their psyches in a 4:3 ratio.

So which version is "right"? When Woody sneezes that big cloud of premium-quality California cocaine across the room during the party scene, does your mind's eye recall it in wide or square format? Even if you do have a firm idea of what the ideal aspect ratio for a given film is, it's not always easy to watch it that way. Depending on what format your film was originally shot in, how your DVD version is formatted, how your DVD player is set up and what screen-format setting you select on your TV, you can often find yourself not so much spoilt for choice as overwhelmed by permutations. Adjustable aspect ratio settings mean we must constantly contend with issues such as stretching, smart zooming, errant subtitles, HDMI-mode toggling, "letterboxing" (horizontal black bars above and below a widescreen image), "pillarboxing" (vertical black bars either side of an older, square-formatted image) and even the dreaded "windowboxing" (both letterboxing and pillarboxing at same time). It's all too easy to arrive at a situation whereby, no matter what sequence of available setting combinations you try, you just can't seem to get the picture on the screen to look quite right.

Then there's the question of DVD versioning. The Region 2 DVD of Annie Hall offers only the 16:9 version, whereas the Region 1 disc also includes the 4:3. Both discs present a problem when it comes to the classic balcony scene, where the newly acquainted Alvy and Annie's dialogue is hilariously contextualised by means of subtitles revealing the characters' inner thoughts – "Christ, I sound like FM radio. Relax," and so on. On the Region 2 disc the nice, clean, sans-serif font used in the original film has been replaced by rather ungainly italicised digital text; the Region 1 version's subtitles are rendered in a distractingly large, phenomenally ugly font, and come complete with preposterously unnecessary "[Thinking]" annotations.

Allen himself is famously hands-off when it comes to curating his back catalogue. Such laxness contrasts starkly with his Annie Hall character, Alvy Singer – depicted as so finicky about cinemagoing that he refuses to enter a theatre two minutes after a Bergman film has started, even though, as Annie (Diane Keaton) points out, "We'll only miss the titles – they're in Swedish."

But all these technical and artistic niggles are enough to make the most laidback viewer pine for earlier, simpler times. In the olden days (circa 1995) you simply inserted a VHS cassette, waited five or six minutes for it to rewind, picture-searched (laboriously yet reliably) past a few ads, then pressed play. Maybe you gave the tracking a tweak occasionally, but that was it: your film would then play on your TV in exactly the same way every copy of that VHS would play on pretty much any other TV on Earth.

So why do we go on buying into all these new technologies? Well, some of us can't help it. It's like Alvy's old joke about the man whose brother thinks he's a chicken. Why don't we turn him in? We need the eggs.

[louielouie2000]

I'd forgotten how stunning Diane was in Annie Hall

[diane_k]

^ Right? Also in The Godfather.

[skcin]

Good god. This thread again?

[DavidMn]

Originally Posted by diane_k

^ Right? Also in The Godfather.

Yeah that end scene in part one where the doors closes on her. That look on her face really said it all didnt it?

[diane_k]

Don't be so mean skcin! Rumo(u)r has it you're one of the nasty ones. And by nasty I mean mean, not all effed up sexually.

Don't you have a youngster? Go watch Baby Boom and just MAYBE you'll see the light.

[vivfox]

Originally Posted by diane_k

Don't be so mean skcin! Rumo(u)r has it you're one of the nasty ones. And by nasty I mean mean, not all effed up sexually.

.

She's a hellav a lot nicer than you!

[diane_k]

^ Get that random hate out of my thread, Vivica. I don't care who's wrong or right, I don't really wanna fight no more.

[vivfox]

Originally Posted by diane_k

^ Get that random hate out of my thread, Vivica. I don't care who's wrong or right, I don't really wanna fight no more
.

You're the one who posted that Paula is one of the nasty ones. Well I think YOU are one of the nasty ones.

[diane_k]

Originally Posted by vivfox

You're the one who posted that Paula is one of the nasty ones. Well I think YOU are one of the nasty ones.

So noted in the log. Don't spend your time hating me...learn a trade!

[carrie721]

Originally Posted by diane_k

So noted in the log. Don't spend your time hating me...learn a trade!

i like you.

[diane_k]

^ don't get too close. i'm nas-tay. plus i have my eyes on some of the other foxes around this place. not that i'm counting you out! tough as nails is sexy to me.

[carrie721]

Originally Posted by diane_k

^ don't get too close. i'm nas-tay. plus i have my eyes on some of the other foxes around this place. not that i'm counting you out! tough as nails is sexy to me.

i assume this means you will now call me miss jackson.

[diane_k]

^ i'll call you whatever you want. how about angie dickinson?

[carrie721]

Originally Posted by diane_k

^ i'll call you whatever you want. how about angie dickinson?

make it posey mcglynn and you've got yourself a deal.