P.S. I love you... questions!

[lilbit]

Hey All -

For starters, has anyone else seen this movie?

Chick Flicks aren't usually my thing, but I was suckered in to going to see it last night with some friends, and I am glad I did. GREAT movie... for both men and women, imho.

I have a question for those of you that have seen it... Did the boom mic show in some of the scenes? Multiple times throughout the movie, at the top of the screen the black foam part of the boom mic came into the picture... and in one scene you could actually see the whole thing, and it panning across the set... Was sort of funny.

This happen to anyone else?

[B-Line]

Hey Bit,

Usually the boom mic is recorded onto the film, but just outside the viewing area. Then a Matte is put on the film to hide everything outside the aspect ratio that is being shown.

Sometimes when a movie is shown, the projectionist loads the film incorrectly or the matte gets messed up. It wouldn't surprise me one bit if the film print you saw was either projected incorrectly, showing offscreen information, or printed incorrectly..
(more likely, it was projected wrong - and it the viewing area needed to be scrolled down (cropped))

[statdoc]

B, why is it done that way? Seems complicated and prone to error. Why not just keep it outside camera view?

[CGSTL]

Is it just me or is it pretty cool to have a Director on the board???

Originally Posted by B-Line

Hey Bit,

Usually the boom mic is recorded onto the film, but just outside the viewing area. Then a Matte is put on the film to hide everything outside the aspect ratio that is being shown.

Sometimes when a movie is shown, the projectionist loads the film incorrectly or the matte gets messed up. It wouldn't surprise me one bit if the film print you saw was either projected incorrectly, showing offscreen information, or printed incorrectly..
(more likely, it was projected wrong - and it the viewing area needed to be scrolled down (cropped))

[Juanted]

Great movie... oh, well, so I hear.

[B-Line]

Originally Posted by statdoc

B, why is it done that way? Seems complicated and prone to error. Why not just keep it outside camera view?

Think of it like this, a 35mm piece of film negative is like a blank canvas, you can paint it anyway you like. That includes your aspect ratio.

So most movies are shot in a 1.85 aspect ratio. But then you sometimes get movies that are short in anamorphic, which is a 2.33 aspect ratio.

So why one over the other you ask: (I'm going to answer in very general terms)
Anamorphic is for filmmakers who are shooting in HUGE stages or in insanely beautiful locations. So a Western for example or a film that takes place in Australia, they will probably shoot anamorphic 2.33
- An Anamorphic picture is WIDER but SHORTER. (Think, Lord of the Rings, Unforgiven)

1:85 is standard film size. This is what you would shoot in if you were doing a silly, city, comedy, IE: Anchorman, 40 Year Old Virgin.

So think of Anamorphic as being the more cinematic. But it's also more expensive to shoot because there is more viewing area on the screen, which means, more lights are needed, more production design, more props, etc.

What determines 1.85 or 2.33 is usually the lenses but there are ways to cheat it also.

So, the 35mm film negative, records both. Matter of fact, the negative has a lot more information (image) on it, then what you see as the final project. When the negative is processed, (telecine) the operator can adjust the viewing area up and down (like cropping that you do in a photo editor).

The reason the boom is kept so close to the view line, is, the closer the boom, the better the sound. So boom operators are constantly working on the margin.

-- Now should you want to see movies that are projected incorrectly, go to any film festival, it's a cluster F&^%. You will also see some very upset filmmakers because the print they just worked two years on was projected wrong and they don't get a second chance to show it.

But there are so many different variables when projecting, from format, 1.85 or 2.33, to sound, Dolby or not, 5.1 or stereo, etc. That sometimes it gets messed up or the projectionist settings are slightly off.

B