Many on zulm know what Super 35 process is. I have seen this discussed on zulm before, but never paid much attention to it.
Many of us are die hard advocates of OAR and many/ some, including myself, like to see DVDs with more picture on the top and bottom than a wide AR OAR film DVD gives.
I noticed this today on
http://sify.com/movies/bollywood/fullst ... wer~of~Two
"Shabd is the second Hindi film to be shot with a super 35 camera besides Musafir"
and found it interesting and doubtful when it mentioned of a forthcoming film to be only the second Hindi Super35 film, Musafir being the first one.
Search brought out this interesting info on Super 35 process:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/gu ... 84-3164032
SUPER 35
Super35 is a cinematographic process that was first used in the mid 1980s. The Wolfgang Petersen sci-fi flick 'Enemy Mine' is the first movie I can find that used this process. It's a little bit complicated, so here goes.
The Super35 process is an alternative to the Panavision process. It allows filmmakers a wide, panoramic theatrical image (2.35:1 aspect ratio) but without the massive cropping inherent in Full-Screen versions of scope movies. One director, for example, who uses this process pretty much exclusively is James Cameron. Cameron's films 'The Abyss (Special Edition)', 'Terminator 2 - Judgment Day (The Ultimate Edition DVD)', 'True Lies' and 'Titanic' are all filmed in the Super35 process. It has a few advantages over anamorphic processes, for example, anamorphic lenses frequently result in optical distortion which makes the use of computer graphics effects extraordinarily difficult. Because of this, films that feature CG effects, such as 'The Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring (Widescreen Edition)', 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Widescreen Edition)', and 'The Matrix', often use the Super35 process.
Films that do not feature CG effects also sometimes use Super35 because it creates a greater depth of field than anamorphic. Also, anamorphic lenses are very expensive and result in heavier camera rigs. Super35 eliminates those problems as well.
Probably the biggest advantage is that filmmakers get a nice wide theatrical image, just like anamorphic Panavision, yet they don't have to worry about the serious cropping in pan and scan versions. Why is that, you may ask? Well, let's talk about that now.
HOW IT WORKS
Super35 uses a 35-millimeter film frame (aspect ratio 1.37:1). However, unlike a standard 35mm frame, the magnetic area usually reserved for the sound track is removed. The film uses a seperate digital soundtrack instead of the lower-quality optical soundtrack on the 35mm print. Removing the optical soundtrack results in a much wider negative (approx. 1.60:1). Therefore,
Super35 films actually have a negative aspect ratio of 1.60:1 (approximately). From the 1.60:1 negative, they extract a 2.35:1 frame for theatrical exhibition. That means that not all of the picture information in the negative is seen in theaters. This is sort of similar to the soft-matting process. In theaters, you will see a wide 2.35:1 image. Are you with me so far?
Now then, when the film is to be released on DVD and VHS, the filmmakers will need to prepare Full-Screen versions. Some DVDs receive only widescreen releases, but the film will probably eventually be shown on television anyway, so a Full-Screen version will be needed. So the filmmakers go back to the original negative (1.60:1 aspect ratio) and extract a 1.33:1 image. This results in a little bit of cropping on the sides of the picture, however there will be a bit more information on the top and bottom than was seen at the theater. Sometimes, in a Full-Screen version of a Super35 film, you will see more picture only at the top of the screen than the theatrical version. Sometimes you will see more only at the bottom. Sometimes you will see more at the top and bottom. It all depends on how the 2.35:1 theatrical image was extracted.
This may result in a reaction of "Wow! I'm seeing more picture than was shown in theaters!", but really the theatrical image is what was intended to be seen. For Super35 films, 2.35:1 is still the original aspect ratio, because it is the aspect ratio that viewers were intended to see in the theater. Therefore, the widescreen version is still the preferred format. When shooting the film, the director has a TV monitor with a rectangular outline that represents the 2.35:1 image. This shows the director how he needs to frame his shots so that no essential information will be cut out of the frame. The shots are then composed for the 2.35:1 aspect ratio.
Hope that explained things clearly enough. Should you desire to know, there's an easy way to tell if a 2.35:1 film is anamorphic or Super35. Look in the background of a shot in the film. Look for light sources that are out of focus. If the out of focus lights appear in the shape of an oval, then the film is an anamorphic scope film. If the lights appear as regular circles, the film is Super35.
FILMS SHOT IN SUPER 35
In addition to all the ones listed above, there are many others films that use this process. For example: 'Top Gun', 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon', 'Gladiator', 'Black Hawk Down', 'Apollo 13', 'Ocean's Eleven (Widescreen Edition)', 'American Beauty', 'Fight Club (Single Disc Edition)', 'The Fast and the Furious', 'Seven (New Line Platinum Series)', 'The Usual Suspects (Special Edition)', 'Reservoir Dogs', 'Dogma', 'Legally Blonde', 'Lara Croft - Tomb Raider (Special Collector's Edition)', 'Training Day', and 'Panic Room (Superbit Collection)'.
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This site lists lot other films that were shot on Super35 and hence will have a Fuller AR DVD available now or later.
Ali,
Do you recall our discussion on T-2 LD version being 4:3 that contained more picture at the top and bottom??