When did disney switch from 4:3 to 16:9 filming?

[Thorsten]

Hello, it's me again

I just saw that "Stepsister from Planet Weird" is filmed in 16:9 - that movie is from 2000 and the earliest one I know from being widescreen.
The next ones would be Zenon 2 as from 2001 and Cadet Kelly and Get a Clue as from 2002, followed by Eloise at the Plaza in 2003 (the only widescreen-DCOM released correctly in the US...)

Today, there are all DCOMs filmed in widescreen - when did disney switch? Has there been a time when some movies were filmed in 16:9 and some others in 4:3?

I really need to know which movies are Pan&Scan crap and which ones are meant to be full screen (btw what does fullscreen mean for ppl which have 16:9 TVs?)

[TM2-Megatron]

Hello, it's me again

I just saw that "Stepsister from Planet Weird" is filmed in 16:9 - that movie is from 2000 and the earliest one I know from being widescreen.
The next ones would be Zenon 2 as from 2001 and Cadet Kelly and Get a Clue as from 2002, followed by Eloise at the Plaza in 2003 (the only widescreen-DCOM released correctly in the US...)

Today, there are all DCOMs filmed in widescreen - when did disney switch? Has there been a time when some movies were filmed in 16:9 and some others in 4:3?

I really need to know which movies are Pan&Scan crap and which ones are meant to be full screen

There probably was a transitionary period when some DCOMs were fullscreen and some were wide... IMDB may have the OAR information, perhaps UD does. I'm really not sure, though... I don't think I've ever even seen a DCOM.

(btw what does fullscreen mean for ppl which have 16:9 TVs?)

Fullscreen on a 16:9 TV essentially means the television "pillarboxes" the image... so the picture will have black (or white, in some cases) areas on the left and right to achieve the proper aspect ratio.

[Luke]

As far as I know, technically, none are "pan & scan." The movies are simultaneously framed for both 1.33:1 and 1.78:1. With the 1.33:1, you're only getting the center of the frame, but they knew this when making it and framed accordingly. That said, I don't know specifically when they made the jump to filming in two ratios. People have reported that the 16x9 DVDs of <i>Smart House</i> and <i>Jumping Ship</i> are merely matted versions of what the VHS shows. That might be a clue or it could just mean they made a faux-widescreen version out of 4x3 video master.

[Thorsten]

As far as I know, technically, none are "pan & scan." The movies are simultaneously framed for both 1.33:1 and 1.78:1. With the 1.33:1, you're only getting the center of the frame, but they knew this when making it and framed accordingly. That said, I don't know specifically when they made the jump to filming in two ratios. People have reported that the 16x9 DVDs of <i>Smart House</i> and <i>Jumping Ship</i> are merely matted versions of what the VHS shows. That might be a clue or it could just mean they made a faux-widescreen version out of 4x3 video master.

you know wrong, there is definitely a pan&scan, at least in the latest movies (from 2006 on for sure) - just watch HSM, TCG2, Wendy Wu, etc.....You'll see even in the 4:3 picture without having to have seen a widescreen verson of the movie there's missing something.
We discussed that here before and there have been proofs in one thread.

Fullscreen on a 16:9 TV essentially means the television "pillarboxes" the image... so the picture will have black (or white, in some cases) areas on the left and right to achieve the proper aspect ratio.

No, what I meant was if you have a 16:9 TV (I don't), Widescreen videos take whole screen and are so "Full Screen" - so, using "Full Screen" for 4:3 is clearly wrong and makes me mad. It assumes everybody has a 4:3 TV.

BTW there ARE DVDs of Jumping Ship and Smart House out? Where?
amazon lists a jpg version of a DVD "Jumping Ship"...what ever that is...

[TM2-Megatron]

No, what I meant was if you have a 16:9 TV (I don't), Widescreen videos take whole screen and are so "Full Screen" - so, using "Full Screen" for 4:3 is clearly wrong and makes me mad. It assumes everybody has a 4:3 TV.

It's simply based on the fact that in the beginning, things were filmed in 1.33:1 (usually, with the exception of some early european films which were even narrower), the "Academy Aspect Ratio". I doubt people will stop referring to it as fullscreen just because TVs have changed formats slightly. If you were to jump up to a 4x3 resolution equivalent to current HD (1920x1440, or 1280x962), you'd still end up with a larger picture overall.

[Luke]

you know wrong, there is definitely a pan&scan, at least in the latest movies (from 2006 on for sure) - just watch HSM, TCG2, Wendy Wu, etc.....You'll see even in the 4:3 picture without having to have seen a widescreen verson of the movie there's missing something.

Actually it seems pretty clearly that <i>you</i> know wrong. "Pan and scan" entails panning and scanning through the widescreen frame so that the action stay centered. On telemovies that are framed for both 16x9 and 4x3 there is absolutely no need to do pan and scan since the action is always composed for both ratios and thus whatever is recorded for 4x3 requires no further editing and whatever is recorded for 16x9 will have the 4x3 material in the absolute center of the screen. So, yes, even though the 4x3 versions are "missing" something; they were framed that way and one might even say that the 16x9 versions have, like open matte transfers, extra information; only the 16x9 versions have it on the sides rather than top and bottom. And the film was composed for 16x9 in addition to 4x3, unlike an open matte which usually is just something that can be winged post-release.

[goofystitch]

Thorsten wrote:

BTW there ARE DVDs of Jumping Ship and Smart House out? Where?
amazon lists a jpg version of a DVD "Jumping Ship"...what ever that is...

They were released exclusively through the Disney Movie Club. They also released "Geopetto" and "A Knight in Camelot" on DVD through the club.

[Thorsten]

Actually it seems pretty clearly that <i>you</i> know wrong. "Pan and scan" entails panning and scanning through the widescreen frame so that the action stay centered. On telemovies that are framed for both 16x9 and 4x3 there is absolutely no need to do pan and scan since the action is always composed for both ratios and thus whatever is recorded for 4x3 requires no further editing and whatever is recorded for 16x9 will have the 4x3 material in the absolute center of the screen. So, yes, even though the 4x3 versions are "missing" something; they were framed that way and one might even say that the 16x9 versions have, like open matte transfers, extra information; only the 16x9 versions have it on the sides rather than top and bottom. And the film was composed for 16x9 in addition to 4x3, unlike an open matte which usually is just something that can be winged post-release.

Ok, wellthen it's like pan&scan although even one shop offers a DCOM ( IMHO HSM but maybe another one), listed as "1:1.33 pan and scan" - don't know where I saw that. Just look at the proofs that I gave 'bout wendy Wu and some other guy about HSM.
Additionally, the latest DCOMs don't look like framed for fullscreen, they look like framed for widescreen and have gotten a badly pan&scan.