Well, really. What are you going to do?
“Emma, I’m afraid you’re just not going to cut it just yet. Please put your naughty bits in the sun for a few days. I’ll check back later.”
I don’t think I’d have the nerve.
You are unlikely to see such errors in so-called ‘Director’s Cuts’. However the normal release to t.v./dvd/Broadcast is not something the Director has much control over. It’s a hotly contested area.
The short answer is the real answer. If the mic flickered low enough that to adjust the headroom digitally in a shot would blow the composition of the entire shot, they will leave the mic. If they can trim down the headroom a wee tad digitally and omit the mic and save the shot, trust me, they will do so.
I thought it was Adam Sandler.
Some movies are shot in full aspect ratio (i.e., with a frame shaped 1 : 1.37), also known as “soft matted”, but are composed within a rectangle etched in the camera’s viewfinder with the understanding that they will projected with a matte aperature inserted in the projector that will cut off the tops and bottoms of the image to leave a widescreen ratio of 1 : 1.85. The distributors in fact specify to exhibitors what the intended projection aperature should be.
However, when the movie is shown on television or put on home video, many distributors shun letterboxing, fearing that television viewers won’t like the smaller image on their screen. This often leads to unintended extra nudity in the home video versions – the naughty parts that were just out of frame on movie screens are now on view. Some examples that come to mind are Kathleen Turner in Prizzi’s Honor and Jason Priestly in Calendar Girl.
So, don’t blame the director or the photographer for the boom mics that occasionally bob down from the top of the screen. That area of the image was to have been cropped out during projection. Blame the distributors who aren’t following the intentions of those who made the movie.
I disagree, sorry. I blame the camera op, and crew standing behind him/her. THEY were there , THEY know how footage is handled. We can debate proper use of ground glass markings all day till magic hour, and it won’t change the fact that if a show is composed and shot to protect a common border, then either a mic is IN or it’s NOT in. I’ve shot tons of stuff that was 4:3, but they have said, ’ Protect High Def, though, ok?? ’
Please. Either we shoot for wide aspect ratio, or we don’t. We can stage people to fall within 4:3 but the truth is that you have to shoot knowing that anything in the negative will be shown. Some day. Some how.
AND, upon second reading, your aspect ratio use is misleading. A show can be shot with both 1:37 AND 1:85, since the top of the frame is used as a common marker. Otherwise, the headroom is blown in every single shot.
It’s not as though the Producer’s cut a rectangular image out of the middle of a square frame. It just doesn’t work that way.
Trust me. I spent 20 years with my eye to the eyepiece of a movie camera.