I had the wonderful opportunity to talk to film director Milos Forman tonight before a screening of his film “Hair” at the San Francisco Film Festival.
Because of my views on the letterbox/fullscreen debate (firmy in the letterbox camp), I wanted to ask how he felt about it in general. His first comment was, “Ahh, there is nothing I can do about which way people watch films so I don’t worry about it.”
I asked more specifically how he felt personally about his films not being seen by some viewers in the way that he shot them. He responded in a way I found surprising and unexpected. He said (something to the effect of), as long as the format of the picture doesn’t interfere with the pace, content, and story; and the meaning of the film is still conveyed, then he didn’t really have a problem with it.
I told him I was involved in a discussion (this thread) about the differences and that some people (myself included) felt quite strongly about the fact that people were mssing parts of the movie.
“Twenty years ago I too would have really been bothered by this, but I am much mellower now.” he told me.
This opened my eyes a bit. Forman is one of my favorite directors; I have a lot of respect for him. I still maintain that seeing these films in their intended format provides a richer viewing experience, but I took his point about “as long as the meaning is still conveyed” to heart, and I must say I for one am willing to back down from my earlier “holier-than-thou” approach.
A man after my own heart! As I’ve said before (in this or another thread), while visuals in movies can be wonderful and moving, they’re not my primary concern. I’m far more interested in exactly the same things as Forman: pace, content, and story. Well, I’m also very interested in dialogue. But the point is that the visuals are not my primary concern.
Number Six, I’m not going to engage in a duelling-quote battle with you; those are tiresome and petty. If you’re genuinely not saying that P&S fans are owners of inadequate aesthetics, equipment, or dicks, then I got no problem with you. That’s sure not the impression you gave through your earlier posts.
The only person’s penis adequacy I made reference to was my own. I made no reference to having inadequate aesthetics, only to having aesthetics to appreciate widescreen films, in other words, different.
I am saying that if your equipment is inadequate to the task of displaying widescreen movies in a pleasing way, you might be better off with a full screen version of the film, which I believe is the same point you made in an earlier post.
I believe that PnS movies are badly damaged, and the only derogatory language I used was aimed at the product, not the people who buy it. That is a judgement regarding the art, not the people who choose to view it that way. I’m annoyed by the people who produce and release only full-screen movies, or with video stores that stock only full screen when there are widescren versions available, because I think they’re being short-sighted and ignoring part of their core consumer group, and because I think doing so disrespects the artists that create the product in the first place.
But I make no judgements about the people who are viewing them; doing so would be foolish, as someone else watching full screen in no way diminishes my ability to watch and enjoy movies the way they were intended to be seen.
Well, it can. Kinda. If full screen movies sell, there’ll be more of them. Which means an increased risk of there not being widescreen available. The same kind of phenomenon prevents me from watching Finding Nemo in English. It’s only available here dubbed to Swedish.
I see what you mean, but in such cases I blame the production companies and retailers who create the self-fulfilling prophecy, not the consumers who prefer pan n scan.
A man after my own heart! As I’ve said before (in this or another thread), while visuals in movies can be wonderful and moving, they’re not my primary concern. I’m far more interested in exactly the same things as Forman: pace, content, and story. Well, I’m also very interested in dialogue. But the point is that the visuals are not my primary concern.