Avatar - James Cameron Returns! (Spoilers in thread, obviously!)

Thanks everybody. It felt more like a 16x9-ish aspect ratio in the IMAX showings I saw.

If 1.78:1 is the original aspect ratio I hope that the DVD/Blu-ray will be in that format instead of 2.35:1. It just makes more sense since then it will fill the screen on everyone's TV.
 
Brandon Rice said:
I wonder what aspect ratio the Bluray will come in... I'd like 1.78, since that's more image.
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That's what I'm thinking too, especially since it seems that the film was shot/framed in 1.78 from the beginning. No need to crop out anything.

Unless they give us some sort of option to choose to view it in either a full 16x9 ratio or a matted 2.35 version. But why go to all that trouble. Its so nice that TV monitors have finally made the transition from stupid pan + scan 4x3 to 16x9 (1.78:1). Back when I was shooting SD on a DVX I always wanted to matte some of my stuff to 2.35:1. Now it seems a bit unnecessary with HD and widescreen TV's, even though the HD format is still not as wide as Cinemascope.
 
well since he's making like 2 releases, I think he like the 2.35.1 for flat and 1.78 for the 3D version. but not sure..
 
Given that the 2.35:1 version is cropped from the 1.78 (16:9) for theatrical release; it would make sense to release in 16:9 when possible.

I'd hazard a guess that all the DVD & BluRay releases will probably be 16:9.

- Mikko
 
The type of glasses needed for 3D viewing will depend on the 3D TV/display you have. They can't provide them with the content (the BluRay discs) as they aren't all the same.


... now if they could somehow fit a Psionic Link in the BluRay box... :laugh:

- Mikko
 
I would've preferred the 2D disks to be in 2.39 like he intended.
I agree with Cameron that 2.39 simply looks better for epic movies and 1.85 works better in 3-D.

Personally, I don't care at all if a movie fills up my TV screen. I'd rather watch it as the director intended.
 
Well...if you're watching it on a tv screen the odds are that you're not watching it as the director intended, regardless of aspect ratio...
 
Gohanto said:
I would've preferred the 2D disks to be in 2.39 like he intended.
I agree with Cameron that 2.39 simply looks better for epic movies and 1.85 works better in 3-D.

Personally, I don't care at all if a movie fills up my TV screen. I'd rather watch it as the director intended.
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From the interview I linked above:

What do you think the best format is to view this film in?


Cameron: The film was released in two formats. We released it in 16×9 and cinemascope aspect ratio. Obviously, the 35 mm prints were all in the scope ratio and with the IMAX stuff, we tried to take advantage of the height. The highest and best format for this movie is the 16×9, which plays beautifully. We finished the picture in 16×9 and then we vertically extracted the cinemascope when we were mastering the film for theatrical release.

In the theatrical release of the movie, it played in 3-D in non-IMAX digital theaters in both formats. We did that by selecting whichever theater was going to look best in which format. But, for the home, we wanted to go with the full picture. I really think it helps, with the sense of vertigo underneath the flying creatures, to have that little bit of extra frame down there, when they’re looking down over cliffs. It enhances the sense of height.

Even though I love the cinemascope ratio compositionally, I actually found myself falling in love with the movie in 16×9, as we went along, and I prefer to watch it in that.Everyone thought the best viewing conditions for the movie were in 3-D, but in 3-D what we struggled with was the light levels. We struggled to get the light levels up, in the theaters. You get such a bright, crisp, dynamic picture on the DVD and Blu-ray. Something actually comes back to the viewing experience that you don’t get in the theaters, with the colors and the strength of the contrast.
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Sounds like he intended 16:9 on this one.

- Mikko
 
In fact the chroma intensity of Avatar on video bothers me a lot already...I'm sure I can work out settings that make it look better to my eye but as-set it looks awfully cartoony color-wise, on my main home display.
 
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