The Wire

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Roger Ryan
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Re: The Wire

#151 Post by Roger Ryan » Fri Dec 05, 2014 10:46 am

The visual effects (even including slow-motion and elaborate dissolves) were recreated in HD for the Blu-ray release of TWIN PEAKS as well. I don't think THE WIRE had nearly as many post-production effects as something like PEAKS or STAR TREK, so I suspect more time was spent digitally removing unwanted stuff at the sides of the frame!

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zedz
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The Wire

#152 Post by zedz » Fri Dec 05, 2014 6:37 pm

Roger Ryan wrote:
...Filming in letter-box was more expensive at the time...
This doesn't make sense if you're only talking about the filming process.
It could make sense if you're talking about the need to dress larger areas of the set(s) in order to fill a wider shot. Also, shooting in actual locations presumably means more work clearing the space than for tighter shots. If the full matte shots include equipment and crew, as Simon suggests, then it's likely those parts of the image are 'undressed'.

oh yeah
Joined: Sun Jan 04, 2009 7:45 pm

Re: The Wire

#153 Post by oh yeah » Sat Dec 06, 2014 6:01 am

The show is streaming in 16:9 on Amazon Prime, and I just skimmed through Season 4 Episode 9. It's hardly unwatchable, but many many shots are clearly full of "dead" space, negative space of walls and car upholstery and faint silhouettes that was never meant to be seen and so merely feels awkward and "wrong," not like some deliberate Antonioni-esque flourish. Again, as can't be emphasized enough, these compositions simply look far better in the AR that they were specifically composed for.

However, just speaking as a big fan of the series, I am somewhat interested to watch the entire series in widescreen next time.

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warren oates
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2012 12:16 pm

Re: The Wire

#154 Post by warren oates » Sat Dec 06, 2014 1:54 pm

Is there any reason to believe the Amazon Prime version of the show isn't the one that Simon approved, but instead either the hack job into which he intervened or some other even lesser intermediate deliverable where nobody was paying much attention to the details? I mean, just out of curiosity, why would HBO give this new content to Amazon first?

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Ribs
Joined: Fri Jun 13, 2014 1:14 pm

Re: The Wire

#155 Post by Ribs » Sat Dec 06, 2014 2:01 pm

warren oates wrote:Is there any reason to believe the Amazon Prime version of the show isn't the one that Simon approved, but instead either the hack job into which he intervened or some other even lesser intermediate deliverable where nobody was paying much attention to the details? I mean, just out of curiosity, why would HBO give this new content to Amazon first?
I don't recall the exact timetable, but didn't Amazon get all of the HBO stuff in May or June or so? None of the Wire is up in HD, so it was just what was provided to Amazon from the beginning of their involvement.

onedimension
Joined: Sat Nov 29, 2008 4:35 pm

Re: The Wire

#156 Post by onedimension » Sun Dec 07, 2014 4:52 am

oh yeah wrote:The show is streaming in 16:9 on Amazon Prime, and I just skimmed through Season 4 Episode 9. It's hardly unwatchable, but many many shots are clearly full of "dead" space, negative space of walls and car upholstery and faint silhouettes that was never meant to be seen and so merely feels awkward and "wrong," not like some deliberate Antonioni-esque flourish. Again, as can't be emphasized enough, these compositions simply look far better in the AR that they were specifically composed for.

However, just speaking as a big fan of the series, I am somewhat interested to watch the entire series in widescreen next time.
Thanks for watching.. that is the worst-case scenario, especially because most people viewing won't have developed the sensibility that lets them feel the awkwardness, and instead will just feel pleasure at having "widescreen."

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swo17
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Re: The Wire

#157 Post by swo17 » Thu Mar 05, 2015 6:19 pm

Image

"One of the most daring dramas in the history of the medium" - The Baltimore Sun

"One of the great achievements in television artistry" - San Francisco Chronicle

THE WIRE: THE COMPLETE SERIES

BLU-RAY WITH DIGITAL HD

Acclaimed Series Available for the First Time on BLU-RAY Disc with Digital HD June 2, 2015

Loaded with Bonus Content Just in Time for Father's Day Gift Giving

All 60 Episodes Beautifully Re-mastered in 16x9 Full Frame HD



New York, NY (March 5, 2015) - In the six years that have passed since the conclusion of the HBO series The Wire, the critically acclaimed drama has turned into a worldwide phenomenon that has been hailed as "the best show in the history of television" by MSNBC. This summer, the series will make its highly anticipated debut on Blu-ray disc for the very first time. The 20-disc box set featuring all 60 episodes of the hit series in a stunningly re-mastered 16x9 full-screen HD format is showcased with newly redesigned box art. The Wire: The Complete Series on Blu-ray with Digital HD ($199.99) is loaded with an exciting slate of bonus materials, including four behind-the-scenes documentaries, three prequels that explore life before The Wire, and an all-new cast and crew Q&A from the Paley Center for Media's The Wire reunion event. The Wire: The Complete Series on Blu-ray with Digital HD will be in stores June 2, 2015 - just in time for Father's Day and summer binge watching - and is a must-have for all TV connoisseurs!

The Wire depicts an American urban dystopia, framed in our time, in which easy distinctions between good and evil and crime and punishment are challenged at every turn. In five successive seasons, the series depicts a Baltimore in which institutional prerogatives, economic inequalities and a brutalizing drug war confound the efforts to advance the city and its people. The series' first season lays out the futility of the drug war, while the second highlights the deindustrialization and the death of the working class. The third season introduces the city's political culture and lays out the forces that stand in the path of actual reform. The fourth season addresses the educational system and the actual opportunities that remain to coming generations. The fifth and final season examines the media culture and its role in perpetuating the status quo. Amid all of this, carefully drawn characters on both sides of the law and from a variety of Baltimore cultures move forward as best they can, human to a flaw, struggling against a system that seems weighted against civic progress.

The Wire: The Complete Series
Blu-ray Disc with Digital HD
Street Date: June 2, 2015
Rating: TVMA
Runtime: Approx. 59 Hours
Price: $199.99


Taken from: http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Wire-T ... z3TYJ7maxv" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

J M Powell
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Re: The Wire

#158 Post by J M Powell » Fri Mar 06, 2015 9:34 am

My eyes saw "full-screen" and I got really excited about this, thinking they'd preserved the original 4:3 as an option. Then I read more carefully and realized "full-screen" doesn't mean 4:3 anymore. Sad face.

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domino harvey
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Re: The Wire

#159 Post by domino harvey » Wed Mar 25, 2015 7:28 pm

Pledge for a Clayton Davis bobblehead (Which as of this posting has already raised almost four times what was being asked)

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Drucker
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Re: The Wire

#160 Post by Drucker » Fri Mar 27, 2015 9:11 am


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Caligula
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Re: The Wire

#161 Post by Caligula » Sat Mar 28, 2015 6:13 am

Drucker wrote:Barack Obama interviews show's creator David Simon. You read that right.
Wow, what a great watch. Thanks for posting!

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Forrest Taft
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Re: The Wire

#162 Post by Forrest Taft » Sat Mar 28, 2015 11:21 am

Very surprising that Obama decided to focus on issues such as crime and drugs, when there's a much more relevant and important topic they should have focused on, namely the aspect ratio on the new HD remasters. But that was a good talk, thanks for sharing.

AnamorphicWidescreen
Joined: Tue Apr 16, 2013 12:21 am

Re: The Wire

#163 Post by AnamorphicWidescreen » Sun Apr 19, 2015 2:41 am

oh yeah wrote:The show is streaming in 16:9 on Amazon Prime, and I just skimmed through Season 4 Episode 9. It's hardly unwatchable, but many many shots are clearly full of "dead" space, negative space of walls and car upholstery and faint silhouettes that was never meant to be seen and so merely feels awkward and "wrong," not like some deliberate Antonioni-esque flourish. Again, as can't be emphasized enough, these compositions simply look far better in the AR that they were specifically composed for.

However, just speaking as a big fan of the series, I am somewhat interested to watch the entire series in widescreen next time.
I know The Wire purists probably won't want to see the show in WS, but I think it will be intriguing to see the show in this aspect ratio. Like most of us out there, these days I only have a WS set, and whenever I watch anything full-screen you see those annoying black boxes on the side. Unavoidable, I know.

Robin Davies
Joined: Sat Sep 22, 2007 2:00 am

Re: The Wire

#164 Post by Robin Davies » Sun Apr 19, 2015 8:23 am

AnamorphicWidescreen wrote:Like most of us out there, these days I only have a WS set, and whenever I watch anything full-screen you see those annoying black boxes on the side. Unavoidable, I know.
Why are you annoyed by the black boxes outside the picture when you watch a 4:3 image, but not annoyed by the border of the widescreen TV itself when you watch a 16:9 image?
It always amazes me that people are distracted by black boxes outside the picture but not distracted by channel logos and IPPs which are on the picture and distract me to the point of insanity!

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Ribs
Joined: Fri Jun 13, 2014 1:14 pm

Re: The Wire

#165 Post by Ribs » Sun Apr 19, 2015 10:30 am

And, while I'm sure not everybody has kept upgrading their TVs as they've went along, but now black levels are generally so good I have a hard time telling a black bar on the top, bottom, or sides from the border of the TV. It's really helped me with something I too used to find very distracting.

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swo17
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Re: The Wire

#166 Post by swo17 » Sun Apr 19, 2015 11:26 am

If only there were a way to stretch out my internet to avoid having to see those annoying and distracting black bar posts...

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domino harvey
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Re: The Wire

#167 Post by domino harvey » Sun Apr 19, 2015 11:28 am

I installed something like that but all it did was block Black Twitter

AnamorphicWidescreen
Joined: Tue Apr 16, 2013 12:21 am

Re: The Wire

#168 Post by AnamorphicWidescreen » Fri Apr 24, 2015 11:33 pm

Robin Davies wrote:
AnamorphicWidescreen wrote:Like most of us out there, these days I only have a WS set, and whenever I watch anything full-screen you see those annoying black boxes on the side. Unavoidable, I know.
Why are you annoyed by the black boxes outside the picture when you watch a 4:3 image, but not annoyed by the border of the widescreen TV itself when you watch a 16:9 image?
To each their own. I don't mind the border on the top & bottom of a widescreen picture, since the picture still takes up the entire screen, length-wise at least.

Conversely, the black boxes on the each side of a 4:3 image are extremely distracting, and make it look like there is more "blank" space in the image.

Note I was fine with watching 4:3 images on a CRT TV set or computer monitor, since the picture filled up the entire screen -as it was meant to.

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pzadvance
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Re: The Wire

#169 Post by pzadvance » Sat Apr 25, 2015 12:48 am

AnamorphicWidescreen wrote:
Robin Davies wrote:
AnamorphicWidescreen wrote:Like most of us out there, these days I only have a WS set, and whenever I watch anything full-screen you see those annoying black boxes on the side. Unavoidable, I know.
Why are you annoyed by the black boxes outside the picture when you watch a 4:3 image, but not annoyed by the border of the widescreen TV itself when you watch a 16:9 image?
To each their own. I don't mind the border on the top & bottom of a widescreen picture, since the picture still takes up the entire screen, length-wise at least.

Conversely, the black boxes on the each side of a 4:3 image are extremely distracting, and make it look like there is more "blank" space in the image.

Note I was fine with watching 4:3 images on a CRT TV set or computer monitor, since the picture filled up the entire screen -as it was meant to.
This is insane. The 4:3 image is taking up the entire screen height-wise. How is that any different?

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jindianajonz
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Re: The Wire

#170 Post by jindianajonz » Sat Apr 25, 2015 1:19 am

I can understand the frustration of watching a widescreen epic like Lawrence of Arabia with black bars back in the early days of DVD, since the picture is already shrunk for the much smaller tv's of that time. But to see people complaining that something composed for a 27 inch screen looks too small in an era where 50 inch is more the norm does seem a bit ridiculous

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Adam X
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Re: The Wire

#171 Post by Adam X » Sat Apr 25, 2015 4:00 am

Not to mention that the physical size of a 4:3 image as displayed on most widescreen sets is generally (unless you've got a really small widescreen TV) larger than when you would've seen the film on an old 4:3 CRT TV. So even in this case, you're still getting more, not less.

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MichaelB
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Re: The Wire

#172 Post by MichaelB » Sat Apr 25, 2015 4:37 am

One of my office monitors has a 21:9 aspect ratio, but I don't think that Scope films "look better" on it than they do on the bigger monitor that's next to it.

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swo17
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Re: The Wire

#173 Post by swo17 » Sat Apr 25, 2015 10:53 am

Films shouldn't all be the same width but the same height. Generally, widescreen films are supposed to impress you by expanding the image on the sides, not shrink the image by taking away from the top and bottom. You get this effect on a widescreen TV when you move from 1.33 to 1.78 material but lose it when the image goes wider than that, unless you compensate by moving closer to the screen. The 1.78 ratio is merely a compromise in the middle of the most common ARs. Ideally, screens would all be much wider than they are, so that the widest ratioed films could have their intended effect. I should think that the image for such films not being larger would be more irritating than anything going on outside of the image.

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EddieLarkin
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Re: The Wire

#174 Post by EddieLarkin » Sat Apr 25, 2015 1:06 pm

I completely agree. The whole point of something like CinemaScope was to offer a bigger image, yet on 16x9 TVs such films are smaller than standard widescreen fare, which I find very bothersome (and I imagine the filmmakers would as well). It's why any future projector set up I have will use a 2.35:1 or wider screen.

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movielocke
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Re: The Wire

#175 Post by movielocke » Sat Apr 25, 2015 3:37 pm

Perkins Cobb wrote:In his blog post, Simon claims it was a budgetary compromise, although that doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. Was shooting on 35mm really cheaper than shooting in HD in 2002?

EDIT: Specifically, Simon writes that "filming in letter-box was more expensive at the time," but I don't understand from that phrasing what choices were on the table that led to 35mm framed in 4:3 as the cheapest option.
From what I heard was that shooting three perf 35mm resulted in a "set up and tear down" fee from the film processors for going to the trouble of changing timing to properly make prints and telecines. These fees would wipe out the cost savings of shooting less film by choosing three perf and actually would be a little more expensive in the end, which is partially why features almost always shot 4 perf once wide screen was on the horizon and open matte airings were soon to go extinct.

Additionally dps of features liked the vertical latitude to tweak framing shooting 4 perf and dps and editorial of TV like the horizontal latitude to tweak framing. Iirc Friends did not rescan the 35mm 3 perf negatives for Blu because there were so many "opticals" of reframing that it would be very expensive, and they had been delivering 16:9 hd masters for international so they could use that.

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