visionaries

Steven Soderbergh Valiantly Fights to Protect Cinematic Aspect Ratios

Now that a significant percentage of Americans have purchased wide-screen, high-definition televisions, one might think that the home-video pan-and-scan wars of the eighties and nineties would gently recede into the background. Wrong! None other than Steven Soderbergh has launched an offensive against the television industry, claiming that it’s in cahoots to devalue the standard cinematic aspect ratio of 2.40 to 1: “Television operators are taking the position that films photographed in the 2.40:1 ratio should be blown up or chopped up to fit a 16:9 (1.78:1) ratio. They are taking the position that the viewers of television do not like watching 2.40 films letterboxed to fit their 16:9 screens, and that a film insisting on this is worth significantly less — or even nothing — to them.” Snap! [DGA Quarterly via Fimoculous]

Steven Soderbergh Valiantly Fights to Protect Cinematic Aspect Ratios