In a message dated 6/10/00 11:08:35 PM, [log in to unmask] writes: >They know -- and accept -- the one thing most of us hate to acknowledge; >that many film viewers (or "disinterested layfolks") are more interested >in story and characters. Not visual composition. The heathens who hate >letter-box. Hate it (even filmmakers such as William Friedkin have been >known to utter such blasphemy). So... filmmakers either resort to less >extreme aspect ratios, or tolerate pan-and-scan. It just makes good >business sense now that films can make more money on video, TV and >satellite than theatres. Are you arguing that visual composition is entirely unrelated to story and character? That seems to be an entire argument in and of itself... (OCC: The Graduate) I agree that filmmakers have to consider the home market, but I think the key is in the fact that knowing and accepting, as you have put it, are not the same as preferring. John Carpenter has said that he supervises the pan and scan process because it is the only way he can salvage his film--in other words, the process would occur with or without his input. The fact that he begrudgingly participates does not in any way mean that he sits on set, looking at his monitor and saying, "Is this going to look good on TV?" I think your argument is sound, but the conclusions you draw from it--that most filmmakers consciously shoot for video--are not. Even your Egoyan quote, in reference to his viewing the pan and scan process as a chance to re-edit, only underscores the fact that he was not consciously shooting for the home video market originally. One can easily derive that Egoyan sees home video as a different market, a specific counter to your more general claim concerning the tendencies of "most" filmmakers. I, for one, am not loathe to acknowledge your claim: that most people's first experience of a film will be a cropped version on video. That does not mean that I have to give up *my* right to experience them otherwise (be it in a theater or on widescreen video), or the right of filmmakers to compose in whatever ratio they prefer (and to make that ratio available to those who wish to view it "as the filmmaker intended"). Ed ---- Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite http://www.tcf.ua.edu/ScreenSite