why isnt There a WS version of this in R1? - Piranha (1978) Discussion

[–] wrangler500 20 years ago

the directer claims there is no widescreen version.he says that the movie was shot in full screen format and he says he dont know why the opening credits appear to be in widescreen format even though the movie was shot in full screen as you will find out by listening to the commentary. it also tells you in the insert that came with the movie that it was shot in full screen frame.the uk version is probally not wide screen at all,just the top and bottom of the picture chopped off with nothing extra added on the sides.I heard they have done this with other dvd releases.the people in the uk are being taken because this movie is really supposed to be full frame.personally I wish all movies was shot in full frame like this one was,it fits your tv screen with no black bars and no panning and scanning effect.

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[–] MuzikNFilm 20 years ago

Sorry Wrangler but You are wrong!!
The film WAS shot in 1:85 just like when the opening credits roll. What is said on the commentary is that they do not know why the credits are wide and the film is full on this release. I saw the film in the theaters when it came out and it wasn't a square screen. It was a rectangular screen like my widescreen Television looks. The U.K. version got it goin on!! Death to ALL Fullscreen versions!!!!!

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[–] mortimerj190 17 years ago

I have the UK version here now, it says on the back of the box- widescrean version 16:9, 1 85:1 - there ya go.......

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[–] CrazyJim2004 20 years ago

The reason the opening credits are shown in widescreen, I think has to do with the poor framing job they did on the "full screen" version. I had taped this movie off TBS around 1991 and I remember that a lot of the names were cut off and you couldn't read them. A lot of full screen movies show the opening and closing credits in widescreen and in fact, the DVD for "Piranha 2" does the same.

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[–] wrangler500 20 years ago

it also tells you in the insert that came with the movie that it was shot in full screen frame that is the reason it wasnt released in widescreen for this special edition.it also says the same thing all over the internet.

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[–] MuzikNFilm 20 years ago

Dream on that it was SHOT in full frame. Like I said I saw it in wide frame in theaters with many other people. I don't mean to burst your bubble. It is released by Paramount Pictures (not on vhs or dvd) in the original aspect ratio of 1:85 (not full frame). Your Roger Corman Classics dvd is a rip off. Even the director has a blurry recollection of how it was shot, on the commentary. The DVD company screwed up and is trying to cover their actions. So be it.

This fim has only been shown in widescreen recently on IFC and will be shown again at the end of this month. So be IT!

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[–] TonyDood 20 years ago

Yer not crazy, wrangler...we shall all give a collective sigh for people like MuzikNFilm who haven't done their research on different types of wide screen movie technologies.

So do we really need to go through the whole concept of "matted 1:85" widescreen process for the million-and-second time?

**sigh**

http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/widescreen/aspectratio.htm

If everyone around here is going to start telling the truth, I'm going to bed

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[–] gregmyers 20 years ago

The question that is appropriate is not that the film negative was full frame (low budget pictures usually are), but were the director and camera people using matted view finders to frame the picture. If they were, the matted wide screen is the "best" representation of the film. If they were not using matted view finders, the full screen is the "best" representation and the black bars on the side of the TV are normal. Given the people involved in making this flick, I would bet on full screen.

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[–] onnanob2 19 years ago

I don't know if I am contributing anything worthy here, but a lot (if not all) of the older films released on DVD by Concorde/New Horizons are presented in fullscreen for region 1. They were originally released to theaters by New World Pictures. Titles include: "Piranha," "Avalanche," and "Slumber Party Massacre." The three titles I mention were shown in theaters, so I was hoping they would be in widescreen. Seeing that they were in fullscreen led me to believe the DVD company (Concorde/New Horizons) didn't care to preserve the films as viewed in the theater. These titles were also released on DVD while the popularity from fullscreen to widescreen was in transition. I read a few comments on how "Piranha" may have been shot, but I personally believe the reason for fullscreen on these New World Pictures releases was a decision the DVD company made. I may be wrong, but I am surprised nobody else has noticed the New World Pictures-Concorde/New Horizons connection.

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[–] guely55 19 years ago

You know a film is fullscreen when the "widescreen" chop heads and chins in close-up's.

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[–] 19 years ago

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[–] trashmag 19 years ago

I'm not sure if this was shot in open matte or not, but even if it was I'd rather have a widescreen version. Dante isn't a hack director, so I'm sure even if he was shooting open matte he knew what compositions he wanted for the widescreen version. While technically you're getting more picture information in a full frame version of a movie shot this way, it may be information that wasn't supposed to be in the movie. I didn't notice any major problems like boom mikes and the like on the Piranha DVD, but I still prefer to see the film the way it was shown in a theater. The best thing would be to release a disc with both version of the film.

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[–] MuzikNFilm 18 years ago

THANK God some people understand what I was trying to point out.

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[–] outlaw-bobbiejo 18 years ago

MuzikNFilm, if you manage to come across any screencaps for comparison, I'm sure I'm not the only one here who would be interested in seeing them.

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[–] CrazyJim2004 17 years ago

I'd just like to know, from the people who think the "fullscreen" version is the correct ratio, why did their older version crop out the opening credits?

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[–] bok602 15 years ago

Let's don't confuse fullscreen with open matte.

Stanley Kubrick filmed all of his films open matte and they are released that way on DVD, which appears fullscreen.

The same holds true with PIRANHA.

The most likely reason why the credits appear widescreen/letter-boxed is because they were were added after the film itself was shot; that is to say, they were sent to a company and told to take this raw footage, add titles and credits and send it back to us.

The people who made the credits sequence probably asked what the intended aspect ration for projection would be (or perhaps were told to make it such a ratio to guide projector operators in framing) and so they created a letterboxed title sequence.

Nothing sinister or confusing about it.

"If you don't know the answer -change the question."

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[–] Woodyanders 15 years ago

The new DVD and Blu-Ray from Shout! Factory are both widescreen anamorphic presentations of the film.

1,000 mini-bios and I feel like I'm just getting started

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