MovieChat Forums > Haunted (1996) Discussion > Poor framing and composition but still a...

Poor framing and composition but still an interesting picture


I'm not sure what the original aspect ratio for this movie is but it's appears that several shots are cropped. Often characters will walk in and out of frame for no apparent reason and you never see a full wide shot of Edbrook where the entire building is completely visible from end to end. Instead parts of the building are always cut off. There is also a telling zoom shot of a tombstone that cuts off the ends of the names engraved upon it. Either the director was lazy or the original composition of this picture has been altered. Haunted is still worth watching but one can't help feeling the visuals have been compromised.

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Hi,I've just watched this great movie tonight on ITV3 here in the UK,it had none of the framimg problems you've noted above,it was a very nice widescreen print ! I hadn't seen it for a few years now,and seeing it tonight made me decide to buy the DVD,but looking and the aspect ratio's on some of the other threads,I don't think I'll bother,I think I'll wait for a decent release of the movie.Cheers !

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I also watched it the other night - it felt slightly ridiculous, but I could have accepted all of that but for the inexplicable lighting. It was incredibly bright and on any number of occasions I was thrown by the fact that exterior night scenes seemed to cut to interiors lit for intense daylight. I wonder whether there was a change in the setting or a recut that might explain this, or whether it was just a bizarre aesthetic choice.

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I got the feeling that the lighting was done this way to throw off the viewer's equilibrium. I found it quite effective in that regard.

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