MovieChat Forums > The Shield (2002) Discussion > Cool thing about the 4K restoration on B...

Cool thing about the 4K restoration on Blu Ray

posted 5 years ago by janelsenor (2044)
9 replies | jump to latest

Originally, show creator Shawn Ryan was against releasing the show in 16:9 format, but this was overidden by Sony for the DVD releases. Part of the reason for Ryan's objection was that, although the show was shot in 16:9, it was always done with 4:3 in mind. So, when the 4:3 image was uncropped back to 16:9, there were many instances of crew/equipment on the sides of the frame that Sony just left there for the DVD releases. Part of the remaster process for the Blu Ray included specifically reframing shots where crew/equipment were in the 16:9 frame and removing them.

DVD:
https://i.imgur.com/n5dmT0B.jpg

Blu Ray:
https://i.imgur.com/n4t2OLh.jpg

I cannot say with 100% certainty that every instance of this has been corrected. But all the instances I knew about have been fixed on the Blu Ray. This is probably why Shawn Ryan approves of this 16:9 release while he opposed it on the DVD release.

Pretty cool that this attention to detail was put into the restoration.

[–] TandyMan (11096) 5 years ago

Very cool. I find it odd, especially for a much more recent show like The Shield, that some creators were still slavishly sticking to that old 4:3 ratio.

Fairly certain i've never seen the show in wide format. What do they show in the syndicated version these days? The original aired versions or the new stuff?

[–] janelsenor (2044) 5 years ago

I haven't seen it in syndication in years. The version available on most streaming services (Hulu, Amazon Prime, etc) is the 4K remaster (same source used for the Blu Ray).

[–] MisterE (732) 5 years ago

The Shield was shown in 16:9 pretty much everywhere but the USA. The first 4 seasons were released on 4:3 DVD in the USA, by 20th Century Fox, and the rest of the series was released 16:9 (by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment) and the earlier seasons were re-issued 16:9 on DVD. The Shield is one of my favorite TV series, I bought it all including the re-issues of the first 4 seasons.

[–] mobocracy (891) 4 years ago

In an ideal world, they shoot for 16:9 but frame every shot with the vital stuff inside 4:3. I think the reality of this is that the 16:9 extra width becomes irrelevant because they've had to keep everything essential inside 4:3 borders.

You basically end up compromising the 16:9 framing because you can't use the extra space for anything or frame shots to take advantage of it without it looking compromised at 4:3. So you wind up with marginal 16:9 cinematography.

I don't think FX existed in HD in 2002, so the compromise that made sense was to frame it all for 4:3, although, IMHO, it was sloppy to not keep crew and equipment out of the 16:9 frame. That was naive in 2002 given even the existing use anamorphic DVDs and the coming explosion of HD everywhere. At least if the 16:9 shots were clean they would have had an easy path to HD.

I mean maybe they could have shot it 16:9 and showed it letterboxed at broadcast, but who would have been happy with that? In 2002 most people were still watching SD TV sets and would have griped about the tiny image.

Unless your production process was pretty visionary and had a lot of budget, getting your cinematography right in the early days of HD was impossible.

[–] ChiefBrody (1) 4 years ago

I just finished watching it on Amazon Prime in Canada. I realize the show's look was designed to be unpolished and rough, but the quality didn't seem very good. It was in 4x3, which I didn't mind. I actually prefer to see it the way the creators want me to see it. What really bothered me was that the prints that Amazon Prime was using seemed to be interlaced as opposed to progressive. The interlacing easy to see on the opening credits, but it was also quite noticeable throughout the show. I was still able to enjoy the show, but I'm thinking about buying it on Blu-ray for the extras and hope the annoying interlacing is gone.

[–] TandyMan (11096) 4 years ago

Ugh. You mean it has that surreal false motion look to it? That's just a step out of looking normal? A lot of folks don't even notice that but I do.

[–] ghostboy (652) 5 years ago

I would find it so frustrating to buy something on DVD and there are crew members/equipment visible in shots due to altering the aspect ratio. Don't release the product to buy if the image is tainted by stuff that wasn't supposed to be there. At least they fixed it for the blu ray, but still it shouldn't have been put on DVD like that.

[–] janelsenor (2044) 5 years ago

Show creator Shawn Ryan agrees with you.

[–] TandyMan (11096) 5 years ago

I forget what classic sitcom it is. But they did such a crap transfer for the DVD that you can see boom mics sticking from the top of the screen in literally every shot.