This is topic Letterboxing scope trailers for flat in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.
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Posted by John Walsh (Member # 168) on 03-24-2001, 08:49 AM:
I ran a flat film (Say It Isn't So) and there was a trailer attached for a scope film (Just Visiting). I noticed the trailer was letterboxed to fit (black borders at the top and bottom.) It looked much better than the "enlarge and fill" that they usually do.Is this new, or have I been asleep for a while? 
Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 03-24-2001, 10:00 AM:
First time I saw this done was for trailers of the movie strange days. They have been doing this for a while now. Usually it is buena vista that does it but I have seen some fox an sony trailers done that way.
Posted by Christos Mitsakis (Member # 143) on 03-24-2001, 11:36 AM:
"Titanic" and "A Bugs Life" are the only letterbox flat trailers I remember passing through my hands.C.
Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 03-24-2001, 02:19 PM:
Off-topic rant: "Just Visiting" is a perfect example of why Americans shouldn't remake foreign films. Les Visiteurs was in limited circulation in the US in 1996; I liked it very much--it was very funny and very French. The trailers for this remake seem to make it out to be hideously bad and not funny at all. I have the trailer for the original around here and it is much more enticing. The sad thing is that the opening-weekend grosses of "Just Visiting" will likely exceed the combined French and American gross for "Les Visiteurs"...[end of rant...I feel better now]
It's interesting that both the original and the remake were shot in scope.
Posted by John Walsh (Member # 168) on 03-24-2001, 02:44 PM:
I just ran a sneak of "Just Visiting" and thought it wasn't too bad... but I do like Jean Reno, so without him it might have been real bad.I was talking to a friend once about the "The Vanishing." The American remake had just come out, and I was ranting on and on about how it was junk compared to the orginal 1988 French film.
I said, "The director (of the American remake) did a bad job, and stole the same coffin shot!!"
My friend told me the same director did both films. I said, "Oh, ... never mind....!"
Posted by Jesse Skeen (Member # 586) on 03-24-2001, 06:05 PM:
All of Buena Vista's trailers have been 'letterboxed' since around the last "Bug's Life" trailer. Since late '91 they have also always side-matted their scope trailers for flat movies, though by looking at some older ones it appears they use a wider aspect ratio now than they used to- the scope trailer for "Hand That Rocks the Cradle" is perfect 1.85, but their newer stuff goes out a bit wider with less black on the sides. I know that these have confused some people
Posted by Mark Lucas (Member # 791) on 03-26-2001, 12:29 PM:
It's a little distracting IMHO. The wider the image, the bigger it should be. Not the other way around. Yeah, even for measly trailers.
Posted by Ky Boyd (Member # 23) on 03-26-2001, 05:27 PM:
BV did letterboxed flat trailers for O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Posted by Jerry D. Cox (Member # 701) on 03-27-2001, 12:05 AM:
About the Letterboxing of Trailer's FOX did this back in 1955
Posted by Charles Everett (Member # 889) on 07-07-2001, 12:49 PM:
A few more to add to the list:Magnolia
Pearl Harbor
The Lord of the Rings
Posted by Michael Brown (Member # 890) on 07-08-2001, 08:39 AM:
Also Gone in 60 seconds and Oh Brother Where art thou trailers had top and bottom masking.
Posted by Sean McKinnon (Member # 612) on 07-08-2001, 03:20 PM:
Now there trying to control our minds through previews too! Letterboxing is evil! j/k
Posted by Michael Coate (Member # 757) on 07-09-2001, 02:45 PM:
quote:
A few more to add to the list:
"Star Wars ('97 re-issue)
"The Empire Strikes Back ('97 re-issue)
"Return Of The Jedi" ('97 re-issue)
"The Phantom Menace"
"Atlantis"
"Bubble Boy"
Posted by Charles Everett (Member # 889) on 07-09-2001, 05:22 PM:
Osmosis Jones has a letterboxed trailer -- it's attached to Cats & Dogs so you'll get to see it whenever the fur flies <meow>
Posted by Greg Anderson (Member # 235) on 07-09-2001, 05:31 PM:
I ran a letterboxed, flat trailer for 2010 in the year 1984 (if that makes sense)... but it didn't seem to be letterboxed to the full 2.35 aspect ratio. Still, it was wider than 1.85.
Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 07-09-2001, 06:00 PM:
Ok maybe I'm the crazy one here, but someone please tell me this thread isn't going to become a "HEY, I JUST SAW A 1.85 TRAILER THAT WAS LETTERBOXED!!!" That would just about have to make this thread the most lame in the entire history of these forums.I mean come on, whoopie shit. What's the big deal? I've seen a 2.39 trailer that was matted for FLAT! Wow. Jeepers! I'm about to have an accident in my pants from all of this excitement. 
P.S. I once even saw a theater that had seats that ROCKED! Supposedly there is even a theater somewhere in town that has SOUND to go WITH THE PICTURE! Whoooooo!!!
Posted by John T. Hendrickson, Jr (Member # 849) on 07-09-2001, 07:54 PM:
Brad:Agree with you 100%. Think it's time you locked this one up.
Posted by Evans A Criswell (Member # 381) on 07-09-2001, 08:38 PM:
I think the practice of letterboxing 1.85:1 trailers for scope movies is a great idea, because if the theatre staff cares at all, they'll want to make sure their flat framing is perfect, since the slightest error will be painfully noticeable when the letterboxed trailer runs.I've seen several such letterboxed trailers out of frame so much that there was no black at the bottom with a huge black band on top. Nail those careless operators!
I hope the trend continues, if for that reason only.
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Evans A Criswell
Huntsville-Decatur Movie Theatre Info Site
Posted by Greg Anderson (Member # 235) on 07-09-2001, 09:09 PM:
It's up to Brad, of course, but is it really proper to close a thread just because it's not exciting enough?I remember how, in the early 1980s, attached trailers on stereo films were in stereo. Yet the same trailers, if they were sent individually, would be mono. The first time I noticed a non-attached trailer with stereo sound (in a 35mm version) it was Amadeus, which was also a noteworthy trailer because in the credits section it specifically mentioned 70mm. In 1984, I was pretty excited about that trailer (Okay... so shoot me for being boring, but I was less than a mile from the Southern California beaches yet I worked in a dark room by myself in the summer).
Anyhow... I can understand why this thread was started because, perhaps, John had never noticed a letterboxed trailer until recently and he wondered how old this trend was. So...
Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 07-09-2001, 09:57 PM:
I have no intention of closing the thread, but if it does end up with people just posting "hey THIS movie has a letterboxed trailer", then I will close it. Letterboxed trailers are just as common today as are movies with digital sound tracks. Big deal. (Me thinks people are just trying to up their post count. 
)
Posted by Brian Tristam Williams (Member # 1235) on 06-28-2002, 04:19 PM:
Yes, you have been sleeping for some time!The first time I saw this was in 1989 - the trailer for 'A Cry in the Dark'.
Whoopeee!
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"One man can make a difference."