Disney spruces up Pinocchio Blu-ray
By Susanne Ault -- Video Business,03/06/2009
MARCH 6 | How do you improve on a classic?
Disney is adding decorative bars to frame its classic movies, starting with Pinocchio.
For Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, the answer is to color every inch of it. Starting with Pinocchio, the studio is sprucing up the black bars that normally frame its classic animation when rendered for the small screen.
Animator Toby Bluth has been charged with creating ‘decorative’ bars that will exclusively frame the Blu-ray Disc version of Pinocchio, due March 10. The standard DVD edition will continue to feature the plain black bars.
This decorative framing, dubbed ‘Disney View,’ is expected to also roll out with the studio’s next classic animated Blu-ray release, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in October.
So as not to distort the original theatrical image, Disney’s classic animation has historically come tagged with black bars on the sides when played on widescreen TV sets. But some fans have complained that the bars take away from their viewing experience.
For Pinocchio, Bluth created 16 sets of Disney View bars, which run at various times during the film.
“It supports the film and is at most an accompaniment,” said Bluth. “There aren’t any panels that distract from the film. They are like theatrical set pieces framing the action.”
Bluth is already at work on bars for Snow White.
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| Submitted by: | Greg Hardt (gregory_hardt@yahoo.com) 3/16/2009 10:25:01 PM PT |
| Location: | Barling, AR |
| Occupation: | . |
the plain black bars on the sides are the default. Disney View is a ''feature'' that has to be selected/enabled. The original thetrical aspect ratio of Pinnochio was what we consider today as "standard tv", not widescreen. Personally, I applaud Disney for keeping the ~4:3 ratio, just as I appreciate the native ratio in Lawrence of Arabia, which is WIDER by quite a bit than widescreen. Ultimately, the price we pay for watching these old/classic movies is in ''living'' with the technical limits and creative choices of the era in which they were made.
| Submitted by: | Alan Smithee (alnsmthe@concentric.net) 3/11/2009 5:12:58 PM PT |
This is a joke, right? I won't buy any title that forces me to have that stuff on the sides. If you watch movies in the dark you don't notice any unused portions of the screen. (What's next- "Full Screen" Blu-rays?)
| Submitted by: | Gary Meyer 3/8/2009 8:59:36 PM PT |
| Location: | San Francisco |
| Occupation: | Programming director |
seem that a simple black curtain would be nice. I worry about distraction if the sidebars are changing. Or does the viewer have the right to choose from various styles, including black?
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