Home   |   Widescreen & More   |   Aspect Ratios   |   Examples   |   Commentaries   |   Podcast   |   Video/Audio   |   Contact   |   Links

This is one of the best mini-documentaries about widescreen I've ever seen! Famous Hollywood directors Martin Scorsese, Curtis Hanson, Sydney Pollack, and Michael Mann all explain why widescreen movies should only be shown in widescreen. An absolutely fantastic testimonial! Many, many thanks to Paul Muench for providing the original clip!

Divx AVI / 16,758 KB -- Divx AVI (low quality) / 8,908 KB -- Playback for AC-3 (Dolby Digital) audio codec required.
©Turner Classic Movies - Files created specifically for widescreen.org by John L. Berger

Leonard Nimoy explains the letterboxing procedure and why he chose it to film "Star Trek IV". This clip is from the Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home DVD and the Director's Edition VHS.

RealAudio / 130 KB -- QuickTime / 2,464 KB
©Paramount Pictures - Files created specifically for widescreen.org by John L. Berger

This is a great comparison flyer that you can use for educating those who need to be educated. Designed by Nathan Dickson specifically for widescreen.org and made available for anyone to use. Both files are print quality, but the PDF is better for printing. Thanks, Nathan!

PDF format / 1.06 MB -- JPEG / 667 KB

John Carpenter explains why he prefers to shoot his movies in widescreen, specifically Panavision.

RealAudio / 48 KB
From the audio commentary on the special edition laserdisc of "Assault on Precinct 13."

Martin Scorsese explains how widescreen movies suffer greatly from the pan-and-scan process and how the widescreen version of movies preserves what the entire film making crew wanted you to see.

QuickTime / 420 KB -- QuickTime / 618 KB
Files courtesy of American Movie Classics

This segment, used by American Movie Classics during their Fourth Annual Film Preservation Festival, offers great examples and explanations of why the widescreen format is the best way to watch movies.

QuickTime / 4,310 KB -- QuickTime (Low resolution) / 1,075 KB
Courtesy of American Movie Classics. Files created specifically for widescreen.org by John L. Berger

This is a great explanation and brief history of the widescreen process that was created by the Fox Movie Channel. This video is no longer available on their web site.

QuickTime / 11,403 KB
Courtesy of The Fox Movie Channel Network.

This is CNN's report by correspondent Fred Katayama announcing the death of DIVX and why it failed.

(This video discusses the failed Digital Video Express ("DIVX"), which was a pay-per-view, DVD format that was launched by the U.S. electronics chain, Circuit City. For more information about this failed format, please click here. This video has nothing to do with the Divx video compression codec.)

MPEG-1 / 1,861 KB
Courtesy of Cable News Network.

This clip from the classic comedy The Princess Bride demonstrates the potential problems with matted widescreen movies.

Look for the dangling, boom microphone in the scene where the prince is told that "Wesley's got his strength back. I'm starting him on the machine tonight."

QuickTime / 3,469 KB -- QuickTime (Low resolution) / 1,104 KB
Courtesy of 20th Century Fox. Files created specifically for widescreen.org by John L. Berger

These are original scenes from Walt Disney's immortal classic Fantasia. These scenes were censored out of the VHS and DVD releases because of the potential for being accused of racism. Although the DVD release was called "uncut and unedited" on the back of the DVD box, each of these files shows a different scene that was edited or deleted out completely of the U.S. DVD and VHS releases.

Whereas widescreen.org does not tolerate racism in any way, the obvious censorship and historical revisionism as demonstrated in these clips must not be tolerated either. These scenes will be made available until such time as I am accused of somehow slandering Disney or stealing their profits.

QuickTime / 1,544 KB -- QuickTime / 3,132 KB -- QuickTime / 3,132 KB
Original source unknown

To download any of these clips, right-click on the link to the appropriate file and save the file to your hard drive.

NOTE TO WEBMASTERS: If you're going to integrate these into your web site, I expect a reciprocal link as stated in my Terms and Conditions!

©1996-2008 John L. Berger. Do not copy this site or include any parts of it into other websites or publications without permission. The screen shots and any trademarks used on this web page are protected by copyright and are owned by their respective copyright or trademark owners. widescreen.org is a not-for-profit endeavor and no copyright fringement is intended in any way.