Paramount Pictures Logos on DVD in Pan and Scan?

Are there any Paramount Pictures DVD releases of their catalog library available in "pan and scan" (4:3 / 1.33:1 ratio)?

Hot sheet:
1. Charlotte's Web (1973)
2. Urban Cowboy (1980)
3. Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
4. D.A.R.Y.L. (1985)
5. Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
6. Top Gun (1986)
7. Beverly Hills Cop II (1987)
8. Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)
9. The Untouchables (film) (1987)
10. 48 Hours (1988)
11. The Hunt for Red October (1990)
12. Days of Thunder (1990)
13. Regarding Henry (1991)
14. Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
15. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
16. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984)
17. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)
18. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989)
19. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)

Thank you,



Ben

 

According to Memory Alpha, all the initial Trek film DVD releases were part of the Widescreen Collection in both Region 1 and 2, so no Pan And Scan unless a really crappy DVD came out in some other region.

 

I thought the old DVD of Ferris Bueller also had the 4x3 open matte (well, it was Super 35) transfer but DVDcompare.net and eBay are proving me wrong.

EDIT: Charlotte's Web does have a 4x3 disc available but that SOP for kid's flicks.

 

Besides Charlotte's Web, which Paramount theatrical releases of their 1966-94 output, on DVD, do have the "pan and scan" option?

~Ben

 

There is no such term as "open matte" in Hollywood film production or post. Images are shot Academy Aperture, Full Aperture, widescreen, or anamorphic. You can legitimately say "it was shot flat and then masked for projection," which is 100% legit, but films are either matted or not matted. In general, the logos are prepared separately and just slapped in by the negative cutter (or an editor), but they do shoot them in various aspect ratios. Once in a blue moon, the director will opt to do a special studio logo that goes right into the main title, but not very often. The end logos were just dropped in by an editor based on what the home video execs tell them -- they're doing it for legal and operational reasons, not because of what fans expect or want to see.

Ferris Bueller was not Super 35mm (either the 1990 TV series or the 1986 feature, because that implies Full Aperture 35mm. Super 35mm didn't really become popular until a few directors started pushing for it (particularly James Cameron with The Abyss in 1989). The studio that really made it a success was Warner Bros., which began shooting virtually all their American network TV series in Super 35mm 3-perf in April of 1994; that format is tailor-made for 16x9 HD, which future proofed all those 1990s shows. Very wise move on their part by then-CTO Chris Cookson.

It is true that many, many movies intended for 1.85 release wound up in 4x3 for home video, but you basically saw too much room at the top and bottom, providing more area than the DP ever intended for you to see. We generally tried to fix the headroom so you wouldn't have faces too low in the frame, but it's still a compromise. I think scanning this material in 1.78 is a better compromise (and is extremely close to 1.85).

 

I think they were all shot in anamorphic, including the recent films captured digitally.