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Television images are square, while film images are rectangular. When releasing a film on video, producers have two options: show the full rectangular image framed by two horizontal black bars (known as "widescreen" or "letterboxed") or selectively edit the image to fill the entire television screen (called "pan and scan"). The "pan and scan" process is fairly subjective. The editor decides which portion of the frame is important and "pans" or focuses on that area before "scanning" the film into video. The rest of the image is chopped. Since pictures speak louder than words, especially on this issue, we suggest you compare these sample
shots from the film and video versions of "The Lord of the Rings." Film purists think "pan and scan" is a travesty -- up to 50 percent of a film image can be cut during the process. Millions of home video watchers, however, don't seem to mind. But the explosion of the DVD format, coupled with the increasing popularity of widescreen televisions, has made more people aware of the issue. So that friendly "format" reminder on your TV screen is simply telling you that you're watching a "pan and scan" movie, not a letterboxed movie. For more comparison shots and technical details, check out the Yahoo! Widescreen Category.
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