So it turns out there's more to the Back to the Future films than I'd realised!
My only question is whether all three movies were shot like this. They probably were. Anyway, I'd love to see the open-matte versions even if they're not HD, although that'd be an added bonus. Same goes for other open-matte films, actually.
(This post was last modified: 2015-12-16, 06:07 PM by FrankT.)
All three were shot that way and I could be wrong but the only to see them like that is on the old DVD. Hopefully waterslides will chime in being the expert
Yes, all three were like this. Non-VFX shots were open matte, VFX shots were hard matted (and thus cropped on home video). I've seen 35mm frames on eBay, any VFX scene has black bars on the film.
(This post was last modified: 2015-12-16, 07:30 PM by TServo2049.)
You can find this DVD box set for darn cheap on Ebay. The movies are really well compressed on the full frame edition, they look better than the widescreen DVDs IMO. Unfortunately, they are slightly cropped compared to the older full frame editions on Laserdisc and VHS. The VFX shots were indeed cropped on almost every versions I came across. The only one version that features the hard matted VFX shots is an old TV recording I have which was directly sourced from a theatrical print including the original cue marks.
Another cool thing I've discovered is the "pre-master" version of the trilogy (as I like to call it) which is the first digital version of the movies before they were released on DVD in 2002. This version of the trilogy is pretty hard to find. It was mainly used as TV broadcasting masters in Europe and it was also used for the DVD special features and commercials.
They have a different colour timing and different framing.
Are those "pre-master" versions widescreen or 4:3? Do they have the pink skateboard wheels? If they're widescreen, do they have the notorious matte centering gaffes on II/III that prompted the disc-replacement program?
Also, does the first movie have To Be Continued, or the theatrical ending?
(This post was last modified: 2015-12-17, 06:01 PM by TServo2049.)
I've seen both widescreen and full frame. They don't have the pink skateboard wheels, in the widescreen versions they don't have any framing issues and the first movie does include the "TBC" title card at the end.
