DVD R2
http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/9733/51518229sr5.jpg

HDTV
http://img406.imageshack.us/img406/5507/35164481rv4.jpg

DVD aspect ratio 2.35:1, HDTV 1.78:1.
HDTV screenshot shows much more of image vertically while the same amount of image horizontally.
I was always thinking that by using 2.35:1 AR we are gaining extra horizontal image compared to 1.78:1, but I guess I was wrong ?
Can anyone explain this to me ?

DVD R2
http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/9733/51518229sr5.jpg

HDTV
http://img406.imageshack.us/img406/5507/35164481rv4.jpg

DVD aspect ratio 2.35:1, HDTV 1.78:1.
HDTV screenshot shows much more of image vertically while the same amount of image horizontally.
I was always thinking that by using 2.35:1 AR we are gaining extra horizontal image compared to 1.78:1, but I guess I was wrong ?
Can anyone explain this to me ?

It looked "open matte" and not cropped to 1.78:1

It was shoot on Super35 and have more like a 4:3 aspect ratio.


But they shoot it with 2,35:1 guidelines, everything outside that frame is just redundancy material.

Thanks.
I don't understand why they released dvd in 2.35:1 (and I guess same situation will be with blu-ray) while shooting with this technique. This frame looks so much better in 1.78... + 16:9 TV's are a standard nowadays instead of 2.35 one's. Only thing which comes to my mind is artistic vision of a director bs ;)

If this is the case, give me the 1:78 version please!

There is an artistic reason to use 2,35:1 framing.

It gives a more cinematic feel of the movie.
Also look how different feelings the 2 frames give us.

One with just glory
and the other with alot of mayhem in the background.
Dead horses and corpses. It take away some of the glory feel for Maximus.

by the way
Alot of todays 2,35:1 movies are shoot this way.
But I prefer the 2,35:1 ratio.

This frame looks so much better in 1.78...
No it doesn't. The back wall makes the stadium look smaller, less crowded, less impressive, and the bottom is just too much negative space with no thought to it.

OAR people! We don't need to give the studios ideas into introducing a new brand of Foolscreen into our media.

No it doesn't. The back wall makes the stadium look smaller, less crowded, less impressive, and the bottom is just too much negative space with no thought to it.
Exactly what I thought, the stadium looks a lot more crowded in the 2.35 framing.

I don't know... I'm all for OAR (i'm even a fervent defender of OAR) but I do feel like the opened frames is the better one here. The fact that you can see the corpses and the wreck put more of an emphasys on their victory. And on the 2.35:1 one, the emperor gallery is almost cut out.

Ridley Scott knew what he was doing when he framed it for 2.35:1.....So thats the only framing i would accept when i buy it on Blu Ray next year.

Like others here i'm only for OAR.

And, just for the record, I'm not saying that I want the opened one. I also prefer OAR. But on that shot I feel that the open one is better. That doesn't mean that I want it cropped or opened or anything else than OAR