Marc Wielage
Well-known member
This just came up on another discussion group, but I thought it was relevant here, and I could blow off some steam...
I've worked on thousands of commercials in my life, and more bad TV shows than I can possibly remember. (There's 44 network TV series on my resume, but I think I left a few out.)
Almost all big-budget American TV commercials nowadays are shot, edited, and finished in 16x9 HD. Many advertising agencies are terrified that the "great unwashed" among TV viewers still cling to 4x3 sets, and so they deliberately air all commercials in 4x3, regardless of how they're shot. As a result, we see a variety of bizarre aspect ratio combinations and flaws on U.S. HD broadcasts:
* 16x9 letterboxed inside a 4x3 frame (all too common)
* 16x9 squeezed inside a 4x3 frame, where everybody looks anorexic
* 16x9 with the sides cut off to fit a 4x3 frame (and not panned/scanned)
* "fattenized" 4x3 images that have been stretched to fill a 16x9 frame, making everybody look about 25% distorted and overweight
* "fattenized" 4x3 images that are stretched, then the sides are cut off inside a 4x3 frame (I swear, I've seen this on network stations).
What we don't see often enough:
* 16x9 HD that precisely fits a 16x9 frame, the way it was shot.
Ideally, what the commercial producers and ad agency people should do is, shoot the commercial for 16x9, then position the graphics for 4x3 so that, no matter what, viewers with old sets or new sets will still be able to read the advertising messages.
I think there's a lot of confusion and very bad decisions being made, by advertising agencies, by local stations, by cable channels, and by networks. What blows me away is that I'll see a million-dollar Mercedes commercial that I know for a fact was intended for 16x9, and it's being aired matted inside a tiny 4x3 frame, on my $4000 HD set. And within the same commercial break, a few minutes later, the exact same spot will air and it's in 16x9, filling the screen.
My opinion is that due to layoffs and cutbacks, there aren't enough smart people employed by local stations and networks to review every spot that comes in and sound an alarm when it's a standard-def commercial airing on a high-def station, or a 4x3 spot that really should be 16x9.
I believe airing these spots in 4x3 is an insult to the directors, the cinematographers, the art directors, the editors, the colorists, the sponsors, and all the other creative people who spent hundreds of hours working on these commercials. It's insane, it looks like crap, and it's just gotta stop.
I've worked on thousands of commercials in my life, and more bad TV shows than I can possibly remember. (There's 44 network TV series on my resume, but I think I left a few out.)
Almost all big-budget American TV commercials nowadays are shot, edited, and finished in 16x9 HD. Many advertising agencies are terrified that the "great unwashed" among TV viewers still cling to 4x3 sets, and so they deliberately air all commercials in 4x3, regardless of how they're shot. As a result, we see a variety of bizarre aspect ratio combinations and flaws on U.S. HD broadcasts:
* 16x9 letterboxed inside a 4x3 frame (all too common)
* 16x9 squeezed inside a 4x3 frame, where everybody looks anorexic
* 16x9 with the sides cut off to fit a 4x3 frame (and not panned/scanned)
* "fattenized" 4x3 images that have been stretched to fill a 16x9 frame, making everybody look about 25% distorted and overweight
* "fattenized" 4x3 images that are stretched, then the sides are cut off inside a 4x3 frame (I swear, I've seen this on network stations).
What we don't see often enough:
* 16x9 HD that precisely fits a 16x9 frame, the way it was shot.
Ideally, what the commercial producers and ad agency people should do is, shoot the commercial for 16x9, then position the graphics for 4x3 so that, no matter what, viewers with old sets or new sets will still be able to read the advertising messages.
I think there's a lot of confusion and very bad decisions being made, by advertising agencies, by local stations, by cable channels, and by networks. What blows me away is that I'll see a million-dollar Mercedes commercial that I know for a fact was intended for 16x9, and it's being aired matted inside a tiny 4x3 frame, on my $4000 HD set. And within the same commercial break, a few minutes later, the exact same spot will air and it's in 16x9, filling the screen.
My opinion is that due to layoffs and cutbacks, there aren't enough smart people employed by local stations and networks to review every spot that comes in and sound an alarm when it's a standard-def commercial airing on a high-def station, or a 4x3 spot that really should be 16x9.
I believe airing these spots in 4x3 is an insult to the directors, the cinematographers, the art directors, the editors, the colorists, the sponsors, and all the other creative people who spent hundreds of hours working on these commercials. It's insane, it looks like crap, and it's just gotta stop.
