Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site ucla-cs.ARPA Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxj!houxm!hogpc!houti!ariel!vax135!cornell!uw-beaver!tektronix!hplabs!sdcrdcf!trwrb!cepu!ucla-cs!reiher From: reiher@ucla-cs.UUCP Newsgroups: net.movies Subject: Re: Cinema vs TV Message-ID: <1275@ucla-cs.ARPA> Date: Wed, 26-Sep-84 01:24:00 EDT Article-I.D.: ucla-cs.1275 Posted: Wed Sep 26 01:24:00 1984 Date-Received: Tue, 25-Sep-84 07:27:53 EDT References: <3661@decwrl.UUCP> Organization: UCLA CS Dept. Lines: 27 As far as I'm concerned, the cinema's major advantage is picture quality. Out here in LA the projectionists are pretty good, by and large. Thus, the image you see on a movie screen is much clearer and sharper than TV. Also, many films are made in wide screen format. Wide screen doesn't fit on a TV set, so, perforce, they chop the edges off. This necessary but abominable practice, known as scoping and scanning, can totally change the way a film is constructed, as long two shots with the characters on either side of the screen become clumsy montages of one shots, cutting back and forth. Then there's also the matter of color. Color TVs aren't up to the kind of color you can get on a big screen. Let me tell you, "The Wizard of Oz" is a very different, and much more beautiful, film in theaters than on TV. The size of the screen itself is important. I just don't seem to find films as important on a 19" screen as on a 80' screen. A totally separate point is the matter of distractions. When I'm in a movie theater, there is nothing else to do but watch the movie (unless some particularly interesting people are seated nearby). At home, I'm surrounded by distractions. The upshot is that I watch movies I don't care too much about, or missed in the theater, or just can't see anywhere else, on cable. Anything I'm really interested in I see in a theater. -- Peter Reiher reiher@ucla-cs.arpa {...ihnp4,ucbvax,sdcrdcf}!ucla-cs!reiher