NO TO CROPPING FILM RESTORATIONS (WITH EXCEPTIONS)
So, a year ago, I made a newbie Reddit post about our film restorations here in the Philippines.
Seeing some of the comments there, if it really is just pandering to Filipino audiences preferring cropped airings..*sigh*...the bad outweights the good. And to add:
(I am STILL no expert on this matter, and I heavily encourage comments, also from restoration teams, if ever, on the matter.)
Restoration processes from films restored by e.g Sagip Pelikula, FPJ Productions film reels mostly have an aspect ratio close to standard 4:3, maybe 1.33.1, with the film reel used varying (couldn't gather much info on that, thought it was 16mm at first)
In these videos, and the movies themselves, however, I noticed a weird pattern: A common recurring theme (though not always) is deciding to willingly CROP the movies in favor of widescreen. WHY?!
There shouldn't be any reason to do, right? With the exception of..
* Original intent * Source was already cropped to begin with * Visible equipment shown (such as in overscan)
But, I doubt all three circumstances are happening for each film they try to restore. Yes, widescreen cropping makes it look better on a modern flat-scren, but...I thought the point of a restoration is to PRESERVE the film, not pander to modern audiences. And if the problem is they don't know how to do the presentation, just do both. Like the widescreen and fullscreen DVDs from back in the day. Remember those?
Because a situation could arise, where, a cropped 16mm film release, gets cropped to widescreen, and now the film is cropped again, LMAO.
The situation is similar to Funimation's doings in the west with the DB show:
(Though, except the movies, they had cropping in mind)
Let me just list some examples from last time (check the prev post)
Haba Baba Doo, Puti Puti Poo (2:35:1; YT Upload- 4:3 (possibly Home Media release); Trailer - 16:9)
Kapag Puno na Ang Salop (1.85.1?; Unrestored TV airing - 4:3; Restored - 16:9)
Of course, I know that a film doesn't just have a singular aspect ratio for everything. And if the circumstances earlier match, I have no problems with cropping. (Open-matte versions would be nice to upload, though)
But, I mean, film restorations are expensive, right? They're a tedious process. And you're just gonna crop it? Think about that.