The Wire - in all its 4:3 glory.

Chevano Riley

I know its a minor issue, possibly not deserving a thread, but what does everybody think of the producers decision to never get HD or 16:9 on us?

I find it very charming, and makes it stand out. Although I'm a huge proponent of widescreen for the sake of cinematic aesthetics, i really feel that the wire feels much more at home in the ugly croppy world of FS. Maybe its also partly because although its supposedly very high-tech surveillance, the police are barely using computers, exclaim "whats a text message" in 2006 and the perps have never seen a photocopier...

opinions?

Lump

The US didn't really take 16:9 Widescreen on board - Most stuff is widescreen now as it's shot HD - HD adds huge expense to a production, so I imagine that why it's 4:3 Also maybe it's set in the past - like the 90's, I believe Baltimore's drub problem's were rampant in the 90's when Crack hit the streets.

Chevano Riley

Surely shooting HD video is cheaper nowadays than 35mm, and the telecine of 35 to HD or SD can't be much of a muchness?? And they are the last HBO/Showtime drama not to make the jump. Even on the networks Scrubs is the only major show left that didnt do it, that i can think of. And yeah, I accept the point that only HD shows are usually 16:9, although quite a few FX productions are transmitted with bars.

The Wire is very much set in the here and now.

ixoy

The Wire is set in the present (dates on screen, etc) so it's not an attempt to make the show feel older. I'd be surprised if there wasn't a genuine artistic reason for using 4:3 that has nothing to do with American's preference for the format (Simon clearly doesn't follow convention by assuming they have intelligence in the first place). Someone run along on Thursday and ask Mr. Simon!

DeepBlue

I seem to vaguely recall reading somewhere that the decision was taken not to go the wide-screen/HD route for season five in order to keep the look of the show the same over the five seasons.

It kinda makes sense I guess..........

Chevano Riley

yeah, actually i just found a reference to it in a great article on the wires cinematography.

DP Dave Insley recalled, "The reason the show has stayed 4x3 is because David Simon thinks that 4x3 feels more like real life and real television and not like a movie.

Insley explained, "When the show started 2001 / 2002 they framed it for 16 x 9 as a way of future-proofing. Then a couple of seasons ago, right before Season 4 began shooting, there was a big discussion about it and after much discussion -- David, Nina, Joe Chappelle, the Producers, the DPs -- and we discussed what should be the style of the show. David made the decision that we would stay with 4x3. The DPs pretty much defined the look to be what it is now. And it's been consistent for the past two seasons."

http://library.creativecow.net/articles/griffin_nick/hbo_the_wire.php

Sherifu

Makes sense, keeps the gritty feel and continuity with other seasons.

Interesting that they future-proofed it, good planning.

Chevano Riley

rkm wrote: »

Makes sense, keeps the gritty feel and continuity with other seasons.

Interesting that they future-proofed it, good planning.

yeah, except that they then decided against that and just stuck with 4:3 - saves having to make each frame pretty either way.

What I noticed that was really interesting is that The Shield's Region 2 DVD's were all 16:9, while they have never aired on US TV as anything other than 4:3 and even their DVDs don't have widescreen. They obviously did the same thing - future-proofed, and gave us the WS because we generally consider it 'superior'.