Open Matte File

You switch to the Blu-ray, and suddenly the picture is wider, but the top and bottom are clipped off. You feel claustrophobic.

You see more of the ship sinking. You see more of the grand staircase. You see the ocean spray above the characters' heads. It is a completely different visual experience—and for many, a superior one. Here is the modern conflict. Studios hate releasing Open Matte versions because they break the "framing." A director framed that close-up to put the actor’s eye exactly one third of the way down the screen. If you open the matte, suddenly the actor is in the middle of nowhere.

If you love movies, you need to know about this. Because once you see an Open Matte version of a film, you might never want to watch the "official" version again. Let’s do a quick science lesson. When a director shoots a movie, the camera sensor captures a massive square-ish image (usually a ratio of 1.33:1 or 1.37:1—basically, the shape of an old CRT television). open matte

is what happens when you remove those black bars. You are seeing the full camera negative. The whole enchilada. The "Heavenly" Shot vs. The TV Compromise Open Matte usually appears in two specific, contradictory scenarios:

Christopher Nolan loves this. When you watch The Dark Knight or Dune: Part Two in IMAX, the screen literally expands vertically. You aren't zooming in; you are unmasking the frame. You see the sweat on Batman’s brow and the floor beneath his feet. It is immersive. It is stunning. It is intentional Open Matte. You switch to the Blu-ray, and suddenly the

To fix this, the projectionist puts a physical or digital (a black bar) over the top and bottom of the film strip. They "mask" the image. You only see the slice in the middle.

But movies are shown in theaters in wide formats like (2.39:1, that super skinny rectangle) or Flat (1.85:1, a mild rectangle). You see more of the grand staircase

Hackers and preservationists have figured out how to remove those black bars. On private forums, you can find Open Matte versions of Terminator 2 , The Abyss , and Pacific Rim .