MovieChat Forums > American Gods (2017) Discussion > But Here's A Question About The Show's L...

But Here's A Question About The Show's Literal Format

posted 7 years ago by R_Kane (15828)
4 replies | jump to latest

I'm rewatching Episode 7 right now, refreshing my memory for the season finale on Sunday, and there are letterbox bands at the top and bottom of the picture on my widescreen TV. Widescreen TVs have an aspect ratio to of 16:9 because, when the ATSC broadcast standards were created years ago, HD TV shows would be broadcast in that aspect ratio. This is why Game of Thrones fills my screen, and yours, perfectly. Movies can be filmed in whatever aspect ratio the director's ego demands, so movies on disc will move reduce the height of the image to let it be displayed fully and not cut off the information on the far left and right, letting us see the complete frame as it was when the movie was released. Why does AG shoot in an aspect ratio that is wider than 16:9? What's the freaking point of giving me a smaller picture? I use an outboard video processer, interposed between my video sources and video monitor. Among the many corrections that it makes to the image is to reduce overscan. Almost every TV cuts information off the top, bottom, left and right of the image (called overscanning) to prevent there being a dark border around the entirety of the image when the set has aged. By eliminating the overscan, my system is showing me just how skimpy the AG image is, and why is the image size so feeble? Art? (Then don't cast Gillian Anderson!) Ego? Pretense? I'm going with numbers 2 and 3. Has this indulgence riled anyone else? DxD? Mina? Bueller?

[–] MinaVladimir (4077) 7 years ago

I haven't noticed the aspect ratio. That's an area where I don't pay much attention, unless it changes during the thing (like in Legion), or it's that squeezed on either side one (was it 4:3?). If I had to guess, I'd say they're going for a cinematic look?

I'm too focused on the annoying jazzy music, to be bothered by the aspect ratio, to be honest.

[–] R_Kane (15828) 7 years ago

Contrast this show's music choices with the music for Big Little Lies. Amazing how good, and bad, music can be, isn't it?

[–] MinaVladimir (4077) 7 years ago

I'm not even talking about the song choices (BLL had some great ones!). The music composed for the show itself is annoying me to no end. And, it's so reminiscent of Hannibal's, that I expect Mads Mikkelsen to jump out at any moment! (Which btw, I wouldn't mind in the slightest).

[–] R_Kane (15828) 7 years ago

Sorry, Mina, I got confused about which AG thread I was on!