History Main / PanAndScan

** When every episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' was marathoned on FXX, the pre-season 20 episodes were cropped like this, rather than being pillarboxed as they were on prior airings and streaming platforms. This led to a lot of visual gags being completely cut out of the frame, and when these versions began streaming on Creator/DisneyPlus, there was enough public outcry that [[https://www.theverge.com/2019/11/15/20967429/disney-plus-simpsons-feedback-older-episodes-original-aspect-ratio-2020 Disney vowed to fix them shortly afterward.]]

This practice was common in TheEighties and TheNineties when movies were released on [[UsefulNotes/{{VCR}} VHS and Betamax]] and [=TVs=] had smaller screens. As home video became more common in the '80s, film directors would take pan and scan into account when framing shots even in widescreen. Completely CGI productions like those from Creator/{{Pixar}} could simply be re-framed and re-rendered for the 4:3 home video release.

UsefulNotes/LaserDisc used to be primarily Pan and Scan, too, but starting in the late '80s, it started releasing {{letterbox}} versions of every widescreen film available. It was seen as the premium format of movie buffs and A/V geeks. The VHS format would later follow suit, with movies featuring rare widescreen releases on tape oriented for videophiles. [=LaserDisc=] remained far more reliable for finding letterbox movies, and most VHS films were Pan and Scan "full screen" releases for the broader public. Pan and Scan is still used today for some films when shown on TV channels, though letterbox movies on TV are more common than they used to be thanks to the advent of UsefulNotes/HighDefinition.

Pan and Scan started to decline in the 2000s, with UsefulNotes/{{DVD}} credited with killing it off for good[[note]]Pan and Scan [=DVDs=] exist, but were only made in the early days of the format, and typically for movies aimed at younger viewers; studios would often make widescreen versions available alongside pan and scan versions. DVD has an anamorphic widescreen mode, which is the innovation that killed Pan and Scan. The way it works is that a movie can letterboxed to 16:9 instead of 4:3, which provides more pixels to the movie and fewer to the letterbox. It is [[VisualCompression squeezed into the 720x480 resolution of the DVD]], with the player unsqueezing it for playback based on the display width, allowing the picture to maintain image quality regardless of the monitor's aspect ratio[[/note]] As it is with acceptance of [[AspectRatio 16:9]] screens[[note]]16:9 was chosen as a compromise ratio. 4:3 and Cinemascope, the two most common extremes in aspect ratio, will both take up 75% of the screen when {{letterbox}}ed.[[/note]] and the fact that both formats are priced the same, pan and scan has seriously declined in popularity, with letterboxing being seen as more "classy"; plus it doesn't lop off the rest of the screen. As 16:9 sets became the dominant aspect ratio, some TV shows that were originally shot in 4:3 have been "remastered" for HD by cropping them to 16:9; this introduces a lot of the same problems of pan and scan, namely [[DigitalDestruction losing important parts of the picture]].

* Sadly, upon 16:9 [=TVs=] coming into popular use, some presentations of material originally filmed for 4:3 sets is now being cropped ''the other way'' on HDTV channels (tilt and scan). Victims of this process for UsefulNotes/BluRay include ''Series/{{Thunderbirds}}'' and at least one edition of the classic documentary series ''The World at War'' (a subsequent release restored the 4:3 ratio). Justified for movies that premiered in theaters with mattes covering the top and bottom of the picture, such as ''Film/{{Shane}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{The Jungle Book|1967}}''. Creator/TheCriterionCollection's ''Film/OnTheWaterfront'' DVD and Blu-ray sets include the option to watch the movie in either matted widescreen or 4:3, and a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7-aMi4Rr-4 "visual essay"]] comparing them.

* The [[Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox Fox]] Cinema Classics MadeOnDemand DVD service has made an unpleasantly surprising effort to revive this practice. DVD Talk gives automatic "[[http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/list.php?adviceStart=5&adviceEnd=5&orderBy=Date&reviewType=All&searchText=fox+cinema+archives&movieStart=0&movieEnd=0&NReviews=50&___rd=1 Skip It]]" ratings to most of these discs and does not even bother with proper reviews, insisting that no good reason exists for a DVD released in TheNewTens to have its widescreen picture cropped to 1.33:1.

* Video game example: The [[UsefulNotes/XBox360 Xbox Live]] and UsefulNotes/PlayStationNetwork releases of ''VideoGame/DragonsLair'', as well as ''[[CompilationRerelease Dragon's Lair Trilogy]]'' for the UsefulNotes/{{Wii}}, have the top and bottom of the picture cropped to fit a 16:9 screen. Fortunately, you can avert this in ''Trilogy'': by switching the Wii's screen to 4:3 mode, you can play the games without any cropping at all.

This is done by isolating a viewing window within the original frame, then cutting and "panning" said window back and forth to follow the action on the screen; this has the natural side effect of "slicing off" a large portion of the original frame (up to 50 or 60 percent).

* Subverted in the horror movie ''Cabin Fever'', where the widescreen version trades off vertical details for horizontal ones. Of particular note is the immediate lead-up to an [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment oddly out-of-place ]][[CoitusEnsues sex scene]], where the man placing his hand on the woman's leg is hidden and replaced with greater coverage of the surrounding scenery.

Because of how ubiquitous Pan and Scan was and how much of a problem it was for both videophiles and filmmakers, many directors adopted the practice of shooting movies in "Open Matte" format, in which a film is shot in a full-frame aspect ratio but designed to be cropped to a widescreen format in the theater. Thus, movies could be screened to audiences in an intended widescreen format, but be un-cropped to 4:3 on both TV broadcasts and home media releases without needing to be given the Pan and Scan treatment[[labelnote:note 1]]In the silent era, the full 35mm film frame was exactly 4:3, assuming you use the standard four perfs per frame. The addition of sound-on-film tracks made the image slightly narrower to 6:5 (1.19:1) Movietone ratio. The film was then matted slightly shorter to Academy Ratio (11:8 or 1.375:1), which is very close to 4:3 (1.333:1), as illustrated [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspect_ratio_(image) here]]. The difference is so small that it's generally considered inconsequential except by only the most extreme videophiles.[[/labelnote]][[labelnote:note 2]]In many movies shot this way, VFX shots would have a "hard matte", meaning the widescreen theatrical frame is the most you can get. Showing these in open matte will reveal an AspectRatioSwitch. These shots had to be pan and scanned for full screen releases.[[/labelnote]][[labelnote:note 3]]This practice of 35mm with widescreen safe areas is [[OlderThanTheyThink older than home video]], as ''Film/OnTheWaterfront'' was shot in the same way so it could look good on older Academy Ratio screens and newer wide screens in TheFifties. It could be shown in Academy Ratio, 1.85:1, or anywhere in between. [[https://youtu.be/s7-aMi4Rr-4 This video essay explains in more detail]][[/labelnote]]. The extra image area can cause problems when done carelessly, such as revealing filming equipment that was just outside of the theatrical framing, and can aesthetically mess with a shot's composition. The most notable director to make use of this technique was Creator/StanleyKubrick, who used it for his [[Film/TheShining last]] [[Film/FullMetalJacket three]] [[Film/EyesWideShut movies]] (as they were produced when VHS and television broadcasts of films had already become commonplace) and even mandated in his will that open matte transfers be used for posthumous home media releases of all of his movies (which were shot in full-frame and cropped to widescreen in theaters even before he started consciously using the Open Matte technique) just to prevent any horizontal detail from being lost. Later home media releases made after the mass adoption of widescreen at home reverted back to a widescreen-friendly aspect ratio.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5638Kw9Q3Gc Same kind of thing, but not a parody]]. The operator apparently forgot the "pan" part and simply took the center of the scene.
* Sadly, upon 16:9 [=TVs=] coming into popular use, some presentations of material originally filmed for 4:3 sets is now being cropped ''the other way'' on HDTV channels (tilt and scan). Victims of this process for UsefulNotes/BluRay include ''Series/{{Thunderbirds}}'' and at least one edition of the classic documentary series ''The World at War'' (a subsequent release restored the 4:3 ratio). Justified for movies that premiered in theaters with mattes covering the top and bottom of the picture, such as ''Film/{{Shane}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{The Jungle Book|1967}}''. Creator/TheCriterionCollection's ''Film/OnTheWaterfront'' DVD and Blu-ray sets include the option to watch the movie in either matted widescreen or 4:3, and a "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7-aMi4Rr-4 visual essay]]" comparing them.

** When every episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' was marathoned on FXX, the pre-season 20 episodes were cropped like this, rather than being pillarboxed as they were on prior airings and streaming platforms. This led to a lot of visual gags being completely cut out of the frame, and when these versions began streaming on Creator/DisneyPlus, there was enough public outcry that [[https://www.theverge.com/2019/11/15/20967429/disney-plus-simpsons-feedback-older-episodes-original-aspect-ratio-2020 Disney vowed to fix them shortly afterward]].

* Some of Creator/CartoonNetwork's broadcasts of ''{{Manga/Doraemon}}'' consist of older episodes created before the anime jumped into widescreen, with the top and bottom cropped so that they fit onto a 16:9 screen. Particular egregious in that some of the network's older programs that are still played on a night-time slot[[note]]i.e. past midnight[[/note]] (''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'', ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'', ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'') remain in 4:3.

* ''Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory'' was originally shot at a 1.66:1 aspect ratio, cropped vertically to 1.85:1 in theatres and horizontally to 1.33:1 pan-n-scan on VHS, then to add insult to injury, the latter version got cropped a second time for the 2001 "widescreen" DVD. The 2011 Blu-ray restored its original aspect ratio.

* Taken UpToEleven in the case of some channels that still have pan & scan copies of some films and keep their High Def feeds horizontally stretched regardless if the content is 4:3 or not. So you end up watching a movie that has been cropped to fit the old style televisions, then distorted sideways in order to fit the new style of televisions.
** Taken beyond eleven for channels who's Standard Def feed is just a downscaled version of their High def feed meaning its cropped to fit the old style televisions, then distorted sideways to fit the new style of televisions and then [[{{Letterbox}} Letterboxed]] to again fit the old style televisions.

* Inverted with most of the earlier animated films by Creator/{{Pixar}} (starting with ''WesternAnimation/{{Ratatouille}}'', the movies are all shown only in widescreen): Rather than cropping the edges and showing only the major elements of their films, they actually [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrB346uQRzY re-rendered their films entirely]] to fit the whole frame, showing visual elements at the top and bottom that aren't visible in the widescreen version. In some cases, they moved certain characters and objects either toward the center of the screen or off to the side in order to better resemble the original framing.