AgentBLU Dec 03, 2014 (just realized this was posted above by CBMe)



Great great article by David Simon on the aspect ratio change (I did not see this posted here yet).



http://davidsimon.com/the-wire-in-hd/



In short David Simons okay with the HD transfer, but thats not how the show was designed to be seen. If David Simon is okay with it then I'm okay with it. Interesting to note though that HBO didn't reach out to them till after they questioned it.



"At the last, Im satisfied what while this new version of The Wire is not, in some specific ways, the film we first made, it has sufficient merit to exist as an alternate version. There are scenes that clearly improve in HD and in the widescreen format. But there are things that are not improved. And even with our best resizing, touchups and maneuver, there are some things that are simply not as good. Thats the inevitability: This new version, after all, exists in an aspect ratio that simply wasnt intended or serviced by the filmmakers at the moment that that camera was rolling and the shot was being framed.



Still, being equally honest here, there can be no denying that an ever-greater portion of the television audience has HD widescreen televisions staring at them from across the living room, and that they feel notably oppressed if all of their entertainments do not advantage themselves of the new hardware. It vexes them in the same way that many with color television sets were long ago bothered by the anachronism of black-and-white films, even carefully conceived black-and-white films. For them, The Wire seems frustrating or inaccessible  even more so than we intended it. And, hey, we are always in it to tell people a story, first and foremost. If a new format brings a few more thirsty critters to the waters edge, then so be it.



Personally, Im going to chose to believe that Bob Colesberry would forgive this trespass on what he built, and that he, too, would be more delighted at the notion of more folks seeing his film than distressed at the imprecisions and compromises required. If there is an afterlife, though, I may hear a good deal about this later."