An Introduction to "Open Matte" Films

Recently I've joined a private torrent site specializing in rare and out of print films and TV shows. This has led to my stumbling down an entirely new rabbit hole of movie-nerd collecting: The "Open Matte Version".

What is an "Open Matte" film?

Open Matte Example
(Augmented from Wikipedia)

Shooting in an "Open Matte" is the process of achieving a different aspect ratio than the one you are shooting in by masking part of the full frame image with black bars.

One of the main reasons people collect "Open Matte" films is that they contain extra image information (generally at the top and bottom of screen) giving the viewer a bigger glimpse into the world. However, since the cinematographers job was to frame for Widescreen first and the Open Matte second (or sometimes not at all), this is generally NOT what they intended the viewers experience to be.

For the most part, viewing the Open Matte version does not make for a more aesthetically pleasing image on screen (at least not in the traditional sense). In fact, this added information sometimes disrupts the movie watching experience for the typical movie-goer. For example, where black bars were intended to be, the viewer may occasionally see a ladder on screen, a rope pulling a prop, or just an oddly composed frame with too much headroom for the actors.

So why would you collect something that effectively makes the movie harder to watch? Because if you are like me and have viewed your most-coveted films several hundred times, these are new, rare glimpses into some of your favorite on-screen moments. Due to both changes in cameras and distribution, I'm organizing these "Open Matte" films into two categories: The Pre-Digital and Post-Digital Revolution.

Pre-Digital Revolution

4x3 Matte Example

By the 1980's many movies were shot in widescreen on 35mm film despite the format's native size being a 4:3 square image. To accomplish this without the employ of expensive image-bending Anamorphic lenses, cinematographers would have guide-lines on their viewfinders and monitors showing them where the intended aspect ratio was in relation to what was fully being captured. Then in post-production (or sometimes exhibition), they would throw black boxes over-top of the image, blocking out the information that wasn't meant to be seen.

This was largely brought about by the rise of consumers watching movies via VHS and Cable TV. During this time, home viewers weren't open to having letterboxing "cover up part of their TV" and unfortunately, home distribution was exclusively catering to the 4:3 square format*. This effectively rendered widescreen obsolete after the movies initial run in the theatrical market (at least until the rise of Laser Discs). In order to force many films of the day into this TV friendly aspect ratio, production companies employed the use of "Pan and Scan" (a technique in which you crop the widescreen image and artificially move the camera's viewpoint).

Pan & Scan Example

Thankfully, for some movies, pan-and-scanning was avoided as it looked cheap and suffered image quality loss. To avoid their art being butchered, many cinematographers shot their films in widescreen while "protecting" for a 4:3 frame as well. By extracting the square image from the original 35mm frame, it contained additional information at the top and bottom of the screen. Most Open Matte 4:3 versions of pre-digitally shot movies often come from either broadcast, Laser Discs, early DVD's, or accidental release.  

*Explaining to the general public that widescreen is how the filmmakers intended the film to be viewed was generally lost on them while explaining the concept of "pan-and-scan"  has yet to be accomplished.

Post-Digital Revolution

16x9 Matte Example**

These days, most movies are made with digital cameras and are thus shot in the 16:9 widescreen format. However, to accomplish a more extreme widescreen image (without Anamorphic lenses), the same technique as mentioned before is performed. The monitors and viewfinders have aspect ratio guide-lines on them (or in the case of indie film, gaff tape is often put over the monitor) indicating where the intended image is located. This extra information comes in very useful in post production where the frame can be moved up or down in order to fix a potentially wrongly-framed shot. 

These "Open Matte 16x9's" are more rare and are generally released on accident or in some cases, broadcast because the home viewer still can't handle having boxes on their screen. Additionally, many of the films that fall under this category have been exported from the studio because the engineer who is outputting the film has forgotten to turn the black bars back on overtop of the image.

**Yes, Seven was shot on film, however it's an excellent example of a 16x9 Open Matte and this version was more than likely accidentally released on Blu Ray in Canada. .

Some Great Open Matte Examples:

Pee Wee's Big Adventure

• Pee Wee's Big Adventure: Legend has it that the guy who output the 4:3 VHS version of this film still gets shit for a few shots that blatantly showcase the special-effects in this movie. The best example can be seen HERE. In this shot, Pee Wee is pulling an endless chain and it's source was designed to be masked out. In this version, we clearly see where the chain is coming from.

• Evil Dead: For years, only a select few, original VHS copies contained the original, unmatted 4:3 aspect ratio. The reason that so many die-hard fans clamored for this version is because this film was NOT shot with the idea of a widescreen presentation. Furthermore, when they did put the "black bars" over top of the image, they gave zero thought about re-framing the shots and blindly pasted them over the entire movie. Thankfully, the last few editions of the film have in fact contained the original, unmatted version.

Evil Dead 2

• Evil Dead 2: I was only recently alerted to this. The 2001 "Tin Box" release of this film contained not just the original 16:9 version, but also contained the unmatted 4:3 version of this movie as it was shot. There's no goofs in this version that I've found yet, but this is a great, rare copy of the film and is totally worth giving a watch.

• Terminator 2: In the open matte version of this you can plainly see Arnold's pants when he's supposed to be naked.

• Buffy The Vampire Slayer- Season 1: This is rare because it is the pillar box mattes that have been removed. The show was obviously framed for 4:3, but Fox wanted to re-release it in 16:9 anyway. That means throughout the season there are errors abound. On the sides of the screens you can see ladders, lights, boom poles, and even the occasional person. Pretty damn hilarious.

One film I have seen with my own eyes that had an Open Matte but I have yet to find commercially is the 2011 film Drive. While I worked at S*** we received a copy of it for Australia and I personally failed it myself for having the wrong delivery specs. 

Other great examples of "Open Matte Versions" include: The Matrix, Seven (shown above), Back to The Future 2, The Shining (and almost every Kubrick movie), Planet Terror, and Stephen Kings IT. There are a TON more, but I don't want to get carried away. Feel free to add your own favorites in the comments below.

In Conclusion:

He didn't actually say this...
but it was implied.

If I was a professional cinematographer and I saw an unauthorized version of a film I'd shot, I'll admit, I'd be pretty pissed off. And in the 80's and 90's I'm sure a lot of them were. Imagine being Victor J. Kemper (who shot Pee Wee's Big Adventure) and seeing that bike gag ruined on screen because of some post-production idiot. I'd personally be fucking furious.

Strange versions of classic films aren't necessary for the public at large, and for the most part, they probably offer a negative experience for filmmakers and most viewers... but for die-hard collectors, they give a whole new way to appreciate our favorite movies. Whether you collect them for an inside view into the process, to laugh at, to get that extra bit of screen information or just to have them on your hard drive so you can brag to your collector friends (who are also likely NOT getting laid), it's a great excuse to re-watch your favorite flicks one more time.

AntiCurrent Archive Vol 4: Kick A Cunts: 1604 Demos

For the fourth edition of the "AntiCurrent.com Archives", a collection of rare albums I'm releasing through this blog, I'm releasing the first band I ever recorded.  Click here to view all past AntiCurrent.com Archive Albums.

Back in 2002 The J's (See Previous Blog as to who we were) began hanging out with Nick Jones, the bassist of The Kick A Cunts, whom we knew from our high-school. 3/4 of the band was based out of the city of Middletown and we were based out of the country where Nick went to school with us. We went one day to check out their rehearsal spot which was located in the basement of the lead singer Chirs Kay's house, dubbed 1604 after the address of the house. We soon began to visit more and more (as did many people and bands in the punk scene) until we just began to go over near everyday.

1604 allowed the scene a place to watch The Kick A Cunts (a, if not the predominant band in the scene) practice, have the occasional show, and most importantly at the time, a place to drink. Many crazy nights were had there, and I can recall far less than I actually participated in. It wasn't out of place for us to run and take shelter at 1604 once or twice a month with the cops not far behind some member of the group, leaving the cop to just knock on the door for half an hour before giving up in defeat.  

The band consisted of Nick Jones on Bass, Chris Kay on vocals, J.D. Attenborough on drums, and Derek Busch on guitar. The Kick A Cunts played streetpunk with overtones of The Exploited, The Unseen, The Virus, and others. As my group of friends started hanging out there more and more, I began to hang out a lot with J.D. and he quickly became one of my best friends (and I'd eventually join his next band, The Jackoffs).

By the end of Chris moving out, which caused the end of 1604, the place had meant so much to all of us that the entirety of The J's and The Kick A Cunts (and many others in the scene) got a tattoo of the numbers "1604". Mine are located on the back of my neck.

Somewhere around this time I bought a 6 track recorder with the intention of starting my own band, and brought it over to their rehearsal spot to test it out. The idea was to take my very limited knowledge, record the band as a whole, and then track by track overdub each member. I recorded their entire set at the time with 2 mic's feeding into one channel as the master, but the loudness of the cramped basement and all of our lack of patience never saw the fruition of a full album. What it did produce is what is here, a debatably decent quality 9 song demo of the entire band playing live.

I gave this out half a decade ago to the members of the band, but having no formal audio experience yet, the recording was slightly sped up and reeked of tape hiss and terrible EQ. So when I started this Archive release through my blog, I knew one of the first things I wanted to do was to go back to the original tape, recapture it, and remaster it, releasing it here with both the optimal sound (considering the source) and decent artwork.

So without further bullshit, here is the remastered version of The Kick A Cunts demo, named after their (and in my opinion, the entire Middletown Punk scene's) birthplace: 1604

Download The Entire Album and Cover Art Here:
MP3 Zip Archive

The tracklist is:
1. Shit Face
2. Fuck Mike Jones    
3. True Cunt Like You      
4. Dirty Punx
5. Media Brigade  
6. Die My Darling    
7. Punx Not Dead
8. Spikey Hair Drunk Punx    
9. Tool Sucks

AntiCurrent Archive Vol 3: Rancid- Let's Go / Wolves Demos

Greetings, for the third edition of "AntiCurrent Archives", a collection of rare albums I'm releasing through this blog, I chose some seminal demo's from two of the biggest albums to ever hit the world of punkrock.  Click here to view all past AntiCurrent.com Archive Albums.

On the heels of releasing their debut album, Rancid recruited former U.K. Subs guitarist Lars Frederiksen and completed what is known as their classic lineup (one that would withstand the test of time until drummer Brett Reed's departure from the group in 2006). This was 1992, and the band was recording demos for an album titled "Let's Go" that they had no idea would get major nationwide airplay, ushering in the triumphant return of punkrock's spitting in the face of worldwide culture. Also included on this are the demos for "...And Out Come The Wolves" which showcased the bands ever-maturing style of blending punk and ska forming their trademark sound. If the Phil Spector sound can be best characterized as a "Wall of Sound", then Rancid's patented formula is the equivalent of a "Brick-To-The-Face of Sound".

These demo's are a little rough around the edges, just as punkrock is supposed to be. I actually prefer a few of these versions to the cuts that made it onto the album. Additionally, there are a few nearly lost treasures on here as well, like the song "Do You Wanna Dance With Me" that wouldn't resurface until Lars' solo band rerecorded it for the Viking album, retitling it "Little Rude Girl". This release documents a band that was still discovering exactly how to best utilize an amazing lineup of musicians that would take over and change the face of not only punkrock, but rock n'roll as well.

If you enjoy these, please purchase the album from the band via whatever format you prefer... personally I suggest buying it via their recently rereleased discography available on 7 Inch vinyl. Completely remastered, these records have NEVER sounded so good.

Download The Entire Album and Cover Art Here:
Mp3 Zip Archive

The tracklist is:
1. Tenderloin       
2. Ballad Of Jimmy & Johnny       
3. Dope Sick Girl       
4. Radio Radio Radio       
5. Just A Feeling       
6. Someones Going To Die Tonight       
7. Ghost Dance       
8. Roots Radicals       
9. Sabrina       
10. Do You Want To Dance With Me       
11. Sick Of It All       
12. The Way I Feel About You       
13. End Of The World Tonight       
14. Crucify Me       
15. Im Gonna Blast Em       
16. Leave It To Tomorrow

AntiCurrent Archive Volume 1: Lux Interior: The Purple Knif Show

From 2005-2007 I lived in Fullerton California and worked at Black Hole Records, owned by local punk-rock legend (don't tell him he is though, don't want to over-inflate that ego of his) Bill Evans. During that time I was a broke as shit college student who basically worked for him in return for store credit, something that I am eternally grateful for and led to alot of the amazing records in my collection today.

But working for $15 an hour store credit soon was not enough to fulfill my musical obsession, so I struck a deal with him: I'll research, locate, create artwork, and print you one copy of the rarest of rare bootlegs for $40 a piece store credit (he would then reproduce the album and sell it to consumers). He agreed and I got to work. During this time I pulled demos from bands such as Rancid, Street Dogs, compilations such as the nearly impossible to find "The Bat Cave, Young Limbs & Numb Hymns", live and deleted albums, etc.

So what I'm doing here is the first in a series of hard to find recordings I am titling "The AntiCurrent Archive", in it I will post a series of the rare records that I tracked down back in my days at Black Hole. Now, some of these recordings are able to be found on other websites, but most of the time the encoding is shit, or the artwork sucks, or even worse, the website is old and the link is broken. I will post THE best version of the recording and artwork I can find, and feel free to contact me if a better one is available and I will be happy to replace it.

So without further ado, the first release up is the AMAZING "The Purple Knif Show" by Lux Interior. 

This was a one off radio show by half of The Cramps recorded in Hollywood in 1984. In it, Lux DJ's 24 of his favorite 45's for the listener while providing Horror-Host style commentary. The show play's like and old episode of Cleveland TV's famous Ghoulardi show. Even the name "Knif" is a tribute to the late TV horror host, in Ghoulardi's show's he would refer to his legion of fan's as Knif's (Knif being the backwards spelling of Fink"). This show is arguably the BIGGEST non-musical source of inspiration for The Cramps, seeing as how Lux grew up near Cleveland watching Ghoulardi in his youth. 

This compilation is the best, most strange, and epically genius piece of live radio I have ever came across. It perfectly showcases Lux's amazing and strange taste in rock and roll, music, theatricality, and radio all at once. These are definitely NOT the highest quality recordings of the songs available, this was played from Lux's personal 45's, broadcast over the airwaves, taped on cassette, and finally digitally encoded, but it's worth dealing with the quality degradation to experience this as Lux intended it, with his genius intro/outros and insightful commentary. For a great, high quality example of songs The Cramps drew on for inspiration, research the compilation "Songs The Cramps Taught Us", or the 11 disc set "Lux and Ivy's Favorites".

Download The Entire Album and Cover Art Here:

MP3 Zip Archive

The tracklist is:

  1. One Way Streets, The - Jack the Ripper
  2. Swamp Rats, The - Louie Louie
  3. J.J. Jackson - Oma Liddy
  4. Trashmen, The - Bird '65
  5. Sparkles, The - Oh, Girls, Girls
  6. Link Wray - The Fuss
  7. Bill Carter And The Rovin' Gamblers - Baby Brother
  8. Tides - Midnight Limbo
  9. Earl Hagan & The Interns - New Interns Watusi
10. Mad Mike And The Maniacs - The Hunch
11. Billy Strange - 007 Theme
12. Ted Weems & His Orchestra - Heartaches
13. Ray Anthony - Dragnet
14. Grady O'Neal & The Bellatones - Turkey Neck Stretch
15. Enchanters - Cafe Bohemian
16. Jam Space & The Cadets - Take Me To Your Leader Chachacha
17. Archie Bleyer - Fernandos Hideaway
18. Spark Plugs - Chicken
19. Frantics - The Whip
20. 5 Blobs - The Blob
21. Unknown Artist - Miller Beer Commercial
22. Ward Darby And The Raves - Safari
23. Cozy Cole - Topsy Pt. II
24. Deadly Ones - It's Monster Surfing Time