1. Consider this note on the back of 20th Century-Fox videodisc packages: "Special Wide Screen Edition. The film contained on this laserdisc is being presented for your enjoyment in the wide screen format, or 'letterbox,' allowing you to experience the film at home as closely to the original version as possible." All the major video publishers have some variation on this note, stressing the disc's fidelity to the theatrical original and the normality of the shape of the letterboxed image. [BACK]

2. Though still far fewer than are available on tape. Neither medium has really made a dent in the library of available film titles. Who, what, and why decides which titles are available on video is a subject unto itself. [BACK]

3. Super VHS, Hi-Band Video 8, and ED-Beta offer the same number of lines of horizontal resolution as videodiscs. However, all of these magnetic media suffer from an immediate wear and tear not true of discs. [BACK]

4. This particular limitation is not only frustrating for anyone interested in sound/image relationships, it's downright odd. CD players, which are designed for audio only , allow us to hear samples of the music as we scan. Why is there no equivalent for film listening? [BACK]

5. Brightness range is the difference between the brightest and darkest parts of the shot. Contrast is the brightness range between any two given spots in the shot. For a concise description of the technical inequities of the two media, see Dominic J. Case, "Telecine-Compatible Prints," SMPTE Journal , June 1989, pp. 415-54. For a discussion of color sensitometry, see H. J. Bello, "An Introduction to the Technology of Color Films (Film Colorimetry)—A Tutorial Paper," SMPTE Journal , November 1979. [BACK]

6. See Graham Carter, "Mastering of Dolby Stereo Film Material for Videocassette Release," Audio Plus , March 1991. [BACK]

7. Some videodisc players are capable of playing two sides, but the disruption remains since the viewer has to wait as the laser repositions at the beginning of the second side. [BACK]

8. The Criterion Collection frequently provides literal "voices from outside the text" by recording audio commentary running with the film. Obviously, these commentaries encourage an alternative perception as well. [BACK]

9. For a short discussion of the early reaction to videodiscs, see Barry Fox, "Video discs—too late for the gravy train?" New Scientist , vol. 91, no. 1260, pp. 277-80. Videodiscs, in fact, were the parent technology of CDs; the latter's success has given videodiscs their second market life. [BACK]

10. Daniel Dayan, "The Tutor-Code of Classical Cinema," Film Quarterly , vol. 28, no. 1, p. 28. [BACK]

12. Charles Barr, "CinemaScope: Before and After," Film Quarterly , vol. 16, no. 4, p. 9. [BACK]

13. Edward Branigan, Point of View in the Cinema: A Theory of Narration and Subjectivity in Classical Film (Berlin and New York: Mouton Publishers, 1984), p. 65. [BACK]

14. Consider the following comment: "Note that in 1971 an ANSI specification was published to limit the projector aperture to a height of 0.700" (instead of the 0.715" previously specified) to limit the screen appearance of splices." Fred H. Detmers, "Photograph Systems," American Cinematographer Manual , ed. and comp. Charles G. Clarke, 5th ed. (Hollywood: American Society of Cinematographers, 1980), p. 44. [BACK]

15. Even if an HDTV standard is introduced that produces a ratio wide enough to accommodate Panavision and CinemaScope, there will still be a need for vertical masking of films (and videos?) shot in the 1.33 ratio. May I propose we call this vertical matting "keyholing"? [BACK]

16. Barr, op. cit. [BACK]

17. Benjamin, op. cit., p. 678. [BACK]

18. Epicurus: The Extant Remains , trans. Cyril Bailey (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1926), p. 99. [BACK]