The Shining
Matted vs. Unmatted Presentations
These are screenshots from the Warner Home Video DVD of The Shining (specifically, the US/Region-1 “Kubrick Collection” release from 2001), showing the two “errors” most commonly cited in the film’s second-unit helicopter footage. Click on any image to view it at full size.
The images are geometry-corrected from DVD's native 1.5:1 aspect ratio (720 × 480 pixels) to 1.33:1, as they would be when viewed on any DVD player. They are resized to 843 × 632 pixels, matching height — at a scale of 1 pixel = 0.001″ — with the 0.868″ × 0.632″ size of standard Academy-ratio film (as described by Gordon Stainforth, assistant editor on The Shining). A little of the width of the 1.37:1 Academy frame (0.025″) is lost: I have assumed that the DVD image crops this from the sides of the Academy frame.
The helicopter shadow (timecode 1:09–1:12)
The rotor blades (timecode 2:42–3:00)
In both shots, the “error” is marked off with green lines, shading and text. The black matted screenshots on the left show the film framed for the standard 0.825″ × 0.446″ 1.85:1 composition area (as described by Gordon Stainforth and as projected in most US cinemas). The unmatted screenshots in the centre show the film as it appears on the DVD, with the matting removed to show the full original negative. The original unretouched screenshots appear on the right.
The matted framing demonstrates that the helicopter shadow was not visible in the film as it was composed and projected cinematically: it was made visible by the opening of the mattes for the film’s home video release. By comparison, the helicopter rotor blades, though faint and difficult to spot, were always visible in the film.
This page and all contents ©2007 Douglas Bailey except screenshots ©2001 Warner Home Video. Use of these screenshots is for informative purposes only. No challenge to Warner Home Video’s copyright on The Shining is intended or should be inferred.
