Just made this post of the Machinima.com and figured id post it up here as well:
Although its probably a moot point for me now (I just decided to shoot my first Machinima short in Widescreen about an hour ago) I was just wondering about presentation of Machinima in Widescreen format.
For me, Machinima always seems to be made by and often for cinema enthusiasts, my attempt (and hopefully attempts) at production has (have) been driven by my interest in Film and as a means of producing some material for a film school folio, not to mention to self teach some of these skills and see if I really do enjoy working on these projects as much as I think I do, and of course for straight up fun.
After shooting some scenes for an upcoming TF2 short I’m slowly making my way through, I started exporting in both 4:3 AND 16:9 to find not surprisingly that Widescreen was noticeably more visually enticing, dramatic etc.
I think the file size is acceptable for the improvement in visual quality, my only thoughts now are for much further down the line, at release.
As its my first piece, my main goal is exposure, I just want to hear what people think of it, so it will most likely be going to YouTube, which is 4:3 (though the thumbnails for some are now shown as Widescreen, perhaps a hint at at future feature?). http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/hmmmm/is-youtube-going-widescreen-280036.phpI’m assuming there are mass audience video websites that do present in Widescreen (any links guys?) but most Machinima is viewed on standard monitors, so is there a point in doing Machinima in a ratio to suit the majority of the audience?
There is also the episodic nature of many Machinima series, that perhaps plays itself more to 4:3.With that said, my current plans are to shoot and export in Widescreen but perhaps keep it 4:3 friendly where at all possible.
http://www.machinima.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=49471#49471
T.
