Does anybody know why on E4's showings of 'How I Met Your Mother', that the opening title sequence is displayed in 16:9 letterbox? The rest of the show is shown as normal in HD, and abroad the titles are shown in 16:9, but here it seems to be shown in 16:9 letterbox. Which is bizarre, if you haven't already figured out.
What's the reason for this? If anyone knows, of course.
The show has been on for a long time (since 2005 i believe). Is it possible that they originally made the title sequence back when the show was 4:3 and just haven't bothered to update it?
Could it be to keep it graphics safe? You sometimes see titles sequences have been re-scaled down a bit (and have black surrounds all round) for this reason?
The show has been on for a long time (since 2005 i believe). Is it possible that they originally made the title sequence back when the show was 4:3 and just haven't bothered to update it?
noggin could be right, I think the photo at the end would have Marshall (at least partially) cut off if seen on a 4:3 ratio.
I have the DVD boxsets of this show, oddly enough the first 3-4 episodes of Series 1 have both Marshall & Robin so far on the edge they're partially cut off, the titles then correct themselves from about the 4-5 episode along, they do seem even smaller on the E4 broadcasts, then again I am watching on an old Philips CRT TV with the Freeview box set on 4:3 letterbox
However there definitely is a change on the DVD for Series 1, I do wonder if that's an error on the R2 DVD or if they changed the aspect ratio four episodes in?
Sorry to bump this topic (I'm just fascinated with finding out why the titles are like this, especially when watching the season run-through on E4 every day!) but I think I have another theory.
I was watching the full screen (4:3) DVD version from America of an episode, and I think maybe the titles were originally made in 4:3 because they presumed the show would be made in SD (this was 2005, remember), then they found out that the show was going to be in HD (maybe the network pushed for all shows from 2005 to be in HD?) and they cropped the titles.
I say this because it looks as though some of the picture (like tops of heads) are hiding behind the black bars and have been covered over (i.e. cropped), especially the bit where there is Neil Patrick Harris's face right on the left edge of the screen, which is cut off slightly when cropped to 4:3 (when playing the titles without any letterboxing or pillar bars).
That doesn't explain why the titles are in HD though, of course, or why it frames perfectly except for that shot of Neil Patrick Harris in 4:3. But it might explain why they've shown it in postage stamp mode from mid-season 1 onwards.
