Panning, Scanning and The Big Picture

I love movies. From classic black-and-whites to big budget musicals to the films of today, and everywhere in between. I've just always run into the arms of a film (good or bad) for escape, encouragement, or a little inspiration. Film is my longtime BFF, and we've shared an awful lot over the years.

I particularly love the older ones from the 40s, 50s and early 60s. I'd seen so many of them on my television at home, but the first movie from that era that I saw on the big screen was Gone With the Wind. Ohhh, be still my heart! I was hooked. There's absolutely no comparison to the TV version when you enter a cavernous vintage theater with bad popcorn, creaky leather seats and a massive rising red velvet curtain to watch a movie on the big silver screen that you thought you knew by heart. It's breathtaking. I'm convinced that this experience was the true inspiration for coming up with 52" flat screen televisions!

Over the years, I've spent a good bit of time studying screenwriting and filmmaking. I even volunteered for a few years when I lived in Los Angeles for an organization called Hollywood International, a group that directed its efforts toward the preservation of classic film memorabilia. I'm fascinated with the history of film and how it has evolved over the years.

Many decades ago, houses such as Cinemascope and Vista Vision perfected the technique of shooting wide and sweeping panoramic images that brought the experience of movie-goers to a new level. A serious problem arose when those same films were broadcast on small, square television sets, however. You've probably seen one version of the solution on TCM (Turner Classic Movies) when they broadcast in a letterbox format, leaving black space at the top and bottom of the screen.

Another so-called "solution" to the problem is called Pan and Scan. This is when the full height of the movie is left intact, but a portion of each side of the full width is cropped away. I put solution in quotes above because I happen to be one of the purists that doesn't think Pan and Scan is a viable option; in fact, I think of it a bit like some random producer taking the director's cut of a film and tearing it apart to completely remake the movie. The original vision may be in there somewhere, but it's not evident where.

I was thinking today that this world is a big proponent of the Pan and Scan phenomenon, particularly when it comes to our faith. We built America on the precepts of Christ and the Bible. Even our money declared that it's in God that we trust. We were taught that Jesus came, He died for our sins, shed blood that washes away the stains of sin, and He rose again to heaven to build a home for us; and without Him, there is no other road to reach that home. Until then, His spirit remained behind to guide us through our work here. It seems pretty simple to me.

But as time progressed, we shifted our venue a bit, and we used the Pan and Scan technique to focus on presenting the center of the message -- Jesus. Yeah, He was a pretty good guy! -- cutting off the edges of the complete directive. So many present day Christians are missing out on the fullness of our relationship with our Creator and living with their faith at half-mast.

If you've ever seen North by Northwest on the big screen, you'll know exactly what I mean. When that plane comes barreling across the desert, heading straight down toward Cary Grant, Hitchcock made full use of the vast emptiness of the character's surroundings. No shelter in sight; not even a tree to hide beneath! But on the small screen, Cary Grant simply runs for his life. Still handsome, still panicked, still providing edge-of-your-seat suspense ... but a big part of the direness of the situation is lost without the full-screen version before you. The moment you see that scene splayed out before you on a big movie screen, your pulse will pound harder than you expected, and you'll find yourself saying, "Ohhhh. Wow. I never saw the full picture before!"

Here's the good news: In our relationship with God, we needn't make a special trip to the movies to get the whole picture. He's laid it out in full Technicolor glory through the scriptures. And for what we can't see or understand there, the Holy Spirit is on hand to translate and direct. I encourage you this day to seek a full-screen version of what God has to offer rather than a Pan and Scan replica that may be missing the full panoramic meaning that will make your heart pound harder.