Something I've been meaning to ask forever, re: LT credit borders

[Madison Carter]

I've always been curious, but never thought to ask when I was here...I've always noticed that, at least on some of the tv prints I have on tape, some of the LT cartoons I have, have borders around them during the opening credits, usually blue, but sometimes other colors. What was the reason behind this border, which I assume was not part of the original cartoon?

[Patrick McCart]

It's called "windowboxing" and is supposed to help the credits be visible, even with overscan on televisions.

Overscan is basically how your TV monitor crops the 4 sides of the image. Some cut more than others, which can result in names being cut off.

Warner only uses black windowboxes now, at least on the newer transfers of Looney Tunes (and even feature films).

[Martin Juneau]

It's called "windowboxing" and is supposed to help the credits be visible, even with overscan on televisions.

Overscan is basically how your TV monitor crops the 4 sides of the image. Some cut more than others, which can result in names being cut off.

All of MGM cartoons (same for cinemascope format but only in high and down) are also "Windowboxing". The Walter Lantz cartoon "Wet Blanket Policy" are the only in this studio are windowboxing. (Why i love this format? Probably it's more beautiful with color borders than not completely the credits letters)^

Warner only uses black windowboxes now, at least on the newer transfers of Looney Tunes (and even feature films).
No. Warner not only studio are windowboxes. Some Disney shorts and features have this format like "Victory Through Air Power" movie and "Tugboat Mickey" and 1941's "Orphan's Benefits" shorts and an old Walter Lantz videotape are windowboxes in this cartoons.

[Patrick McCart]

Oh, I meant that Warner only uses the black ones, rather than the color ones. I think most studios use it for opening sequences... even on widescreen movies. My DVD of the 1990 version of Hamlet has the opening credits windowboxed to 1.66:1 within the 1.78:1 widescreen frame (mainly because the way the titles are, the "HAMLET" title would look like "AMLE" on a bad TV.

[Tom41]

10 years ago, facilities for 'windowboxing' the credits of cartoons didn't exist. I have some old recordings of LT and Tom & Jerry cartoons from BBC at that time, and some of the opening credits (especially the small print near the bottom of the MGM credits frame) disappear off the edges of the TV! Viewing on a capture card reveals most of the missing text, because it doesn't overscan.

The windowboxing simply ensures that all the credits are visible on a standard TV. Bear in mind that these cartoons were NEVER designed to be shown on a TV, only in theaters :p

[Nanoumotion]

10 years ago, facilities for 'windowboxing' the credits of cartoons didn't exist. I have some old recordings of LT and Tom & Jerry cartoons from BBC at that time, and some of the opening credits (especially the small print near the bottom of the MGM credits frame) disappear off the edges of the TV! Viewing on a capture card reveals most of the missing text, because it doesn't overscan.
What do you mean ? On the tapes from the Looney Tunes Golden Jubilee Collection which were released around 20 years ago, there was windowboxing during the credits of every cartoon.

[Martin Juneau]

What do you mean ? On the tapes from the Looney Tunes Golden Jubilee Collection which were released around 20 years ago, there was windowboxing during the credits of every cartoon.
Cartoons not windowboxing in Salute to Friz Freleng VHS are "Birds Anonymous", "Knighty Knight Bugs", "Show Biz Bugs" and "Greedy for Tweety"

[oldgreypole]

Also, "Zip 'n' Snort" wasn't windowboxed at all on the Road Runner tape, nor was "Past Perfumance" on the Chuck Jones tape (although it was windowboxed on the Pepe LePew tape). Another that didn't have windowboxing at all is "Tweet and Lovely" on the Sylvester and Tweety tape.

[Treadwell]

The facilities have existed ever since television was invented. It's just that it hasn't been utilized very often.

Also, please note that it isn't just the overscan...the Academy apeture is 1.37:1. Your TV is 1.33:1. So even if you have a monitor that can eliminate overscan, you're still not seeing the entire film frame if the telecine operator didn't windowbox the transfer in the first place. In order to "fill the screen", they zoom in a little so that the sides of the film frame match (or overlap) the edges of the video frame. The tops and bottoms have long since overlapped by that point, which is why titles, and scenes like the target-shooting gag in Bugs Bunny Rides Again get compromised.

The old transfer of Lights Fantastic suffers greatly from this.

This is why I campaign for windowboxing the entire cartoons (or entire movies from that era, for that matter), not just the credits.

[Patrick McCart]

Windowboxing was developed by David Shepard and Crest Labs in the early 1980's in order to transfer silent films and make sure the right framing is seen on even the mediocre TV's of the time. In fact, Crest had to get Shepard to sign a form making him responsible for any backlash due to this process.