289 - Hoop Dreams

[MrHenryDog]

One of the first features shot entirely on video and then transferred to 35mm film for its theatrical release, Hoop Dreams is a landmark in documentary, and feature film, history. Originally shot using various analog video formats—including professional Betacam, BetacamSP, and 3/4 inch—the nearly 250 hours of footage were then edited and mastered to D1 digital videotape. To achieve a cinematic effect, the filmmakers transferred the D1 master to 35mm film, reframing every shot to appear in the letterboxed 1.85:1 theatrical presentation. The nationwide acclaim for Hoop Dreams was instrumental in raising awareness of, and appreciation for, video filmmaking, for both independent documentary and, eventually, narrative features—leading the way for these works to be taken seriously alongside Hollywood films. This edition of Hoop Dreams returns to the filmmakers’ original camera framing of 1.33:1, with Filmlook image enhancement applied when initially mastered for television broadcast and home video. On standard and widescreen televisions, black bars may be visible on the left and right to maintain the proper screen format. To maintain optimal image quality through the compression process, the picture on this dual-layer DVD-9 was encoded at the highest-possible bit rate for the quantity of materials included.