How did they do that flashback? aspect ratio question

[Newt]

Hey all, Im just going back through Picard again. Done a bit of google but can't really find the answer to something that is bugging me.
In s3e6 the bounty we see a quick flashback to TNG EaF episode of Riker and Data in the holodeck.
Anyway I thought the TNG was in 4:3 ratio but the flash back scene was in the same widescreen format of Picard.
So was TNG filmed in Widescreen and/or just cropped? If that's the case is there a widescreen versions of TNG available?
Or did they use some clever ai trick to make it look widescreen? lol

Know a bit random if anyone has any insight cheers in advance.

 

[Christopher]

Normally the way to turn 4:3 into widescreen is simply to crop the top and bottom of the image. If we had a screencap of the scene from the PIC episode, it could be compared against a screencap of the original.

If digital methods were used to extend the sides of the image, there's no reason to assume it was done with AI, since there were methods for doing that long before AI became the techie buzzword it is now. If there were a lateral camera move in the original shot, or a wider shot of the same background, it would be easy to extract imagery of the adjacent parts of the background from other frames.


EDIT: Okay, I found screencaps on TrekCore, and they definitely just cropped the top and bottom of the images:

https://tng.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/screencaps/season1/1x01/farpoint_hd_576.jpg

vs.

https://picard.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/screencaps/s3/306-the-bounty/306-the-bounty-0554.jpg

And

https://tng.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/screencaps/season1/1x01/farpoint_hd_577.jpg

vs.

https://picard.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/screencaps/s3/306-the-bounty/306-the-bounty-0555.jpg

 

[Tuskin38]

So was TNG filmed in Widescreen and/or just cropped? If that's the case is there a widescreen versions of TNG available?

Yes technically it was filmed in a widescreen aspect because they were using film cameras, but all the shots were framed for 4:3, so the actors and important parts of the scene are in the centre of the frame.

In the raw uncropped footage you can see people, lights, off the set, things like that.

That's why the blu-ray release stuck to 4:3.

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[Newt]

Thanks for posting them screencaps Christopher. It does kinda look like a crop job side by side.
And thank Tuskin38 for that video really interesting stuff.