Quick tech vidding question...

[ash48]

I've been thinking more about the bromance vid and realised if I used footage from lots of different shows I would have a mix of both 4.3 and 16.9 aspect ratios.

I think that'll look pretty yuk. I wouldn't want to stretch the 4.3 nor crop the 16.9. Does anyone have any idea how I could make the different ARs work together?

Damn, idea might be dead before I've even begun...

Comments

[giandujakiss.livejournal.com]

Well, you can't do it without cropping one or the other. I mean, something's gonna have to be cropped - you can crop the 4:3, though, and put everything in 16:9.

How to do that depends on your editing program. I mean, I can do that pretty easily in Adobe Premiere Pro - if I set the project size for either 4:3 or 16:9, I can then use the motion tool to zoom in on the portion of the frame I want to appear in the vid. I think other people use stuff like Virtual Dub to crop source to size before importing it into their editing program, but I'm not sure.

[ash48.livejournal.com]

Hmmmm.... so I can crop 4:3 and put it into 16:9... I have no idea if my program can do that (I use Final Cut). I will definitely look into this. I mean, I can set my project size and I have zoomed 4.3 footage before.. so yeah, I can see how that could work..

I could also check out my clipping program...

Thank you.
xx

[barkley.livejournal.com]

I've made a few vids of multiple source in Final Cut, and I generally always end up going 16:9[1], and putting black matte bars over the top and bottom. That way I can move the 4:3 footage up or down to make it look best.

[1] exception being the X-Files where I had 1 16:9 clip from season 6 and the rest of the vid was 4:3 from seasons 1-5. I hate a show that changes aspect ratio mid stream. *g*

[ash48.livejournal.com]

So basically zoom the 4:3 footage to fit the 16:9 screen and apply black matte bars to the top and bottom? Did that effect the quality of the 4:3 footage much?

Do you have an example of one of your vids you could link me to. I'd love to see how that looks.

Thanks so much. This would be an option I could easily work with I think.
xx

[barkley.livejournal.com]

I don't even zoom the 4:3, I just leave it as is and the black mattes chop off the top and bottom. (I do sometimes adjust a clip up or down, so the chop doesn't chop off a person's head, but that's it, no zooming.)

http://www.bonuspoints.net/vids/index.html

Canadian Bingo is about equally mixed between 4:3 and 16:9 clips.

Separate Ways - I believe the Airwolf stuff was all 4:3 and SGA was all 16:9. (there are a few stray 16:9 clips I didn't squish down...if you see the logo, ignore them.)

Make Your Own Kind of Music is what happens when I just didn't care. (Computer broke, too hard to fix on iMovie, the only thing available to me at the time, and Vividcon deadline was looming.) So it's all mixed and not normalized at all.

[ash48.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much. I've just taken a look and they look great. I really didn't think I'd like the 4:3 screen, but with the cropping it looks good. I think that might be my solution.

(I couldn't open Make Your Own Kind of Music). I got a screen full of text).

Many thanks.

[maichan.livejournal.com]

Well, you can always crop the sides off the 16:9 footage. I know that's not really desirable, but it looks a helluva lot better than stretching the 4:3.

If you only have a few 4:3 shows, then you might be able to get away with zooming in on just those clips.

If you have a pretty even mix, you can also try splitting the difference by cropping in the sides of the 16:9 halfway to 4:3. That way you only have to zoom in the 4:3 halfway and only have to crop the 16:9 halfway, if that makes any sense.

[ash48.livejournal.com]

I really don't want to stretch the 4:3 footage.

I like the last idea - splitting the difference. I think (if this actually works), I'll get an even mix - considering how many shows will be in 4:3.

Thanks. I think I will give that a go.

[el1ie.livejournal.com]

I've seen the suggestion where you make the vid in 16:9, but on the top layer of the vid, put two black solid colour blocks on either side, reducing the visible screen of the tracks underneath down to 4:3.

I've never tried it and it would depend on you vidding prog not trying to stretch the 4:3 source to fit in the 16:9, I think that depends on individual progs, but thinking about it, it seems a logical suggestion, just not sure if it would work for you as you would still need to manipulate the 16:9 source if you need either of the sides, hopefully never both!

[ash48.livejournal.com]

Yeah - I think it will be tricky. I don't want the 4:3 to look stretched. Zooming could work, but it might depend on the quality of the footage. I think I will just have to play when (*g* and IF!) I get the footage I'm hoping to get.

xx

[greenpear.livejournal.com]

If it were my project I'd just go with the 4:3 as the end ratio. Create a 4:3 project and put in one 4:3 clip. When you import any 16:9 make sure they are undistorted and just let them overflow off the sides.

My current one mixes both ratios but it will be a 16:9 as that's wehat the background are. I'm cropping all the 4:3 footage into inserts.

There's always a way around things...

[ash48.livejournal.com]

Hey there,

I'm reluctant to go purely 4:3 because, really, I just don't like the look of it. I'm hoping to maybe make an "in between" ratio. Slightly enlarge the 4:3 and slightly crop the 16:9. Not really sure yet.

I haven't even started this project yet so no idea what I'm actually in for...

[greenpear.livejournal.com]

The 4:3 ratio isn't a problem with me as a lot of the vidding I do is old Doctor Who stuff and it only comes in 4:3.

IMHO I think you'd save yourself a lot of heartache trying to wedge it into a new ratio. But here's a suggestion.

In the "Time & Space" vid I needed to have those stills moving and twisting but making them larger would cause them to be fuzzy.

My solution was to create a 16:9 (you knew what I meant) project. I created a 16:9 frame that was smaller and would hide any black areas. Then I did all the expanding, contraction and rotating I needed.

After I exported the file (to a high quality DV format) I opened it up in QuickTime 7 Pro. I created a mask which covered the frame I created in Final Cut. When I exported it the final file was a 16:9. It just wasn't a 720 16:9.

A little crude, but it worked.

[ash48.livejournal.com]

Whoa... sounds technical. But I think once I start playing I will find something I like.

And you can use QT 7?? I just don't like it at all. I must be missing something. I revert back to QT 6. At least there I can crop my footage easily if I need to.

Thanks. Once I start this (if....*g*) I might have some questions. :)

[greenpear.livejournal.com]

The framing did get a little technical. But that's the stuff I like. I like puzzle solving. For me, that's most of the fun.

And my Quicktime is the Pro version which has some additional functions.

I did run into an odd aspect problem. I had 4:3 (some of which weren't exactly 4:3, some 16:9 (some of which weren't exactly 16:9), and some title sequences from Live Type. Anywhere that the Live Type clip overlaid "certain" 16:9 clips it looked okay. But where the Live Type "didn't" overlay the 16:9 clip it distorted it.

Took me all night to figure out I needed to extend the Live Type clip and just bring the opacity down to zero so it wouldn't distort the clip underneath.

Yeah, there are always new problem...