Hey

I've been watching the "extra features" on my dvd's latley...and ive noticed that on the refrence monitors that they use there is a "ghost line" of widescreen...how do they get that...how can i get that...your ideas
thanks

Hello David,
...how can i get that...Rent a Panavision camera.

I'm guessing that what you refer to is the video tap from such a camera. I believe it displays the framing guides for different aspect ratios. Charles Papert, who routinely works on film sets, might be able to provide more information.

Consumer/prosumer cameras such as the GL2 or XL1 can display similar 16:9 guides on an external monitor.

See the post below for remarks from Charles Papert and Ken
(yes, you Ken) about a frameline generator that goes inbetween
the camera and the monitor:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&postid=13604#post13604

That's it; a "frameline generator"! At my age I know that I knew something ... but I just can't remember what it was. Thanks Rob!

Glad I could be of some assistance <g>

Jeepers, that's weird, reading stuff from back then, having discussions I don't even remember either!

Most late model film camera video taps have frameline gennie's built in. The better ones allow you to select between white or black or dashed framelines, and selectively darken the area outside the lines.

Since our 2002 discussion, not much has changed--outboard frameline generators are still expensive.