Hi Everybody
This is my first message and obviously amateur one so please bear.

We have our first 30 sec Inhouse Commercial done but there are few things which I am very unclear.

We hired a Canon X2 and shoot the footage in 16:9, did post-production(PALS) in Premiere 6.5. The TV station wanted Mpeg2, so with Adobe encoder got the file in Mpeg2 but was rejected on the grounds that it had lower bitrate about 9800(and that is the maximun I could get in P6.5) they wanted 25000 kb bitrate file. So again send the file in .mov and it was Ok, but they had a issue about 16:9 ratio(they want it in 4:3 but since our original footage is in 16:9, could't get 4:3 output). they said it was ok though they would letterbox it with extra $50.

Now my question is
1. Is there a way I can letterbox in P6.5. One thing I found is when you output the file there is one option in Modify where I can crop, I wonder if thats the right way???
2. Does Premiere Pro can give me ouput in Mpeg2 with higher Bitrate(25000 kb)
3.Next if we want to shoot the footage should we shoot in 4;3, I am afraid though whether it will look good in widescreen.

Anybody please.

Thanks for your patience.

Todd

Hi Todd,

1) yes you can letter box 16x9 footage:
simply import your 16x9 avi into a 4x3 project, right click on the clip in the timeline, and select, video options> maintain aspect ratio. You'll then notice you get black bars top and bottom. then export out to MPG or what ever in 4x3.

2) Provided you have the correct codecs installed then you can export out in P6.5 and PP. For instance you can download the Matrox software codec, this allows you to export in MPEG 2 Iframe 25/50mbits. However it produces the file as an AVI, which the TV station might not be able to read unless they have the matrox codec installed. Find out exactly what sort of MPEG 2 file they want and what sort of format/ codec.

3) You can shoot in 4x3 and then letter box the footage in post later. Make sure that you leave enough room top and bottom when framing your shots.

There are various topics about number 1 and 3, please try the search facility^

Hope this helps,

Thanks a lot Ed Smith.