16:9 and 4:3 Editing Question at DVinfo.net

Daniel Iwata · July 18th, 2005, 11:34 AM

FCP 5 Question - I'm going to combine mini dv footage shot 16:9 on a Sony PDX 10 and 4:3 footage on a Sony TRV-900. Do I download video as two separate projects or one?

Since I'm dealing with two different formats, how do I set my project preferences, since I have anamorphic and regular 4:3 dv video being used?

Thanks

Boyd Ostroff · July 18th, 2005, 04:40 PM

You can have 16:9 and 4:3 sequences and clips in the same project with no problem. You only need to check the anamorphic box in either the browser, sequence settings or clip properties. It makes no difference how you capture the video. You can always check or uncheck the anamorphic property later.

However, you can't have both in the same sequence, which should be obvious (you can only watch on one TV at a time :-) So you need to define what you expect. Do you want a 4:3 sequence that also contains some letterboxed 16:9 clips? That's easy, just create a 4:3 sequence and drop everything into it. The 16:9 clips will automatically be letterboxed (they will require rendering though).

Or do you want a 16:9 anamorphic sequence with 4:3 clips? Same thing here, create the 16:9 project and when you drop in a 4:3 clip it will be pillarboxed with a black bar to the right and left.

Or do you want some 16:9 and some 4:3 sequences to be used separately? That's fine too. What final result are you expecting from this project?

Daniel Iwata · July 18th, 2005, 05:47 PM

I'm making a 16:9 video combining and using 4:3 clips throughout. In my project preferences I set up for anamorphic NTSC video. I put a 16:9 clip into the timeline and it looks fine (as expected).

I put a 4:3 video clip in and it looks squashed. I get black bars on top and bottom, no pillars on the side.

I was planning to do image scaling on the 4:3 video clip, once I pull it into my timeline.

Can you help?

Thanks

Boyd Ostroff · July 18th, 2005, 06:19 PM

1. Check sequence setting to be sure it's 16:9 anamorphic
2. Check clip settings of real 16:9 clips to be sure they are anamorphic
3. Check clip settings of 4:3 material to be sure they are not anamorphic.

If all this checks out but your 4:3 clips are still distorted in the timeline then do the following:

1. double click on the clip in the timeline so it opens in the viewer
2. click on the motion tab in the viewer
3. click the triangle next to the Distort property
4. Note the setting under "Aspect Ratio"
5. Change this value to 33.33 and the 4:3 clip should be properly pillarboxed

Caveat: I'm using FCP 4.5, maybe something's different in 5? I doubt it, but I just don't know for sure...

Daniel Iwata · July 19th, 2005, 04:44 PM

Thanks! Your info was very helpful.

Daniel Iwata

Boyd Ostroff · July 19th, 2005, 05:20 PM

Glad I could help!

Dick Walton · February 1st, 2007, 08:17 AM

I am importing HDV 16:9 clips captured from an XL-H1 into a NTSC DV Simple Setup project (FCP 5+). The scale (for the 16:9 clips) shows as 50 and the Aspect Ratio as -50. If I change the scale to 100 and the Aspect Ratio to 0 I get a 3:4 image (croppped).

Is this the best way to reformat 16:9 in a 3:4 project? I tried creating a second sequence with the 16:9 clips and exporting but the resulting QT file was still 16:9.

Seems like I may be missing something here???

Andy Mees · February 1st, 2007, 10:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dick Walton

Is this the best way to reformat 16:9 in a 3:4 project? Seems like I may be missing something here???

no mate, i donlt think so. people have been making quite a meal out of this recently and its yet really not that difficult. couple of links below to help get your head aroubd whats going on ...

check out this video tutorial http://www.proapptips.com/proapptips...E4842B45D.html
and this written one http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/faking_it.html

Dick Walton · February 1st, 2007, 05:48 PM

Andy:

Great pointers at both URLs. Many, many thanks!

Gary Chavez · February 2nd, 2007, 02:15 PM

Boyd,
Your info really helped as I just experimented shooting a project
in true 16x9 using a switchable Canon lens and changing the ascpect
ration on my Ike 7A.

However I had a problem.

I had to use some 4x3 file video to cover some 16 x 9 sound-bites. Distorting the 4x3 to -33.33 left some of the underlying true 16x9 visible on the top and bottom of the frame.
Thru trial and error I set upon -22 distort on the 4x3 to match the true 16x9 screen area.

Do I have a setting wrong?
thanks

Andy Mees · February 3rd, 2007, 03:40 AM

You'll be fine with what you did ... no one is going to spot the difference
In point of fact though, you should not have distorted your 4:3 footage unless you really wanted a "distorted" look.
FCP will automatically apply whatever aspect ratio is required to ensure your source footage displays in its correct aspect within the target sequence.
All you need to then do, when combining these footages of different aspect ratio's in your sequence, is to "scale" the footage to fill the canvas and then reframe as appropriate for the content.

Gary Chavez · February 5th, 2007, 08:10 AM

Thanks for the info Andy.

July 18th, 2005, 11:34 AM	#1
Daniel Iwata New Boot Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 10	16:9 and 4:3 Editing Question FCP 5 Question - I'm going to combine mini dv footage shot 16:9 on a Sony PDX 10 and 4:3 footage on a Sony TRV-900. Do I download video as two separate projects or one? Since I'm dealing with two different formats, how do I set my project preferences, since I have anamorphic and regular 4:3 dv video being used? Thanks

July 18th, 2005, 05:47 PM	#3
Daniel Iwata New Boot Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 10	Reply to Thread I'm making a 16:9 video combining and using 4:3 clips throughout. In my project preferences I set up for anamorphic NTSC video. I put a 16:9 clip into the timeline and it looks fine (as expected). I put a 4:3 video clip in and it looks squashed. I get black bars on top and bottom, no pillars on the side. I was planning to do image scaling on the 4:3 video clip, once I pull it into my timeline. Can you help? Thanks

February 1st, 2007, 08:17 AM	#7
Dick Walton Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Concord, MA Posts: 53	16:9 to 3:4 format I am importing HDV 16:9 clips captured from an XL-H1 into a NTSC DV Simple Setup project (FCP 5+). The scale (for the 16:9 clips) shows as 50 and the Aspect Ratio as -50. If I change the scale to 100 and the Aspect Ratio to 0 I get a 3:4 image (croppped). Is this the best way to reformat 16:9 in a 3:4 project? I tried creating a second sequence with the 16:9 clips and exporting but the resulting QT file was still 16:9. Seems like I may be missing something here??? __________________ D.Walton

February 1st, 2007, 05:48 PM	#9
Dick Walton Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Concord, MA Posts: 53	Super! Andy: Great pointers at both URLs. Many, many thanks! __________________ D.Walton

July 18th, 2005, 04:40 PM	#2
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,802	You can have 16:9 and 4:3 sequences and clips in the same project with no problem. You only need to check the anamorphic box in either the browser, sequence settings or clip properties. It makes no difference how you capture the video. You can always check or uncheck the anamorphic property later. However, you can't have both in the same sequence, which should be obvious (you can only watch on one TV at a time :-) So you need to define what you expect. Do you want a 4:3 sequence that also contains some letterboxed 16:9 clips? That's easy, just create a 4:3 sequence and drop everything into it. The 16:9 clips will automatically be letterboxed (they will require rendering though). Or do you want a 16:9 anamorphic sequence with 4:3 clips? Same thing here, create the 16:9 project and when you drop in a 4:3 clip it will be pillarboxed with a black bar to the right and left. Or do you want some 16:9 and some 4:3 sequences to be used separately? That's fine too. What final result are you expecting from this project?

July 18th, 2005, 06:19 PM	#4
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,802	1. Check sequence setting to be sure it's 16:9 anamorphic 2. Check clip settings of real 16:9 clips to be sure they are anamorphic 3. Check clip settings of 4:3 material to be sure they are not anamorphic. If all this checks out but your 4:3 clips are still distorted in the timeline then do the following: 1. double click on the clip in the timeline so it opens in the viewer 2. click on the motion tab in the viewer 3. click the triangle next to the Distort property 4. Note the setting under "Aspect Ratio" 5. Change this value to 33.33 and the 4:3 clip should be properly pillarboxed Caveat: I'm using FCP 4.5, maybe something's different in 5? I doubt it, but I just don't know for sure...

July 19th, 2005, 04:44 PM	#5
Daniel Iwata New Boot Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 10	Thanks! Your info was very helpful. Daniel Iwata

July 19th, 2005, 05:20 PM	#6
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,802	Glad I could help!

February 2nd, 2007, 02:15 PM	#10
Gary Chavez Major Player Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: San Antonio Posts: 355	Boyd, Your info really helped as I just experimented shooting a project in true 16x9 using a switchable Canon lens and changing the ascpect ration on my Ike 7A. However I had a problem. I had to use some 4x3 file video to cover some 16 x 9 sound-bites. Distorting the 4x3 to -33.33 left some of the underlying true 16x9 visible on the top and bottom of the frame. Thru trial and error I set upon -22 distort on the 4x3 to match the true 16x9 screen area. Do I have a setting wrong? thanks

February 3rd, 2007, 03:40 AM	#11
Andy Mees Major Player Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Posts: 645	You'll be fine with what you did ... no one is going to spot the difference In point of fact though, you should not have distorted your 4:3 footage unless you really wanted a "distorted" look. FCP will automatically apply whatever aspect ratio is required to ensure your source footage displays in its correct aspect within the target sequence. All you need to then do, when combining these footages of different aspect ratio's in your sequence, is to "scale" the footage to fill the canvas and then reframe as appropriate for the content.

February 5th, 2007, 08:10 AM	#12
Gary Chavez Major Player Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: San Antonio Posts: 355	Thanks for the info Andy.