16:9...what and how?!

[Michael Sweeney]

okay, i am just confused here...with all these different terms and how to do this.

what is letter boxing? how do you do it?

i have a canon xl1s and it has the 16:9 "squeeze" mode. should i film in this format if i want widescreen?

can i film a regular 4:3 video and convert it to widscreen in such a program as premeire and how?

also, when making a dvd of my project and say i filmed it in 4:3, do i also have to have a version of the movie in 16:9 if i want to have both for viewers to choose from? or is there a program such as adobe encore that can make a 4:3 video into widescreen if the user chooses that format allowing me to save space on the dvd for other stuff?


thanks,
mike

[Paul Cuoco]

OK, lots of questions. Lets see if I can help.

Originally Posted by Michael Sweeney

what is letter boxing? how do you do it?

Letterboxing is when you take a standard 4:3 aspect ratio video and you crop off the top and bottom of the image to make it widescreen 16:9. You will lose about 1/3 of the image cropping, so be sure to compose your shots with the guides in your XL1s.

Originally Posted by Michael Sweeney

i have a canon xl1s and it has the 16:9 "squeeze" mode. should i film in this format if i want widescreen?

That is one way to approach widescreen. There is a camp that believes this produces very good quality images. Others believe you should shoot 4:3 and letterbox as note above. For more info check out this website:
http://www.adamwilt.com/DV-FAQ-etc.html#widescreen

It should answer almost all of these questions.

Originally Posted by Michael Sweeney

can i film a regular 4:3 video and convert it to widscreen in such a program as premeire and how?

Absolutely. You can do this in premiere by using the cropping filter, or creating a mask or photoshop. I believe Vegas has it's own letterboxer tool.

Originally Posted by Michael Sweeney

also, when making a dvd of my project and say i filmed it in 4:3, do i also have to have a version of the movie in 16:9 if i want to have both for viewers to choose from? or is there a program such as adobe encore that can make a 4:3 video into widescreen if the user chooses that format allowing me to save space on the dvd for other stuff?

If you filmed something in 4:3, even if it's letterboxed, it's still 4:3 with black bars above and below. To convert it widescreen would mean resizing the video and aspect ratio, and would probably give a big loss in quality. I would pick one format and stick with it. If you must have both options, you would have to make 2 separate video files of your program, so you wouldn't be saving space.

If you shoot in 16:9 using the "squeeze" feature or an anamorphic adapter, you should author a 16:9 dvd. Standard DVD players will recognize this and display the image properly on a widescreen TV to fill the screen, or it will generate the letterbox automaticly for you on a 4:3 TV. However, it will not create a full frame 4:3 option. If you have to have that option, again that would need to be created separately.

Hope this helps.
Paul

[Michael Sweeney]

thank you, i would say that just answered all my questions very well..thanks