aspect ratio problems, HELP!

I am currently editing a film project, however the aspect ratio's seems to be all different.

For example: a 10 clip piece on a track..... a few are letterboxed 16:9; some are 4:3; and some are distorted 16:9 frames with the image being 4:3 with black parallel bands going on each side.

What do i do in order to change them into 4:3 letterboxed or at least the same aspect ratio???

HELP, driving me insane.

Tigerr

Check in Sequence settings that you are viewing in 4:3.
On 16:9 clips, in the DISTORT menu, change the bottom value to -33.3.
The frames with black on the sides should be changed to +33.3 or similar...
This will be some trial and error, but once you get going you should be OK...



Marcus T
iCreate! digital|post
12 Core Mac Pro, Snow Leopard, FCP 7.0.3, 8Gb Memory.

Hi Marcus,

Thank you very much for the help

I shall give that a try and play around with it.

I tried using the 'nesting' function and that seems to help too on some clips.

Beste,

Tigerr

> On 16:9 clips, in the DISTORT menu, change the bottom value to -33.3.
> The frames with black on the sides should be changed to +33.3 or similar...

That's not correct. It's one of the quirkier aspects of the Motion - Distort - Aspect Ratio control that positive and negative values do not do the same thing. A -33.33 setting will crunch an anamorphic 16:9 clip into proper letterbox proportions, but a 33.33 setting will actually crunch your clip horizontally -- so if you try that on a clip with black bars on the side, you will get even wider black bars on the sides.

> a 10 clip piece on a track..... a few are letterboxed 16:9; some are 4:3; and
> some are distorted 16:9 frames with the image being 4:3 with black parallel
> bands going on each side.

Before we can answer your question, you need to ask what format you want at the end of the project. Are you looking for an anamorphic 16:9 movie file/DVD/tape at the end, standard 4:3, or 4:3 with letterbox? I don't recommend the first two because both will involve blowing up your shots and losing quality. What I'd recommend is that you edit in a non-anamorphic 16:9 timeline. The letterboxed clips can be used as they are. Measure the width of the letterbox bars on those clips and put an identical letterbox mask on the 4:3 footage, and use -33.33 Distort - Aspect Ratio to crunch down your anamorphic 16:9 clips. (If you'd flagged the clips as Anamorphic, the simple act of inserting them into the timeline should mean that FCP would do this for you) So at the end, you will have a normal non-anamorphic show with letterbox bars.

Hi Derek,

Regarding my finish outcome of the project.

I shot the material on a DVCAM which doesn't do true 16:9 therefore the set up is 4:3 letterboxed. Which i am happy if i can get all the footage to be the same.

However at some point the aspect ratios of these clip change...maybe i changed it but i don't remember when and how.

So now i have scenes where the track is full of different clips in different sizes.

Tigerr

A -33.33 setting will crunch an anamorphic 16:9 clip into proper letterbox proportions, but a 33.33 setting will actually crunch your clip horizontally -- so if you try that on a clip with black bars on the side, you will get even wider black bars on the sides.

That's not right Derek. It needs a combination of zooming in and a POSITIVE ASPECT RATIO... like 33.3...



Marcus T
iCreate! digital|post
12 Core Mac Pro, Snow Leopard, FCP 7.0.3, 8Gb Memory.

> That's not right Derek. It needs a combination of zooming in and a POSITIVE
> ASPECT RATIO... like 33.3...

The most common cause of black bars on the sides of a clip is that a non-anamorphic 16:9 clip has been put into an anamorphic 16:9 timeline. This causes FCP to automatically apply a 33.33 Distort value to the clip. You don't try to fix that by blowing up the clip and losing oodles of quality. You fix it by editing the clip in the correct timeline (non-16:9), or taking away the Distort and resetting it back to 0.

Now, if the black bars were actually there on the clip itself (for whatever unfathomable reason), you still wouldn't fix it by messing with Distort - Aspect Ratio, because then the clip would be warped and proportions wouldn't be correct. You would fix that problem by blowing up the clip and then repositioning it, not by using Distort.

For future reference, when shooting DV and wanting a letterboxed look (I also learned this the hard way):

-Set camera to letterbox setting
-put gaffer's tape mask over the viewfinder and/or monitor you are using as you shoot
-match tape edge EXACTLY to the lettterboxed black mask-lines
-take camera out of letterbox setting

Now you will be framing for the letterbox look, but you will have all your video information in case you want to reposition a shot, blow it up, etc.

Then in FCP you just use the distort/motion function to re-mask all the footage, or build a mask in photoshop if you prefer.

Also recommended to mask the sides vertically, just to be on the safe side, as projection reveals what lies beyond the title saftey lines and you don't want messy edges if you have repositioned some shots...

Best of luck with this aspect ratio turmoil, I ama about to revise a long form project that they shot with 3 different letterboxing settings, and it was a real added headache!

Marla