exporting FCP projects in widescreen

Hi guys,

Anyone know how to export a FCP sequence to a (DV PAL 48khz) widescreen 16:9 quicktime.

The only options seems to be DV PAL 48khz Anamorphic but the final export remains as 720 x 576.



ANY TIPS WOULD BE MUCH APPRECIATED

DOM

> Anyone know how to export a FCP sequence to a (DV PAL 48khz)
> widescreen 16:9 quicktime.
> The only options seems to be DV PAL 48khz Anamorphic but the final export
> remains as 720 x 576.

Here we go again...

Anamorphic 16:9 is *not* letterboxed. The image is stretched vertically to fill a regular frame, so that a 16:9-enabled device (monitor or DVD player) can crunch the image down to a wide frame.

If you want the letterbox bars as part of your image -- ie. no longer in anamorphic 16:9 mode -- you need to nest either your anamorphic 16:9 edited sequence or a 16:9 movie file made from that into a NON-anamorphic 16:9 sequence. FCP will apply a Distort - Aspect Ratio of -33.33 to it when you do so, and the image will become letterboxed.

That's what anamorphic is. A widescreen image squeezed into a 4:3 frame. That's the way DV anamorphic is shot, and that's what you're outputting. That's the way SD widescreen television is made. Without knowing where you're trying to go, nobody can tell you how to get there. What are exporting for? What's your final delivery trying to be?



All the best,

Tom

Thanks to both of you!

My final destination is digi-beta. But I need to deliver the film on a portable hardrive.
Would you now say that if I wanted to export the project to an uncompressed 10bit Pal format, I can expect the file to be widescreen given that its coming from an anamorphic sequence in FCP??

My delivery guidelines were 16:9. So i assumed the correct way to edit was in an anamorphic sequence setting rather than letter box a non anamorphic sequence.

Have I got confused on this?

Thanks again for any help you can provide me with

Export it as is. All the 'unsqueezing' will happen in the end user TV.

If you were going to the web there's a different process to make the Quicktime appear in the right ratio, but for what you're doing leave it as it is.

> My delivery guidelines were 16:9. So i assumed the correct way to edit was
> in an anamorphic sequence setting rather than letter box a non anamorphic
> sequence.

Here's where you have to be more exacting. When you say you want "16:9" to an editor, most will assume you mean "anamorphic 16:9". But a lot of clients, directors and producers I've met are a lot looser with their terminology and when they say they want "16:9", they really mean they want letterboxed -- ie. the image's aspect ratio is in "16:9". So they complain to me: "My image is stretched on the TV, it's not 16:9!", not realizing that the stretched image *is* anamorphic 16:9.

Clear up the issue with your client, and don't just say "16:9" -- use the term "anamorphic". If they say they want anamorphic on tape, then you should leave everything alone and export straight from your anamorphic 16:9 timeline, with the stretched image.

So, lets say, he wants to put the movie on the web -- what shall he do? Open up a new sequence or project in FCP as what? And then drop the anamorphic movie into it?

Export to QT Conversion or Compressor and specify the frame size to be in the 16:9 ratio, 1024x576, or some division of that that you feel works for your bandwidth requirements.



All the best,

Tom

Yes, Tom, that worked. I made the video 720 by 405 and it came out right. Thanks.

Just for your information, I started out with HDV shot at 1080i 60i and edited in FCP 5 in native HDV. Then I exported via QT conversion through NTSC 48 and adjusted the frame size to 720 x 405, which gave me what I assume a standard SD. Now I have to shrink it for the web because the file is huge.