Is 16:9 footage acceptable in a 4:3 program?

I know this forum covers aspect ratio very thoroughly..however, being in a situation where everything I deliver is 16:9 FHA, I am slightly unsettled with the prospect of delivering a 4:3
program with some16:9 w/letterbox footage cut into it...is this acceptable? I get flagged by tech teams on occasion by dropping 4:3 in a 16:9 program...tips please would be greatly apprieciated.

<<<is this acceptable?>>>

I'd be calling the producer who's writing my checks. I see documentaries all the time that ooze between 4:3 and 16.:9 footage, but I never see a theatrical presentation like that. It's too easy to mistake the format change as a plot point.

Koz

I'd want to think about using a 16:9 letterbox matte on the 4:3 footage, then letterbox-crunching the anamorphic 16:9 footage. Basically, deliver a non-anamorphic show with letterbox. Good enough for HBO when we did it. That said, HBO didn't commission our film; it just paid for a license to exhibit it. However, it never asked for an anamorphic 16:9 version either.


www.derekmok.com

Thanks guys, lucky for me is that it's cool to run the 16:9 with the letterbox amidst the 4:3...cheers..

[ It's too easy to mistake the format change as a plot point. ]

The last time I saw that used deliberately as a story point was BRAINSTORM. Great invention movie by Douglas Trumbull. The original concept called for the special sensory movie segments to be done in Showscan, Trumbull's proprietary 60 fps format-- which probably would have driven a projectionist quite mad. They settled for format change.

If I'm delivering 4:3 and I get 16:9 material, the letterbox stuff gets scaled up-- as I recall 133%. There's some softening in DV but it's minor.

- Loren
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<<<The last time I saw that used deliberately as a story point was BRAINSTORM. Great invention movie by Douglas Trumbull.>>>

My first employer in Los Angeles was one of the techies on that movie. I think he can still tell you how they got all the effects.

But anyway, yes, it signals a change in the story, good if desired.


Is everyone getting tired of the KCET interstitial segments where they dramatically zoom out to 16:9? Anybody remember the Stereo Phonograph Records with the plane going over and the railroad train going by?

We get it. Really.

Koz