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Ratio conversion

Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2008 3:33 pm
by cwiac
Changing a 4:3 ratio video to 16:9

There was an article on how to do this in FVM earlier in 2008, Can anybody remember which issue it was in ? OR tell me if it can be done in Premiere 6,5

Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2008 8:58 pm
by billyfromConsett
Can you explain what you mean? Do you want to lose some of the picture and replace it with black bars across the top and bottom.

I would guess that if you import a 4:3 movie into a 16:9 project, and maybe use the motion tool to frame it right, it will come out letterboxed 16:9.

Ratio Conversion

Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2008 10:46 pm
by Michael Slowe
There is a lot of confusion and misunderstanding on this.

I shoot in 16:9 and try and give proper 16:9 anamorphic copies for projection in that aspect. If I am not confident with the projection team I do a 'letterboxed' version which is what Billy is referring to. That is a 'wide picture' with black bars at top and bottom and it can be shown as 4:3 without any changes to the projection kit.

Most editing systems will produce such an image from a 16:9 anamorphic image. It is not ideal as there is some loss of resolution. In my edit system (Media 100) I can convert a 4:3 image for a 16:9 timeline with an ingenious facility which allows me to choose exactly what proportion comes off the sides and top and bottom of the frame and I know Final Cut also handles the problem well. I don't know how Adobe do it.

It is well worth getting this right since there will be an increasing necessity for this conversion, both ways.

4:3 to 16:9

Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2008 11:58 pm
by cwiac
Hi BillyfromConsett- yes exactly what you say, effectively retain the full width but lose top and bottom

Re: Ratio Conversion

Posted: Sat Dec 06, 2008 11:51 am
by Willy
Michael Slowe wrote:There is a lot of confusion and misunderstanding on this..
In fact Dave Watterson already brought up this problem a year ago. He saw my "Will Ye Go to Flanders" with some 4:3 archive footage in it that I had changed into 16:9. The result : all soldiers were like dwarfs. To be honest : I was a bit irritated by it (one of my bad characteristics). Most pictures were filmed from books and the people in these photographs looked normal, but the real archive footage that I had received from the Passchendaele Memorial was 4:3 film changed into 16:9.

My apologies now, Dave ! In the mean time Peter Rouillard, also a fervent casablanca-fan, told me how to change 4:3 film into 16:9 without deforming the pictures. I am still working on my new First World War film. It's a quite different one, but there is also some unique archive footage in it. I added these 4:3 pictures to my 16:9 casablanca storyboard and used the special effect "zoom 4:3 into 16:9". So now my soldiers are not dwarfs anymore. They look much better, now, Dave. Many thanks to you and Peter. It also shows how interesting communication on this forum can be.

Posted: Sat Dec 06, 2008 8:45 pm
by chrisk
Hi cwiac

If you import a 4:3 clip into a 16:9 project and rescale it for correct proportions it will end up as a 'pillar box' with black on either side, not top and bottom. To rescale in Prem Pro (not sure about 6.5) select the clip, untick the 'Uniform Scale' box and set scale width to 75%.

Chris

Posted: Sat Dec 06, 2008 9:01 pm
by chrisk
To continue, if you want to make the 4:3 clip fill the 16:9 frame, but lose csome of the top and/or bottom of the picture, then set 'Scale Height to 133.3%. This will select the centre section (vertically) of the frame but if necessary use the second part of the position control to move it to the best vertical part of the frame.

Chris