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One project, two aspect rations
I’m a new convert to DaVinci after 6 or so years on FCP7. I am primarily a wedding cinematographer. For each client I create long documentary edits in 16:9 and then create trailers or highlight films in a custom wider aspect ratio. In FCP 7 I would just change the sequence settings for the trailer, that way I can easily copy and past stuff from the long film that’s already been edited. However in Resolve I can’t find any way to change individual timelines. I can change the project settings but that would effect every timeline, not just the one for the trailer. What is my work flow for this in DaVinci? Should I edit the full film, then somehow duplicate the entire project and basically have two separate project files, one for the trailer and one for the long film? Keep in mind, I don’t just want a straight crop, I need the ability to move clips up and down to improve the framing from multiple cameras….kinda the whole purpose of creating the wide screen trailer. Or can I simply just kinda change back and forth in the project settings without it making any changes to the timelines where I didn’t go in and move clips up and down. So for example I finish the long film, then export it, then I change the project to my wide screen aspect, then I finish the trailer and export it. Then if the client wants me to make a change in the long film I can just change the project settings back to 16:9 and make my changes and export the film. Then if I have to make a change to the trailer, change the project settings back and so on and so on forever making infinite corrections until I want to leave the business forever because of the client that made me make 100 changes to their film. But I digress….what do you recommend?
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2 Replies
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[Dustin Stelly] “What is my work flow for this in DaVinci? Should I edit the full film, then somehow duplicate the entire project and basically have two separate project files, one for the trailer and one for the long film?”
Yes, if you’re going to have two radically different aspect ratios (which I don’t recommend), I would just do it as two completely separate projects. You can use Dynamic Project Switching if you needed to go back and forth between different projects to compare them, and you can always import stills from the other project in order to match color and so on.Changing aspect ratios is a very standard part of deliverables that’s been around for 35-40 years that I know of. As long as there are different viewing experiences, plus theatrical vs. home video, home video vs. TV syndication, TV syndication vs. streaming, things will always be different. Three aspect ratios are very typical for big studio features: 2.39 for theatrical (and letterbox home video), 1.78 full-frame pan/scan, and sometimes 4×3 pan scan for the few remaining SD countries. The trailers I’ve worked on almost always reflect the feature aspect ratio. I have worked on many hundreds of trailers that had scenes later cut from the feature, and the studios just accept that “things change.”
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You can duplicate your final timeline, apply a mask for the wide screen and reframe shots in that timeline.
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