• Apple Final Cut Pro

  How to combine two formats (19:6 Full HD movie and still images) in one film?

  Posted by Thuna Thun on January 18, 2012 at 8:30 am

  hi

  i’m new to juggling and exporting formats in FCP X (10.0.2.) files and have the following question:

  i am putting together an animation film that was shot in two different formats:

  – still images in 1920 x 1280
  – movie files in 1920 x 1080 25 fps

  since the still images make up the vast majority of the material, i would like to use a format that clips as little as possible from the stills, while it’s ok if the film files get cut (or blown up and then cut respectively).

  i need two final products:
  – a dvd with the best possible quality to view on the computer
  – a youtube-compatible, compressed film file

  my questions:
  – what format would be best to use for the final products? is 1920 x 1280 a 4:3 ratio, and if yes what movie format would be best to use quality-wise?
  – how do i actually fusion the two formats?
  – can i do all of this in FCP or do i need compressor?

  (currently FCP automatically downscales the stills to fit the height of the movie files because for quality reasons i chose the Full HD format whenever i imported material to a new project. i can live with the downscaling of the stills per se, but what is not ok is
  – that the stills have a broader black frame on the side than the movie files, which are widescreen
  – that the downscaling of the stills makes the image “zoom out”, meaning i cannot create a smooth transition from a movie frame to a still image without a major jump/zoom-out.

  thanks for your help!

  Thuna Thun replied 14 years, 7 months ago 2 Members · 4 Replies
• 4 Replies

• 

  Mark Dobson

  January 18, 2012 at 10:35 am

  It really depends on what is more important to you the stills or the movie. If you want a 4×3 format you will also get a black top and bottom border on the film and visa versa.

  What I would recommend is that you create a 720p 25p project. By default FCPX will resize or clips to fit the frame size you have specified.

  However when you edit in the stills in the inspector under spatial conform select none rather than fit. Because your 1080p images are larger that the 720p frame they will fill the screen, however they will have been cropped. If you select the transform tool you will see by how much and you will also be able to re frame the shot.

  As to you problem of the frame ‘jumping out’. I have come across this problem using third party transitions and the only way round it is to create a sub clip of all the over or under scanned images in a temporary project set up to the format you want to work to and then export the image sequence as a movie through the share window and then re-import and use as your new source clip!
• 

  Thuna Thun

  January 18, 2012 at 11:33 am

  mark, thank you for your help.

  ok, i assume you mean the format 720p / 25p HD with the dimensions 1920 x 1080, right? when i want to reset the properties for my already existing projects, i don’t get a choice for 25p but only 23.98p. do i have to re-import everything to new projects, and if yes can i do that copy-paste, or what is safest?

  and with reframing the shots you mean: in the inspector > transfrom tab > change the percentage number in the “scale” line, right?

  thanks!
  thuna
• 

  Mark Dobson

  January 18, 2012 at 6:07 pm

  [Thuna Thun] “ok, i assume you mean the format 720p / 25p HD with the dimensions 1920 x 1080, right? when i want to reset the properties for my already existing projects, i don’t get a choice for 25p but only 23.98p. do i have to re-import everything to new projects, and if yes can i do that copy-paste, or what is safest?

  and with reframing the shots you mean: in the inspector > transfrom tab > change the percentage number in the “scale” line, right?”

  This long distance international Q&A could get complicated.

  I had assumed from your original post that you were working in PAL because you mentioned

  – still images in 1920 x 1280
  – movie files in 1920 x 1080 25 fps

  I suggest you create a new project. When you create a new project a dialog box opens asking you what video properties you want the project to have.

  If you select the custom option you can then specify Format, Resolution and Rate

  The 16.9 resolution for 720p is 1280×720 and if your files are 25p that is the frame rate you need to select.

  With this new project everything you edit into it will by default be fitted or conformed into this resolution.

  Once you have a clip on the timeline you can select it, and in the video section of the inspector you have the option of changing the spatial conform between normal, the default setting, fill ( this would upscale a smaller image) or none which will present the file at it’s true dimension, which if it is a 1920×1080 file will appear cropped.

  By selecting the transform control you will see that the image is larger than the frame from the outline bounded by blue select points – you can resize your image by grabbing one of the 4 corner points and moving it in or out. If you grab one of the side points you will distort, squeeze or stretch the image unless you also have your finger on the shift key.

  WUSIWUG

  So presuming every thing goes well you can now edit your 2 files into this project re-conforming as you see fit and then when finished use the Share window to produce your DVD and File for Youtube.

  The reason I suggested 720p is based on your end requirement of a DVD and File.

  If this does not work I suggest you provide more detailed information about the Format, Resolution and Frame Rate of your original files.

  Good luck
• 

  Thuna Thun

  January 18, 2012 at 10:45 pm

  Thanks for your super patient answer! Everything makes sense, I’ll try it out asap. Thank again.

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