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Importing 4:3 video with letterbox filter
I am trying to import older footage shot in 4:3 NTSC into Premiere Pro 2021. Unfortunately the original footage was shot with the letter box filter (black bars top and bottom). When I import the footage Premiere rescales it to eliminate the black bars. This causes the footage to become stretched. I have tried everything and can’t find a way to import the footage without this happening.
My hope is that someone here will know how to solve this problem. Any help will be very appreciated. Thank you very much!
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7 Replies
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Hey Jonathan,
I am not sure that there are any NTSC camera out there that can shoot with “letter box filter”, unless a specific lens was used. Or, if it is anamorphic played back on a 4:3 screen?
Adding that Adobe will scale the whole frame, not parts of it.
Hence why it will stretch vertically.Suggesting that you set up a 16:9 Sequence (widescreen) and drop your footage onto the timeline and see what happens.
You may need to select “Scale to Frame Size”to fill the frame.If you want it with black bars on a 4:3 screen, you’ll need “squeeze” the Y-Axis of the video in your Effects panel.
Hope that this helps.
Atb
Mads -
Thank you for the response.
My Sony PD170 that was used to shoot the footage has a 16:9 video filter. We never shot using video filters but the camera man got creative. I wish he had not.
I’ve tried that but it adds vertical black bars instead of horizontal. The video remains stretched.
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Did you untick the “Uniform Scale” in the “Scale Width” menu in the effects panel?
This should allow you to stretch footage in the other direction, to make it the right aspect ratio. At the end you “Scale” and “position” the footage to where you want it to be – with or without black bars.
Atb
Mads -
You did it!
Thank you so much,
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You are very welcome, happy to help.
BTW: If you are looking to up-scale your NTSC to HD or 4K + noise reduction, head on over to the A.I. forum:
https://creativecow.net/forums/thread/can-ai-save-my-footage/
creativecow.net
Can AI save my footage ?! - A.I. - Creative COW
Can AI save my footage ?! - A.I. - Creative COW
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No I haven’t. I saved your links and will do some tests.
Thank you again,
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Thanks for this solve, Mads!
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