• Adobe Premiere Pro

  Combining 5D & 7D footage – project resolution conundrum

  Posted by George Robinson on March 6, 2011 at 12:50 pm

  Hey guys,

  I’ve been trying out workflows for a music video I shot and am about to edit using Premiere Pro CS3 and After Affects CS3. I’ve found tons of great info on CCow so far, but I’m now agonising over deciding on a final resolution as there are more factors at play than I first realised:

  I shot with two cameras:
  5D mkII at 1080p/24 fps, and
  7D at 720p/50 fps

  I’ve transcoded all the raw footage to Cineform Neoscene AVIs, set my Prem Pro project baseline at 23.976, imported all footage and re-interpreted the 7D footage to 24 fps to make it slow-motion, as was my original plan.

  Now, my question relates to project and final output resolution: should I work/output at 1920×1080 – scaling up the 720p footage – or work/output at 720p, scaling down the 1080p footage?

  Usually I presume it would be a simple choice to stick to outputting 720p, minimising upscaling artifacts etc, but in this case the video will be made up of about equal amounts of footage from each of the two cameras, plus a smattering of VFX shots and mattes that I imagine should be as high res as possible –

  So, I guess what I’m ultimately wondering is, does preserving the unscaled original quality of the slow-mo 720p footage outweigh the potential gloriousness of presenting a final fullHD video, that does make full use of the 50% of 1080p clips?

  It seems a shame to discard the higher resolution from half of the project footage. On the other hand, working at 720p would allow my to create digital pans and reframing inside the 1080p shots…

  The key factor is that the video looks as good/”cinematic” as possible overall on a small cinema screen. I wobbled when I saw how much smaller the 720p frame is in the Prem Pro source monitor window compared to 1080p – but is there going to be a very appreciable difference between 720p/1080p resolutions on the bigger screen (where it counts)?

  Many thanks for any comments – I’d love some help to lay this one to rest 🙂

  George Robinson replied 15 years, 6 months ago 3 Members · 3 Replies
• 3 Replies

• 

  Ann Bens

  March 6, 2011 at 6:58 pm

  In fact its very simple. Upscaled footage looks awfull. Its very noticable if its mixed with high resolution footage.
  Its better to downscale.
  Your project settings should read 720p.
• 

  Dave Felder

  March 6, 2011 at 8:08 pm

  My guess is that if it looks “Cinematic” at 1080, it will look just as “Cinematic” at 720. The cinematic look is due to lighting, lens choice, DOF and contrast, not the number of pixels.

  Ryan Video Productions Inc. Rockaway, NJ
• 

  George Robinson

  March 7, 2011 at 11:43 am

  Hey guys

  Thanks for your responses, both good points!

  Ann, it’s obvious when you put it like that – by upscaling I would only be emphasizing the disparity between the 720 and 1080 footage, not reducing it. That point seems to be a deal-breaker 🙂

  Dave, yes, we had very nice Zeiss prime lenses and shot at dawn on the coast when I knew the light would be incredible. The footage does look amazing, which is partly why I was stressing about delivering it at the highest possible quality!
  But you’re right, the key determinants of how cinematic it will look I have already taken care of, so I can chill out a bit now 🙂 720p it is!

  Cheers!

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