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Creating an HD 4:3 timeline?
Hi Everyone,
I recently shot some HD 960×720 16:9 footage with the HVX-200 against a green screen, with the intent of keying the actors out and placing them into a 4:3 scene. (The video is meant to be a mock “silent era” Academy ratio short film).
The final destination of this project is video portal websites such as YouTube, so I would like to retain as much picture quality as possible before compressing it down into a small stand-alone Quicktime file for the web.
However, when working with the HD footage, the timeline seems permanently stuck in the 16:9 viewer and browser windows. Whenever I copy and paste the footage into a 4:3 timeline, it seems to automatically switch to SD and the quality loss is considerable and very noticeable.
Is there a way to create an HD 4:3 timeline? If so, will it require extensive rendering of the HD footage?
Thanks in advance.
-AW
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8 Replies
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You can easily use 720p footage in a 4×3 timeline, you have to force the aspect ratio in the distort tab. Regarding your degraded quality, how are you viewing it and is it rendered? You should be using a broadcast monitor to judge the quality.
Have a wonderful day.
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Hi Chris,
I am using my computer’s monitor, which I figured would work since the final destination of the footage is online viewing. It is rendered, but the browser wasn’t at 100%, so that might explain the degraded quality.
Wouldn’t using the distort tab squish my actors together horizontally, though? I don’t need the edges of the frame– I tried to frame it for 4:3 while shooting.
Thanks,
Aaron -
Aaron,
Normally, when you put 16×9 footage into a 4×3 timeline, FCP letterboxes it. A correction, you would not use the distort tab, you’d just scale the video up till the letterbox goes away, and the ends will get cropped. Sorry about that.
Have a wonderful day.
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Aaron, when you scale up, it’s a good practice to use the most mathematically simple value possible. So if 197 looks about right, use 200. If 135 looks good, use 133.33. Hope that makes sense. Also check the sequence settings and set motion scaling quality to “best”.
Sean
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Thanks guys, I will give it a try.
Best,
AW -
Aaron,
Why not just create your master in a 16:9 native (HD) timeline? As you have said, it has already been shot 4:3 safe, so as long as you continue to edit and compose your keys 4:3 safe then you’ll be just fine. Your final step then would be export a 4:3 center cut for youtube or whatever.
There are any number of ways of creating for yourself some 4:3 guides to use whilst editing in a 16:9 sequence. For myself, I created a safe guides generator that I can throw on if and when needed … I just have to remember to turn it off again before I output! You’re welcome to use it if its helpful:
https://web.me.com/andymees (called Andy’s Guides) -
Andy, where does this plugin appear after it is installed?
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Hey Everybody,
I have done exactly as Andy suggested and kept my master timeline in 16:9 HD 960×720 format, with the intention of exporting a 4:3 center cut.
Here’s where I’m stuck:
What ratio should I tell the Quicktime Conversion to export to with the “Crop” feature? I’ve tried using simple math so the 720 height stays the same, but by my calculations 960×720 IS a 4:3?!
Does this mean that the HD pixels are different widths than standard? If so, how do I export just the 4:3 center of my HD widesreen 960×720 timeline without it having a “squished” appearance and black bars on the left and right sides?
-AW
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