720p or 1080p Project, that is the question

[Steve Connor]

You should stay with your original frame size and reduce when you export.

“My Name is Steve and I’m an FCPX user”

[Jason Jenkins]

I shoot at 1920×1080 24p and edit at 1280×720 24p. A lot of my stuff goes to the web and 720p is perfect for that, IMO. I really like having the extra resolution to work with on the timeline. I can do a virtual focal length change if I wish, by scaling to %100. If I want to see the full frame, I edit at 66.7% scale. This is a huge boon when editing talking head stuff. In FCPX, I set the Spatial Conform on my footage from the default of “Fit” to “None”, before I drop it in the timeline. You can still scale it when it’s set to “Fit” but the scale percentage will be different and it can get confusing. There is a performance hit when editing non native resolution, but it has been very workable in FCPX on my 2011 Macbook Pro. When I need to go to DVD or BetaSP, I downconvert to a letterboxed version.

Jason Jenkins
Flowmotion Media
Video production… with style!

[Dave Gage]

Jason,

You may have also answered another question of mine which I recently posted at the Apple Forum (I thought it might be too silly for this forum if I was missing something quite obvious).

Here’s what I posted:

Subject: Zooming into video clip a la Ken Burns effect

“Does the “Ken Burns” effect also work on video clips? That is, if you have a one camera interview shot or tutorial, can you “zoom” in on the person as you might with a still photo? If I had a 2nd camera or some one to shoot for me, it would be less of an issue. But, just to have some movement occasionally instead of a static talking head would be nice. I suppose if overdone, focus and quality issues would come into play.”
—

I’m essentially shooting myself doing instructional video to post in the Members Area of one of my websites. Some will also go to Youtube.com. It looks like what you described might be my solution.

Thanks,
Dave

[Jason Jenkins]

[Dave Gage] ”
I’m essentially shooting myself doing instructional video to post in the Members Area of one of my websites. Some will also go to Youtube.com. It looks like what you described might be my solution.”

Absolutely, Dave. With that extra resolution you can zoom on the footage. As long as you don’t push it past %100 scale, you won’t have any quality issues. IMO, zooming should be used subtly and sparingly. I use a slow zoom (hoping it looks more like a push/dolly) occasionally, to add some emphasis. I use the virtual focal length change, a lot, to create seamless cuts! Very handy technique.

Here is two examples where I used these techniques:

Dr. Lichtenstein Bio

Comcast Community Ice Rink

Jason Jenkins
Flowmotion Media
Video production… with style!

[Vince Sanchez]

Lately we’ve been shooting projects that go out to DVD or web at 1080. We edit at 1080 then put the edit into a 720 timeline to reframe or zoom on shots. One project my daughter shot for a school DVD was shot as a wide shot and she planned to do CUs to cover edits, but they ran out of time before they could do that, so she edited for content and then we put the edit into a SD timeline and completely reframed most of the shots. Instant closeups,it was a cooking show and it looked like a 4 camera shoot by the time we were done and the quality was great.

Thanks,
Vince Sanchez
Intel Quad Mac 2.66
AJA LHe
HD link
OSX 10.4.11
FCP Studio 2

[Dave Gage]

Jason,

Wow, very cool with the Dr. Lichtenstein clip. It does look like a 2 camera shot with cuts back and forth. Now, my question would be if it’s possible to pan or zoom in with keyframes or another technique.

“I use a slow zoom (hoping it looks more like a push/dolly) occasionally, to add some emphasis.”
I wasn’t able to pick up on where this was used. Can you tell me at what point in the clip this was used? But, this should pertain directly to what my original question was a la “Ken Burns” effect.

Comcast Community Ice Rink Clip:
I wasn’t able to pick up where and how you used it in this clip (which I suppose is a very good endorsement for how well it came out).

Thanks,
Dave

[Dave Gage]

Vince,

“We edit at 1080 then put the edit into a 720 timeline to reframe or zoom on shots.”

Let me see if I understand, you do the majority of edits in a 1080 Project and then open a new project with the finished edits in a 720 timeline and then reframed some shots? Is there a reason that you didn’t just start in a 720 timeline?

“Instant closeups,it was a cooking show and it looked like a 4 camera shoot by the time we were done and the quality was great.”

That’s very cool. I think this 720 timeline concept is going to work out great for me.

Thanks,
Dave

[Jason Jenkins]

[Dave Gage] ”
Wow, very cool with the Dr. Lichtenstein clip. It does look like a 2 camera shot with cuts back and forth. Now, my question would be if it’s possible to pan or zoom in with keyframes or another technique.

“I use a slow zoom (hoping it looks more like a push/dolly) occasionally, to add some emphasis.”
I wasn’t able to pick up on where this was used. Can you tell me at what point in the clip this was used? But, this should pertain directly to what my original question was a la “Ken Burns” effect.”

There is no zoom in the Dr. Lichtenstein clip, but I have used it in an interview before.

[Dave Gage] “Comcast Community Ice Rink Clip:
I wasn’t able to pick up where and how you used it in this clip (which I suppose is a very good endorsement for how well it came out).”

Sorry about that! I thought I had done a zoom, but I just went back and checked… nope, just scaling change-ups.

Jason Jenkins
Flowmotion Media
Video production… with style!

[Dave Gage]

[Jason Jenkins] “There is no zoom in the Dr. Lichtenstein clip, but I have used it in an interview before.”

Do you mind listing the steps involved in how you created the zoom effect?

Thanks again,
Dave

P.S. It appears we might have the same laptop. I just picked up a new MBP i7 17″ about three months ago. I upgraded the ram to 8 gigs and so far, it’s been great.

[Vince Sanchez]

Habit and I like having a native size edit in case I need it in the future and mainly to keep my mind on the content edit, I’d start futzing with reframing when I need to focus on the content.

Thanks,
Vince Sanchez
Intel Quad Mac 2.66
AJA LHe
HD link
OSX 10.4.11
FCP Studio 2