black shows as gray

[Dean Sensui]

[Jeffrey] ”
When i add a a widescreen matte to a clip it show not as black but as gray.”

Jeffrey…

When you said you added a widescreen matte, how did you do it? It sounds like you used a file that has an alpha channel in it to create the letterbox. However, if the “hole” in the middle of that alpha channel isn’t perfectly white (RGB 255), and the black areas aren’t perfectly black (RGB 0) then you’ll end up with the symptoms you’re describing.

Dean Sensui — http://www.HawaiiGoesFishing.com

[Jeffrey Levenstone]

I used final cut pro built in widescreen filter. What i had was that there was a subtimeline with a matte applied. In that subtimeline I had on track one and two the same video. Both set on normal under composite.

Then I had that sequence palced in another sequence. What happen is track 1 was on and when I turned it of the whitey look that apear was gone.

Really wierd.

Is there a way to change the black level of captured dv material or change it at any point.

[Dean Sensui]

[Jeffrey] “Is there a way to change the black level of captured dv material or change it at any point.”

Don’t try to change the black level of the material to fix it as you’ll just be adding to the complexity of the problem.

Instead, it has something to do with the way you’ve set up your timeline and the widescreen filter or matte. I’m not really clear on your setup as your description is somewhat confused. But it sounds like you have a nested sequence? You have copies of the same video on tracks 1 and 2 overlapping each other?

Dean Sensui — http://www.HawaiiGoesFishing.com

[Jeffrey Levenstone]

Yes I have a nested timeline and in the subtimeline i had two video tracks with the same video stacked. What should i look out for when setting up the timeline and using nested timelines

[Dean Sensui]

[Jeffrey] “What should i look out for when setting up the timeline and using nested timelines”

Without having duplicated you problem here, I would have to guess that it’s something to do with your widescreen filter. There’s probably some attribute or paramter like opacity or something that you may have inadvertently changed which causes your video to lose the proper black level. Check to see if your settings for that filter are at the proper “default” levels first.

It’s not the nested sequences or the layered video as all of that works just fine prior to adding the widescreen effect.

Dean Sensui — http://www.HawaiiGoesFishing.com

[Jeffrey Levenstone]

Thanks for the advice.