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Changing the aspect ratio of imported video files
I am editing together a documentary which is all in 4:3 ratio, but was sent a tape to include in it which has been filmed in 16:9. I have imported the file and am putting it into the timeline as is, so on playback it just changes ratio whenever a clip from the new tape is there. How do I change it? Hoping there’s a simple answer…
Help much appreciated, thanks in advance!
Adam =)
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8 Replies
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Scale up the clip so it fills the frame. This will cause a center cut and you will lose the left and right sides of the image.
Jeremy
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As Jeremy says — and scale up to 133%.
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cheers, i actually just managed to sort it out by going to the project browser window and removing the ticks which had been put there under the ‘anamorphic’ column (i guess did it by default when capturing assuming that I wanted both files in different ratios)
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Adam … no!
Unless I am very much misunderstanding you, that checkmark is there for a reason. It tells FCP that the native asect ratio of the source file is 16:9, and so FCP automatically treats it accordingly, in order to maintain the correct aspect. If you remove the anamorphic flag then FCP will not treat it correctly. Sure, it will display it as 4:3 but it isn’t, its 16:9.
The correct workflow is as previously suggested. Scale the 16:9 image up to 133% and reframe the centre cut as desired. Don’t remove the anamorphic flag or your image will fill the frame but be distorted. (Everyone and everything will be too tall and too thin)
Cheers
Andy -
Isn’t this okay though if he just want’s it looking squashed, or are there other implications downstream?
Alan
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well, Alan, if he really wants it to look squashed then it would be fine … but who would actually want their pictures to look wrong on purpose? (especially if they are mixing it up with good stuff in the same timeline)
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I guess sometimes you can get away with it.
Here in the UK the broadcasters get it wrong frequently. I watched an entire one hour episode of an early ‘Doomwatch’ programme last week on BBC4, made 4:3 in the seventies, and transmitted arced to 16:9 – very squissed!!
Alan
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yeah i noticed it was obviously squished a bit, but that’s fine to be honest for my project, it’s not a high-end production. and if i scaled it up, i would lose some of the shot anyway, so it’s one or the other. thanks everyone though.
=)
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