-
editing 720×480 in 1920×1080 sequence
Hi,
Sorry in advance if questions like this are coming up repeatedly. But, here we go:
I’m working on a documentary where I’m required to mix 720×480 (29.97) footage and 1920×1080 (23.98) footage in a timeline in FCP. The 720 footage was shot on the old SonyTRV900 and the 1920 on the ever-present Canon 5D, and I still have access to all the original TRV900 tapes.
The director I’m editing for wants the 5D stuff to look its best so I’m editing in a 1920×1080, 23.98, square pixel, ProRes sequence. For the 720 footage the director doesn’t want to match the frame sizes. Some of the 720 footage is Super8 that was home-telecined with the TRV900 and he wants to keep the feel of that, even if it means jumping from the big 1920 image to the smaller 720 in the middle of an edit. Plus blowing the 720 footage up to 1920×1080 made everything look too stretched.
But I need to match the framerates and the compressor. So, I’m taking the 720 footage into MPEG streamclip and exporting it ProRes, 23.98, 720×480. Is this how everyone would suggest I go about this?
The footage 720 seems to work fine in the sequence this way except for I have to render it when I first place it in the timeline, which seemed odd to me.Also, what should I do about the pixel aspect ratio? Should I change it to square or leave it at CCIR?
I know some of these are almost more aesthetic than technical questions, but I’d like to hear anyone’s advice/thought on them.
Also, Someone told me to change the footage to 640×480 because it had a more direct mathematical relation to 1920×1080, which may be true (???) but I didn’t see the logic in it. Thoughts?
Thanks for any help!
Bleakley -
7 Replies
-
First off…it isn’t 720…it’s 480. Just like 1920×1080 is 1080…you use the last number to identify the footage type. So 720×480 is 480. 1280×720 is 720.
Now, you want to keep it 4:3, otherwise you will stretch it. The best thing you can do is capture it via an AJA Kona LHi, Kona 3 or 3G, or AJA IoXT. I explain how to do this exact process, frame rate conversion and all, in this article:
https://library.creativecow.net/ross_shane/aja_kona3/1
What that does is make the 480 large enough to match with the 1080p, and with the hardware upconversion, smooth out any artifacting you would get if you simply resized it inside FCP. The result will be an image with black on the sides, that you can either use like that, or blow up an additional 30% to fill the frame. The top and bottom of the image will be cropped. But you can reposition it as you want.
Second best would be to use Compressor on this already captured footage. Choose ProRes…make the dimensions 1440×1080 SQUARE pixel, and adjust the frame rate. Change the FRAME CONTROLS to BEST on all levels, so that the frame rate conversion will look better. This process will take a while, whereas the Kona capture will be in real time.
Shane
Little Frog Post
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
Thanks!
I’m going to have to go the compressor route.
Under frame controls what should I choose for field dominance?
Blake
-
I mean, what should i choose for output fields.
Thanks
-
Look at the article. I show you all the Compressor settings to use. Set it to PROGRESSIVE, as the 1080 footage is progressive. YOu don’t want field dominance.
You set the frame size in the GEOMETRY tab.
Shane
Little Frog Post
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
Thanks again!
So, the 1140×1080 footage still looks stretched. What if I change the dimensions to 1620×1080 in the geometry tab? That would seem to make sense (at least on paper) for keeping the video from being stretched.
Blake
-
Those are odd dimensions. 1920×1080 is the standard frame size.
Shane
Little Frog Post
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
As Shane said above, 1440×1080 SQUARE pixels is the frame size you want for your 4×3 footage. You also want progressive video. The 5D footage is progressive. No field dominance.
Do be aware 1440×1080 also comes in 1.333 pixel aspect ratio, which would stretch to fill a 1920 frame size. If you’re getting a full width frame from 1440×1080 clips you’ll want to right-click on a clip (or multiple clips) and select remove attributes, then remove DISTORT. You want 1440 square, which should leave black on the sides.
The math to get a 4×3 frame size for 1080:
1080/3=360 (the 3 comes from 4×3)
360×4=1440 (the 4 comes from 4×3)Don’t forget you’ll also want to change your frame rate to 23.976 while you’re going through Compressor.
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up