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Activity Forums Apple Final Cut Pro Legacy Getting rid of black bars in final footage

  • Getting rid of black bars in final footage

    Posted by Scott Dedoes on April 8, 2010 at 3:00 am

    I want to preface this with the not that I am still learning Final Cut pro and videography. I have only filmed and edited a handful of projects up to this point. I am working on Project A, which was filmed with two cameras both in SD. One camera is a Canon XHA1 and the other is an older 3 chip Panasonic. (I don’t have either camera in my possession right now and this project was filmed and edited back in September so I cannot remember the exact capture and film settings I used. When I exported this project, I did not think too much of the black bars that were on the top and bottom. I was able to get the project to look good despite the black bars on a TV.

    Now I have also worked with Project B, which was filmed only on the Canon XHA1. There were never any black bars on this project and I was also able to play around with the aspect ratios to make this project look good on my TV. I didn’t realize that there weren’t any black bars.

    Now I am trying to add this projects as samples for my portfolio but they look terrible when shown one after the other because of the black bars. I cannot get the aspect ratios to look correct and for the projects to be the same. I have looked at the formats in the properties for the captured footage and everything seems the same for both projects. I am wondering if there was a setting that I changed when i filmed it, but wouldn’t the formats show up differently in the viewer or in properties for the captured footage? I have been searching for the solution for hours.

    I apologize for being such a beginner, but would be extremely grateful for any help and can send over whatever settings I have.

    Thanks in advance.

    Scott Dedoes

    Rafael Amador replied 16 years ago 2 Members · 3 Replies
  • 3 Replies
  • Rafael Amador

    April 8, 2010 at 5:00 am

    Hi Scott,
    I guess you are dropping 16×9 stuff in a 4×3 sequence, then you get these bars on to p and down.
    Open the Sequence setting and check “Anamorphic”.
    Then select the footage and “Remove Attributes> Distortion”.
    The black bars should disappear.
    rafael

    http://www.nagavideo.com

  • Scott Dedoes

    April 8, 2010 at 5:10 am

    I think I finally figured everything out after hours of scouring. I believe I filmed some of the footage incorrectly with the Panasonic camera and it was putting the letterbox on. I increased the scale by 33% for everything and it has removed the bars.

    Thank you so much for the reply. I am slowly learning the terminology and techniques of videography, thanks to help from people like you. I really appreciate it.

  • Rafael Amador

    April 10, 2010 at 11:27 am

    Hi Scott,
    If the camera shoot letter-boxed (I had no idea),
    just drop the clips in an Anamorphic sequence.
    The bars will be cropped without need of blowing the picture up.
    rafael

    http://www.nagavideo.com

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