getting the 16:9 look for old newsreel foootage

[David Roth weiss]

[Nicholas Natteau] “I’m worried that it might be too visually distracting to transition between my 720p 16:9 interviews to pillarboxed footage.
“

Whoever told you to leave it pillarboxed should be sent to Siberia. There aren’t any docos on TV that do that any more.

Not only that, but many broadcasters, including PBS, have rules about this kind of thing, and they no longer accept anything pillarboxed.

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles

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EPK Colorist – UP IN THE AIR – nominated for six academy awards

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[Nick Natteau]

Hi David,

Thanks very much for your feedback. So then what’s the rule for 4:3 footage in an HD program?

Scale it up until you fill the 16:9 frame or stretch it slightly horizontally?

Someone suggested filling the sides with blur, but I’ve only seen that on news networks like CNN and Fox.
To me that effect (blurring the sides) looks a bit cheesy and quite distracting.

Thanks,

– Nick

[John Fishback]

Given the already archival-looking clips, zooming them full seems to work fairly well. I’m not sure how you stretched the clips, but if you haven’t already, checkout Andy Mees’, “Andy’s Elastic Aspect” plugin.

John

MacPro 8-core 2.8GHz 8 GB RAM OS 10.5.8 QT7.6.4 Kona 3 Dual Cinema 23 ATI Radeon HD 3870, 24″ TV-Logic Monitor, ATTO ExpressSAS R380 RAID Adapter, PDE enclosure with 8-drive 6TB RAID 5
FCS 3 (FCP 7.0.2, Motion 4.0.2, Comp 3.5.2, DVDSP 4.2.2, Color 1.5.2)

Pro Tools HD w SYNC IO & 192 Digital I/O, Yamaha DM1000, Millennia Media HV-3C, Neumann U87, Schoeps Mk41 mics, Genelec Monitors, PrimaLT ISDN

[Nick Natteau]

Hi John,

To stretch it horizontally, I simply changed the aspect ratio to -33.33 which took my 4:3 pillarboxed image and stretched it until it filled up the 16:9 frame.

[John Fishback]

Try stretching with Andy’s plugin. It allows you to define a “safe” center area which is stretched less (if at all) than the outside area.

John

MacPro 8-core 2.8GHz 8 GB RAM OS 10.5.8 QT7.6.4 Kona 3 Dual Cinema 23 ATI Radeon HD 3870, 24″ TV-Logic Monitor, ATTO ExpressSAS R380 RAID Adapter, PDE enclosure with 8-drive 6TB RAID 5
FCS 3 (FCP 7.0.2, Motion 4.0.2, Comp 3.5.2, DVDSP 4.2.2, Color 1.5.2)

Pro Tools HD w SYNC IO & 192 Digital I/O, Yamaha DM1000, Millennia Media HV-3C, Neumann U87, Schoeps Mk41 mics, Genelec Monitors, PrimaLT ISDN

[David Roth weiss]

[Nicholas Natteau] “So then what’s the rule for 4:3 footage in an HD program? “

Well, every case is a little different, depending on the nature of the SD video you’re dealing with, what you’re cutting it next to in the timeline, and what you’re trying to communicate.

[Nicholas Natteau] “Someone suggested filling the sides with blur, but I’ve only seen that on news networks like CNN and Fox.
To me that effect (blurring the sides) looks a bit cheesy and quite distracting. “

I agree completely. I’m not a fan of any of the techniques mentioned above. In addition, other than Andy’s plugin, which preserves the center and stretches the other parts, I’m not at all a fan of stretching, and instead prefer scaling up until you achieve full frame, no matter what the number may be.

I’m a big fan of beat up stock footage, and you’ll often hear me saying that it turns on the “wayback machine” for the viewer, a term I’ve stolen from the old Hanna Barberra cartoon IMPROBABLE HISTORY, that you may remember with Mr. Peabody and his sidekick Sherman.

Of course, there are many ways to improve the blowup other than just scaling on the FCP timeline, such as running through Teranex hardware or through a capable I/O device such as a Kona card. However, many times this is just not necessary, as scaling on the timeline yields results that simply make the footage more realistically older looking.

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™

EPK Colorist – UP IN THE AIR – nominated for six academy awards

A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.

[Nick Natteau]

Hi David,

I agree. I just purchased the Matrox MXO2 and I’m using that hardware it to upscale my clips from 480i to 720p. But I still wind up with a pillarboxed image unless I scale the image up further in FCP (actually 135%) to fill up the 16×9 screen.

The problem with scaling up to 135% is that I would have to readjust the framing. Not a big problem. I just thought that stretching the upscaled image horizontally would fill up the screen with less hassle (not having to reframe everything). I’ll go ahead and download Andy’s stretch filter.

Is it OK to upscale WWII footage inside FCP? So far everyone told me to use hardware if possible. But upscaling inside FCP would save me a huge amount of time. I would not have to offline and recapture everything.

[David Foster]

Great thread here. I’m just adding a correction. Peabody and Sherman were not Hanna/Barbera. It was by Jay Ward ( Rocky And Bullwinkle J Moose).

Sorry for the interruption

David Foster

[David Roth weiss]

[David Foster] “Great thread here. I’m just adding a correction. Peabody and Sherman were not Hanna/Barbera. It was by Jay Ward ( Rocky And Bullwinkle J Moose). “

You are so right!!! My bad there.

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™

EPK Colorist – UP IN THE AIR – nominated for six academy awards

A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.

[David Roth weiss]

[Nicholas Natteau] “s it OK to upscale WWII footage inside FCP?”

I’ve done it. That footage is so many generations down by now that it makes little difference what you do to it, it always looks good and the more stepped on the more genuine. Just go for it and let FCP help to turn on the wayback machine for your audience.

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™

EPK Colorist – UP IN THE AIR – nominated for six academy awards

A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.