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HD spots, SD center cut
I’m about to submit my first round of HD spots to local stations. All of their specs say to make sure titling and graphics are within the 4×3 safe area. I’ve got a corner logo bug situated now in HD that (I think) is going to look odd if I move it toward the bottom-center to make it within the 4×3 area. And, I’ve got some internal graphics that will have the same composition issue.
Should I just think in terms of submitting HD versions AND letterboxed SD versions for each station, or is there another way to think about this?
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1 Reply
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[Kelly Griffin] “Should I just think in terms of submitting HD versions AND letterboxed SD versions for each station, or is there another way to think about this?”
This is a tough call. I’ve seen this many times on news shows. The bugs are set up for 4:3 and if you switch between the HD and SD channels (for the same show) you can see why. It may look silly in HD but usually they only want to broadcast one show and not fiddle with two versions so they crop for SD. I would ask if they will accept two versions before you bother to make them. They also probably don’t want letterboxed SD because people who still have SD complain that the screen is not full. If they asked for HD with 4:3 bugs, that’s what they are expecting so you need to redesign your graphics to keep your lower thirds and bugs in that area and looking good.
Watch some news stations and see how they do it. Usually the lower third extends to the edges of the HD but the text and bugs stay with 4:3 and it doesn’t look that bad. The parts that get cut off in 4:3 have to be things that won’t be missed.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com
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