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Help! Letterbox footage looks wrong in FCP!
Hello,
I shot some footage with a DVX100A 24p letterbox. I can’t seem to get the sequence setting right in FCP. I am using FCP 5 on a mac. My sequence settings are 720X480 NTSC DV 3:2 pixel aspect ratio NTSC- CCIR 60i/DV… and using DV/DVCPRO-NTSC compressor. Anamorphic 16:9 is checked. I’ve messed around with almost all the settings and the footage still looks weird in both the canvas and when I output a test in QT. The footgage basically floats in black – it is letterboxed but there is black space on the left and right sides. Outputting the QT test – the footage is squashed together and is not 16:9. Any help would be greatly appreciated! I’m sure it is simple but I’ve been trolling help sites and have not found any answers. Thanks!
RG
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9 Replies
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Rebecca,
You said it was shot letterboxed, but now you’re checking anamorphic. You can’t have it both ways… Open a new sequence before adding any video to the timeline and this time leave anamorphic unchecked.
That should do it for you…
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los AngelesPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.
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I think I might have tried it and it looked squashed. Is that ok? Thanks! I will try it. I appreciate your suggestion!
Sincerely,
RG -
Hello David,
So I tried your suggestion of putting the footage in a regular timeline and its a little better but the footage is still floating in black. When I output a QT movie as a test the footage looks a bit squished and there is a black frame all the way around the clip instead of the black letterbox that should be there. Here are my sequence settings:
Frame Size: 640 X 480 NTSC 4:3
pixel aspect ratio square
timebase 24
compressor DV/DVCPRO NTSC
anamorphic is not checked and I’m using FCP5
I’ve tinkered with every setting and I can’t figure this out! Is it the way I imported the footage? I shot with a DVX100A letterbox – would this happen if I shot squeeze instead of letterbox? I’m almost positive I shot letterbox though. Thanks!RG
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Rebecca,
There’s a little toggle inside canvas and viewer size dropdown that says something like “correct for pixel shape.” Try checking or unchecking that?
Next, if the above fails, send me a few (two) seconds of video exported at current settings to drw at drwfilms dot com.
David
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los AngelesPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.
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Did you check the distort setting in the motion tab of the clip viewer?
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Did you check the distort setting in the motion tab of the clip viewer?
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Thanks for your suggestion. I actually got the footage to look correct by changing the aspect ratio in the files in the capture folder, but now I need to know how to have the clips in the timeline reference the corrected media. Any guesses on that one? Thanks again for your reply!
RG
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When you Reconnect you video click search and make sure the “Matched Name and Reel Only” box is not checked. Then find the file you desire.
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Thank you John! I really appreciate it. I’ll try that and hopefully it will work ; )
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