How do I have different aspect ratios in anamorphic project

[Tim Wijbenga]

I think it’s wise to setup you project as the majority of your material is. So in your case that’s anamorphic.

So there are two things you can do. You can put all your 4:3 material into compressor and adjust everything into anamorphic. You can either crop this material or you can have bars on either side of the screen.

But you can also just put it in fcp and render everytime you make a change in the 4:3 material.

Depending on the amount of footage the choice yours. That means if it’s a serious project and you have to make a lot of adjustments i would go for the first option.

[Beverley Callow]

Thanks i’ll try that and be back if I’m stuck…

[Chris Poisson]

Beverly,

Sometimes when I mix 4×3 with 16×9 material I set up a 4×3 sequence and letterbox all the 16×9 stuff. When I come to a 4×3 clip I just let it fill the screen.

The other way I sometimes work is to set up an anamorphic sequence, and when I come to a 4×3 clip I let it have bars on both sides, or blow it up in Compressor and crop off the top and bottom.

Have a wonderful day.

[Beverley Callow]

Thanks for your helpful answers – I haven’t used Compressor yet, actually I have been studying sound in the last year and a half and I had only been making films for 2 1/2 years before that so FCP and all this is fairly new. I will definitely take the footage into Compressor and try to do something with it – unfortunately to blow it up and letterbox the 4:3 will probably affect it’s quality – it is from old vhs footage. I am not sure how to import a sequence that is in 4:3 into the 16:9 project – is that possible? Also, are you meaning pillarbox the 16:9 stuff? Won’t that cut off the image so it doesn’t look so beautiful?

[David Roth weiss]

Beverly,

Just import the 4×3 footage as you normally would. Put it on the 16×9 timeline. Then double click on the clip in the timeline to load it into the viewer. Now, open the Motion tab in the viewer and use the scale parameter to scale you footage in various ways to see they do. 133% should fill the screen — render it, see how looks. Next to the same footage that’s not scaled it will look soft, but you’re not going to be doing a side by side comparison, and VHS looks horrible anyway, so so what.

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

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[Beverley Callow]

Thank you that’s the best answer – it’s working – I knew it was simple. yes it’s not going to be clear live digital but how could it?