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How to make an Anamorphic 1.85 DVD!
Hey guys,
we are currently going through a 2k Digital Intermediate and will receive our 1.85 ratio files on a hardrive soon! We would like to make an anamorphic DVD from this source material, however ,since 16:9 has a 1.78 apsect ratio we are running into a little issue:
I took our 2k 1.85 testfile, squeezed it into the 720 DVD width in After Effect and then stretched it vertically by 33%. Of course, since I am working with a 1.85 aspect ratio some of the top and bottom were cut off!
Now, my question is: How do studios deal with this? I got an email from someone who said:
“Put it in a 720×480 comp. Figure the math to put a little letterbox on it – DVD will be 16:9 which is 1.78, not 1.85. You’ll want to end up with a 720×480 comp that is anamorphic with a little letterboxing for the difference between 1.78 and 1.85.”
However, I’m not sure how to do this math or what kind of letterbox he is talking about!
Do you guys have any idea? Can anyone take me through this?
I’d greatly appreciate your help!
Philipp
PS: I can email my source files to anyone who is interested!
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7 Replies
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the only way I could think to do this is, open after effects,
load a 720×480 DV Widescreen (1.2) comp (anamorphic is what it is)
then load your footage and size it until the right and left edge
are on the edge of the comp.If it happens to crop it thats the way it is. There is no other way
to do it short of cropping a little if it does crop. -
The standard way to do this in Hollywood is to take a slight snip off the left and right edges of the image, in essence making it into 1.78:1. I’ve not seen and motion pictures on anamorphic DVD that use a slight letterbox. The letterbox technique is OK for CRT sets, but on a flat screen display with no overscan, it would be immediately visible.
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Actually, I would like to preserve my entire picture without cutting anything off at the top or bottom! Most Anaomorphic Hollywood Movies actually do put a small letterbox on top and bottom to compensate for 1.85 or 2.35 and 16:9. That’s why even on a widescreen TV you will often see letterboxes, even though smaller than on a regular 4:3!
One example is the “Constant Gardener” for example! I demuxed the DVD, importet it in After Effects and saw the small letterbox on top and bottom.
My question is, how to do the math for the letterboxes and also if a DVD is made in the 1:1 Pixel Aspect Ratio or 0.9 Pixel Aspect Ratio (Like the constant Gardener)
Hope someone knows 🙂
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Can’t you just create a 16:9 comp in AE, scale the image in AE and until left and right edges are max and then you’ll have a slight letter box at the top and bottom – something like 720 x 464 (1.20 pix ar) would seem to be the right size.
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Can’t you just create a 16:9 comp in AE, scale the image in AE and until left and right edges are max and then you’ll have a slight letter box at the top and bottom – something like 720 x 464 (1.20 pix ar) would seem to be the right size. The letterboxing will happen naturally.
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It has to stay 720×480 no matter what you do.
Its just the pixel ratio of 0.9 or 1.2 that makes the picture anamorphic.
ikarus79m the only thing that can be done, is to bring your footage into an after effects Widescreen 1.2 comp and decide to crop or not or scale or not from there.
There is no other option available if you want it anamorphic.
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ikarus79m,
If you haven’t gotten the problem figured out yet, I do have a photoshop file that has the mask size for making a 1:85 movie. I can e-mail it to you or if you want to e-mail to me a file and possibly your After Effects project, I can check it with the mask generator that we use in our machine room and make sure that you are set-up correctly.As a side note: 16×9 is a generic term and comes in 3 flavors depending on what the film was actually shot for. There is 1:78, 1:85 and 2:35. When I encode for DVD, I have to find out what flavor the movie was shot for, add the mask, then flag the encoder for a 16×9 image.
All video is .9 aspect ratio. The confusion comes in when you are generating computer elements that need to look correct for video. After Effects is nice because you can tell it what a specific file is and it can mix and match. If your composition is set up for going to DVD, it needs to end up at 720×480 and at the.9 aspect ratio. If it is going to end up being a 16×9 image (with whichever mask is required), you will need to set it up to be anamorphic the flag the encoder that it is 16×9.I hope this helps or that you were able to solve the problem.
Let me know if you need my e-mail address or if you want me to e-mail the file to you.Leigh
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