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Letterbox + Project Size Questions
Hi,
Going to try and kill two birds with one stone here.
First: shooting a project with a mix of 1920 X 1080 and 1280 X 720 footage. Final output size will be 1280 X 720. Project size and RAM aren’t a factor. What I care about the most is the quality of the 1280 X 720 footage and how it will look once I export. Does it matter at all which project size I use, or is this just a Compressor thing I should tweak with.
Second: This same project is a 2.35 project. I’m putting tape on the LCD of a 7D to get 2.35 framing. In terms of post, what will give me THE LEAST LOSS of quality? A 2.35 effect or a 2.35 .png template which I will have to composite. Or is there an advantage to using one or the other?
Thanks.
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7 Replies
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I’d edit it at 1920×1080 and export to 720 when you’re done- this is much easier if you have Compressor. Otherwise edit at 720p.
For the letterbox- use the built-in Letterbox filter, which already has a preset for 2.35.
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[Nicolas Vallejo] “Does it matter at all which project size I use, or is this just a Compressor thing I should tweak with.”
Yes it matters. Make your project size 1280×720. Scaling down 1080 footage is better than scaling 720 footage up (and then scaling back down again).
[Nicolas Vallejo] “A 2.35 effect or a 2.35 .png template which I will have to composite. Or is there an advantage to using one or the other?”
Unless the .png is smaller than the project size, there won’t be a noticeable difference in the masking of the frame. However, a mask effect is much more adjustable.
Andy
https://www.timesavertutorials.com
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[Andy Neil] “Unless the .png is smaller than the project size, there won’t be a noticeable difference in the masking of the frame. However, a mask effect is much more adjustable.”
Also, a problem I forgot to mention when using the letterbox effect – is that you can’t make adjustments on the footage that doesn’t affect the letterbox. So, for example, if I want to scale some footage, that will affect the letterbox as well. Unless there’s something I do not know of, this can’t be adjusted.
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[Andy Neil] ”
Yes it matters. Make your project size 1280×720. Scaling down 1080 footage is better than scaling 720 footage up (and then scaling back down again).
“I already started editing at 1920/1080. Can I just change the project settings to 720p?
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If you’re scaling footage then you need to apply the letterbox effect to an adjustment layer above the other layers, or create a Motion generator effect that you can connect above all the other clips, similar to how you’d composite a png. The difference would be your ability to make changes to the amount of masking and the feather and the color after the fact. If you’re using a png, you’d have to recreate it in another program and reimport.
Regarding your other question, you can change the frame size, but you’re locked into your frame rate unless you create a new project and then copy/paste the clips from one to the other.
Andy
https://www.timesavertutorials.com
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Very helpful. Thanks.
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