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subtitles in 16:9
I know this may be an off the wall question, but when you do a film in 16:9 and watch it on a TV it gives you black bands (letterbox) on the TV. Is their a way to utilize the bottom black band for subtitling? I guess I am asking if there is a way to subtitle below a film shot in 16:9 so the words come out on the black band at the bottom of the screen.
Before I used to shoot 4:3 and then use a widescreen effect so I could easily add clear subtitles.
Any suggestions about subtitling in a 16:9 format would be appreciated.
Jack Niedenthal
Microwave Films of the Marshall Islands
http://www.microwavefilms.org
iMac i7 using Lion 10.7.x, HPX 170 using only one 64GB card
I live on an island in the middle of the Pacific, YOU are my only resource. -
6 Replies
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For burnt in subtitles, no … at least, not unless you specifically make separate 16:9 and 4:3 masters, in which case you could then burn your subs on the 4:3 master within the letterboxed area.
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I do this all the time. I’m a major FCPX fan but my workflow for substitling is best in FCP7.
Create a 4×3 timeline and drag in the 16×9 file. FC will ask you if you want to conform the timeline to the file and you say ‘no’.
Once the 16×9 video is in the timeline, select it and move it to the top of the frame. This will give you all the black at the bottom. I usually put three lines of subtitles there in 32 point text. I use Helvetica Neue for readability.
Now here’s where FCP7 has the workflow advantage; Create a text field by pulling down on the bottom-right drop-down of the Viewer and selecting Text. Plain old ordinary Text. Select the font, the point size and (for me) left justification.
If your subtitles are in English and/or you UNDERSTAND the foreign language you’re laying in, then you can copy/paste the WHOLE text into the text field in the Viewer and lay into the timeline as the second video layer over your main video. Target the second layer and and TURN OFF the Auto Select for V1. With the playhead crossing over your text object, Press F to load a COPY of the text object into the viewer.
Format the first three lines of text in the Viewer and put an empty line after the first three lines so the rest of the text disappears below.
Press F10. The text with the first three lines formatted will lay into V2 (you DID target V2 earlier, right?).
Now, you fly!
When the playhead is at the end of what you subtitled in the first three lines and you’re ready for the next three lines, just delete the first three lines in the Viewer and let the next three lines bubble up. Format and hit F10. Reposition the playhead. Rinse and repeat.
NewsVideo.com
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I would like to do this all in FCPX. Is there a way to create a 4:3 project in FCPX, and how would I do this? in the New Project popup menu it gives various formats (NTSC, 1080, 720, PAL, etc) and 1280×720 or 960 x 720 as options for resolutions…
Jack Niedenthal
Microwave Films of the Marshall Islands
http://www.microwavefilms.org
iMac i7 using Lion 10.7.x, HPX 170 using only one 64GB card
I live on an island in the middle of the Pacific, YOU are my only resource. -
Actually, I think I just solved this myself. I created a New Project as “NTSC SD”, then selected 720×480 DV as the resolution.
Okay, now comes the really dumb question: So, I filmed this project in HD with a nice camera, etc., so if I set this New project up as an NTSC SD and 720×480 DV will this result in a lower quality looking video?
Jack Niedenthal
Microwave Films of the Marshall Islands
http://www.microwavefilms.org
iMac i7 using Lion 10.7.x, HPX 170 using only one 64GB card
I live on an island in the middle of the Pacific, YOU are my only resource. -
Yes. Whether your HD is 1280 or 1920 it’ll now be 720 pixels horizontally. And the vertical? It’ll only be taking up part of the 480 vertical resolution!
You’ll be sending out Standard Def video with a picture of a high def video in it. But it works well enough in my experience. Because your original video was shot in HD, it’ll look better in that SD frame than video originally shot in SD. That’s a perception that can’t be explained except to say that the higher quality you put in, the better it looks.
But the only way you can have a 16×9 frame is to put the subtitle text over the video. Placing it below makes the frame taller and next thing you know you’re at an aspect ration of 4×3. Can’t have both the HD video and subtitle text unless the text is over the video.
NewsVideo.com
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Thanks, Don, I really appreciate your responses. I guess I will have to weigh this and make some kind of decision. I prefer to see the subtitles in a band, they are easier to read and they don’t distract as much from the film itself. BUT, that 16:9 really looks nice… Though again, it seems a shame to clutter up the film work with words flying across the bottom of the screen, but I guess it is one of those choices you need to make….
Jack Niedenthal
Microwave Films of the Marshall Islands
http://www.microwavefilms.org
iMac i7 using Lion 10.7.x, HPX 170 using only one 64GB card
I live on an island in the middle of the Pacific, YOU are my only resource.
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