How are you compressing your film to down 50MB?

Richard J. Johnson

Richard J. Johnson

Joystick Member
I use FCP with Compressor but I can't get my twilightfest film down to 50MB and the audio is not attached to the video file. I have tried 60min high quality encode so far. When I export using QT the file is 1.27 gigs. Any help would be appreciated. I am fairly new to Commpressor as well. And it is not HD.
 
Jack Daniel Stanley said:
60 min high quality is a DVD setting

You need to look for the H.264 settings or Web settings.
Click to expand...

Please excuse my noobness on compression. I tried using Quicktimemovie, I then changed the settings to h.264 best quality and it brought 1.25 gigs to 387MB. There a lot of settings I can't figure out which one to use to preserve the quality. It is frustrating because some of these take a long time to do and is still too big.
 
Use H.264 and calculate your required bitrate based on the length of the film. You can always get the filesize down to what you need.

Example:

50 megabytes = 51,200 kilobytes
4 minute film = 240 seconds

51,200 / 240 = 213.3 kilobytes per second for video and audio

If you're using 96 kilobytes in your audio stream (use aac 96kb) leaves you with 117 kilobytes per second for video.

Don't forget to look at the resize frame options and choose the best quality options for scaling if you're changing from your native resolution. Also consider dropping the frame rate too?
 
HuckLBerry said:
Use H.264 and calculate your required bitrate based on the length of the film. You can always get the filesize down to what you need.

Example:

50 megabytes = 51,200 kilobytes
4 minute film = 240 seconds

51,200 / 240 = 213.3 kilobytes per second for video and audio

If you're using 96 kilobytes in your audio stream (use aac 96kb) leaves you with 117 kilobytes per second for video.

Don't forget to look at the resize frame options and choose the best quality options for scaling if you're changing from your native resolution. Also consider dropping the frame rate too?
Click to expand...

Thank you. I wish I understood what you just said:). When I get home I will use this to try to figure it out. Could I take the 387MB file and compress it again? I need to get foresight to 50MB and I have to get a 9 minute corporate video from 1.2 gigs to 100MB. Thanks for the reply Learning is beautiful thing. but I might PM you.:beer:
 
Here'a a recipe: Export using QT Compressor; select BROADBAND HIGH (or MEDIUM) from the pulldown; in Options select H.264 and your custom aspect ratio.
 
. File>Export
2. Format > Movie to Quicktime Movie
3. Click on "Options button"
4. Click on "Settings"
5. Compression settings>Use H.264
6. Frame Rate> Set your frame rate.
7. Key Frames > I find Automatic works best.
8. Check "Frame Reordering"
9. Data Rate. Check "Restrict to" and start with a figure of about 970 kbits/sec. If your final file is too small or too large (e.g. for the DVXuser fest 50MB limit), this is the number you make smaller or larger in subsequent exports until you get it right.
10 Quality slider> Best
11. Encoding> Best Quality (Multi Pass)
12. Hit OK
13. Filters> you needn't touch this, unless you want to make some last minute adjustments to contrast, brightness etc. The H.264 is a b*stard for making films appear lighter/more washed out. The best way to counter this is to hit this Filters button, go into Adjustments>ColorSync and then play around with the source and destination profile settings until you find one that suits you. You can always use your mac system monitor preferences to create a new profile if you need to. The main thing to play around with here is the gamma.
14. Size> NTSC 720 x 486 4:3. If you have used widescreen, go to custom setting and put 720 x 405 (I actually prefer 720 x 404 - which is divisible by four and might just make a quality difference, don't know). If you are not satisfied with the quality you may want to try a smaller setting (in proportion of course)
15. Hit OK
16. Hit "Sound Settings" Button
17. Format> I use AAC
16. Channels> Stereo (L/R) unless you used Mono sound.
17. Rate>48.000 kHz (or 32.000 kHz if this is what you used, see above).
18. Check "Show Advanced settings"
19. Render Settings, Quality> Best
20. Encoding Strategy> Average Bit Rate
21. Target Bit Rate> 128 kbps
22. Hit OK
23. Make sure Video and Sound checkboxes are checked. Uncheck "Prepare for Internet Streaming"
21. Export your video

You should now have a decent quality video of around 50 MB. If necessary, re-export from Quicktime Pro changing the Restricted Data Rate (see #9 above) until you get the optimal file size.
 
Filthrich-

Judging by your sig I'd think you would have a good grasp on something as simple as compression.

Zim-

Great rundown. You really took your time to go into that kind of detail.

I'll follow your guidelines when I run mine through QT Pro.
 
I forgot to give Horncastle the credit for that. He gave me that the last fest. I saved it because it was such a good help for me I knew someone else would need it.
 
Kyle Stebbins said:
Filthrich-

Judging by your sig I'd think you would have a good grasp on something as simple as compression.

Zim-

Great rundown. You really took your time to go into that kind of detail.

I'll follow your guidelines when I run mine through QT Pro.
Click to expand...

You think Zim's rundown is simple? :huh: Compression is not my area of expertise. But I can change a diaper in like 4 seconds. Try that buddy.:beer:
 
It is not mine either. But do about 900 and ACC for sound and that really cuts it down.
 
filthrich said:
You think Zim's rundown is simple? :huh: Compression is not my area of expertise. But I can change a diaper in like 4 seconds. Try that buddy.:beer:
Click to expand...
I can do both. :)

Seriously though, following Horncastle's list that Zim posted is quite simple. Just read it and follow it one step at a time. It's all there.

Any problems, just post them here.

Good luck!

Mike
 
Zim said:
I forgot to give Horncastle the credit for that. He gave me that the last fest. I saved it because it was such a good help for me I knew someone else would need it.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that credit Zim!

In case it's of use to anyone, here is a pdf I made up and posted in another thread. It's longer than Zim's version above but may be useful to someone (including PAL users).
Jason
 

Attachments

Zim and Horncastle,
I'm pretty familiar with compression, but I also want to thank you for taking the time to post that. It will be very much appreciated come compression time.

JC
 
I got the movie down to 48MB but I am having 2 issues. I shot the movie in 16:9 and when it is done converting it is stretched out and looks crazy. And I am getting these interlaced line things every time someone moves. So I tried it using 4:3 and the aspect ratio looks right but those lines are even worse. Then when I get rid of the lines, there are black bars around the entire movie, Like it is too small for the viewer. I put it 720X405, 720X402, and a few others but it keeps stretching the image and losing quality. I tried different data rate changes as well. 970, 960,940 etc. I guess my question is why am I getting those lines and why can't I get it stay in widescreen and maintain the quality?
 
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