Adding custom pillarbox's to 4:3 footage

S

stevesteven

New member
Well, the title pretty much says it all. I'm looking to add custom (color, etc.) pillarbox's to 4:3 footage (essentially turning it into 16:9, intentionally, so that it can be played on a 16:9 TV). The main reason I would like to do this is for aesthetic effect (deviating from the typical black bars that would normally show up when 4:3 footage is played on a 16:9 TV). Is this possible in FCP, and if yes, how is it done?
 
Effects > Video Filters > Matte > Widescreen
But, you'll still have a 4:3 frame size.

You may need to make the overall frame size a 16:9 frame size, which may require up-scaling the footage. Make a 16:9 SD Sequence (you're working with SD, I assume), drop this original Sequence into it. Right-click this new Nested Sequence, from the pop-up menu choose Open In Viewer. Then in the Motion tab adjust the scale up so that the footage fills the screen
 
I'm not sure Ben's solutions address the OP's desires -- the first will put 16:9 material in a 4:3 frame, the second describes filling a 16:9 frame with 4:3 material without pillar bars ...

I'd have though you'd drop the 4:3 material on a 16:9 timeline, that will leave you with pillar bars on either side of the 4:3 centre of a 16:9 frame (call it the 12:9 centre if you will) -- if this sequence sits on a timeline above a sequence that is simply a custom still of some colour or design that fills the frame (or at least the relevant edges of the frame) then you will have pillar bars that are of custom colour and design.

Cheers,
GB
 
I gave solutions to do either. Fill the screen, or have pillar bars. It's not rocket science from the information I gave. Drop 4:3 into 16:9 and you still have to enlarge the size to fill the frame, and still have pillar bars. It's the enlarging that's the problem, will degrade the image quite a bit. Think it's all there, pretty obvious. Not that complicated.
 
Didn't mean to denigrate your answer BenB, but I missed the part where it created pillar bars. And if you enlarge the frame size to degrade the image ... you have no pillar bars, right? I read your suggests as 'widescreen matte' creates letterbox on SD material, 'motion tab' fills a widescreen frame with a 4:3 source, no pillar bars ...

If you enlarge the size to fill the frame, it would seem to me there are no pillar bars. Frankly, I see no enlarging in the OP's question.

Cheers,
GB
 
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