AUGH! Stuff in frame that shouldn't be there!

Norm Sanders

Norm Sanders

Script Wrangler
Anyone know the rule of thumb for just HOW far things need to be out of frame on the LCD to not show in the actual footage?

I know I should be working with a field monitor, but I'm not and have had to rely on what the LCD (flip out ... think it'll be much different than the viewfinder?) is showing me. I just shot an hour long interview today, and thought I had the light stand & mic stand/boom out of frame ... at least they weren't showing in the LCD.

Now, when I'm downloading the footage, I can CLEARLY see on on each side of the frame. SOOOOO frusterating.
 
All may not be lost. Most NLEs show the full frame of the footage, because of overscan a lot of this will not be visable on most monitors or TVs. Watch your footage with the "TV Safe" overlay in your NLE and see if the stuff is outside of the overlay. If it is you may be ok, for use on TVs and monitors. Now most computer based formats, especially Quicktime and WMV will show the whole frame so you will be screwed. I have found that I can scale up (zoom in) DV footage 13% without noticeable artifacting on normal monitors or TVs, haven't tried it for projection.

As for your question, how far. You need to do your own research for that. I would set-up the camera shooting a piece of paper or poster board on a wall. Sketch out the edges of the frame on you LCD, then move out, in measured increments and mark the poster board paper. Review your footage on a monitor and in your NLE, making not of the differences.

It has been my experience that most LCDs show more than most monitors.
 
A similar thing happened to me when I was shooting a short last month. A shot I had revealed my boom mic operator through a mirror. I didnt notice till I started editing, so I went back to the location and got a clean shot of the mirror and clipped & sized it and basically just composited it over the existing mirror...worked flawlessly, maybe something like David said might work. Slight zoom?
 
Thanks, David. In the longrun, I'm sure I'm fine due to the TV safelines you mentioned. However, this is going to be projected at a 50th Anniversary, so I know the objects will likely show there, and no idea how it will look if I zoom in a touch.

Thanks for that "up to 13% note" ... I'll have to play with that & check for results.

As it turns out, because the boom/stand I had was a weanie piece of crap (kept bending/dipping into frame), I finally took it out of the frame altogether & propped the mic on a table in front of the subjects, hidden behind a flower pot they had there already. I then moved the camera to get a slightly better angle, so only about 15% of the footage has that "object in frame" issue.

Thanks again.
 
thisiswells said:
... Maybe time to try out that "pencil-shaped aspect" idea of yours, Envision!
Click to expand...

LOL! You remember that?! Funny stuff. Unfortunately, since the issue is to the sides of the frame, they'd still show up in that "pencil-width aspect". :beer:

Oh, and Invision, thanks for the idea of trying to get a clean take & editing in post ... but that would require me letting the client know I didn't get the exact shot I wanted ... I'll try to fix it here before I go back and admit that! :evil:
 
If you are projecting, I would try and see what it looks like using the projector you are going to use.

If it is a locked of shot and the mike and boom are not in the whole shot, see if a composite will work. I've had to do that before, is real simple. Make a matte of the area of the frame where the mike and boom come in and cover it with a matte of the frame without the mike and boom.
 
Envision said:
Anyone know the rule of thumb for just HOW far things need to be out of frame on the LCD to not show in the actual footage?
Click to expand...
The 100 and 100A have a real simple guideline already on 'em. Look at the LCD panel, and you'll notice a groove around the screen. In my experimentation, that groove pretty much corresponds to the size of the full frame. If you visualize what's off the screen and it would show up inside that groove-delineated area, it'll probably show up in the recorded frame (but, again, it'll probably be hidden on most TVs).
 
In Premiere 6.5 (and I'm sure other NLEs will do it one way or another), you can just selectively stretch the picture JUST to the left or the right, or just the top or the bottom, to lose an unwanted item in shot.

This will generally involve less overall picture stretching and can also avoid cutting people's heads and feet off that is a danger with a simple overall zoom in. Of course it alters the aspect ratio, but a small amount won't be noticeable.
 
You can also put a black frame around the entire video. It will be hidden on overscanned televisions, and isn't noticeable in quicktime or other computer video.
 
pmark23 said:
You can also put a black frame around the entire video. It will be hidden on overscanned televisions, and isn't noticeable in quicktime or other computer video.
Click to expand...

That makes alot of sense. I will keep that in the bag 'o tricks just in case.
 
Barry Green, thanks a ton for that tip ... yes, the groove is there, and that'll help me to get a better idea of what will be TOTALLY out of view of the lens.

pmark23, EXCELLENT tip about slightly matting the sides ... that's a great fix for the projection issue as well. Thank you!

jkc123, I actually have one of those LCD overlays on my LCD. It's not a matter of staying in or outside of the lines that are on the overlay, it was a matter of things showing up in the downloaded video frame even though they were NO where to be seen in the LCD ... but, thanks for the link anyway, just incase. I'm a fan of aspectcorrect stuff.
 
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