Change aspect ratio after project is complete

S

sean90291

Veteran
I have a 16:9 project.

I need to export it for the web to some rather unusual dimensions. And so I want to add black letterboxing so that my export maintains the picture's aspect ratio, but fits in the more square-ish box.

Is there a way to change the project's aspect ratio after it's done, and add these black bars?

I ultimately want a 468x355 QuickTime movie with black bars above and below my 16:9 footage.
 
Create a new video track and drop a reformat effect (16:9) on the track. This will scale the anamorphic video to 4:3, you should now have black bars on top and bottom. Export a QT ref file and use a compression app (Sorenson, Cleaner, etc) to scale/crop the movie for the web.
 
Use the reformatting effects in the Effects Pallet. Different options depending on what you want.

In Avid, setting the source and record monitor to 16:9 only changes it on the source and record monitor, it's not actually doing anything to the footage. So you'd set your source / record back to 4:3 and then make it look how you want with the reformatting effects.

Edit to add: Beat me by mere seconds.
 
Hm. I'm missing something though. By adding Pan and Scan (reformat) I can chop off the footage's top/bottom to get a new aspect ratio. But I actually want to add negative/black space above and below to accord with the weird 1.3183 aspect ratio. Don't I? I'm definitely missing something--I've never used Pan and Scan before. Just letterboxes.

Thing is I don't wanna chop any of the image off. I want to re-format so that the aspect ratio has more height vertically with black bars.

EDIT: I guess I could scale the image smaller, before adding the pan & scan. Hm. Sounds strange, but maybe I'm onto something? Or I have no idea what I'm doing. Take your pick. ;-)
 
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I personally wouldn't use Pan and Scan either. I was thinking more the 16:9 letterbox effect. Then you can crop / scale in Squeeze like milksac said.
 
I couldn't do it. Just wasn't getting the formula right. Damn should have paid attention in algebra class.

So I just imported the footage to After Effects via QuickTime reference file and changed the comp size to increase the height in the correct proportion (that require some math). After Effects added the letterboxing instantly and will export any size I want and retain the new aspect ratio (without distorting the original footage). Sweet.

I wish I knew whether I really needed to deinterlace or not. I'm a bit confused. It's destined for the web only. I don't see any interlacing artifacts. It's HDV footage (shot progressive 23.97 to HDV tape using the HV20). If I can get away without deinterlacing I will. But I'm concerned that interlacing artifacts show up more egregiously online.
 
I'm assuming that you're cutting in a 23.976 timeline, and when you captured the footage you removed advanced pulldown?

If so, then you do not need to deinterlace, since the footage is inherently progressive.

Nice AE workaround by the way. If you can't get it to work one way, use another. :)
 
No, I cut on a 1080i/59.94 timeline. There is no easy pulldown from HV20 footage. I could have bought Cineform's software to do it before I started editing, but didn't want to spend more money because I won't be using the HV20 for much longer.

So it's still interlaced!

There are so many deinterlacing options. None of them clear. Even Avid's own Fluidfilm effect seems to be described in very conflicting terms on the Avid forum (one Avid forum moderator says you end up with real progressive footage, while another Avid forum moderator says you don't). And I can't seem to add that effect after a project is complete (i.e., Timewarp effects seem to want to be added first before any other effect or fade).

I could use Magic Bullet deinterlacer in After Effects. Haven't tried it yet. And when I dropped the effect on my comp I immediately got some warning about 29.97 vs. 30fps compatibility that I didn't understand.

I could export a high-res QuickTime Animation and then put it through Sorenson to get a smaller, deinterlaced file (the Sorenson Web Filter deinterlaces).

I would have gone straight to Sorenson but I couldn't get it to spit out the right aspect ratio either.

Question I have left is...what if I don't deinterlace HV20 footage for the web?
 
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