How to frame for Video?

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DVX100Shooter

Veteran
I recently shot a custom car show with my D90 and when I imported my clips into FCP (after conversion) some of my shots looked like my framing was off. I am editing in a 1280x720 timeline. When I have my safety overlays turned on some of my shots like people's heads are outside of the safety areas! I wish there was a way to shoot in that same format on the camera so you would know what is a good shot. Full screen video on the camera does me no good once I ingest that into FCP if the framing was off. I am thinking everything is within the safety zone when I am shooting. The 1280x720 timeline stretches the video out. I guess I could go and manually adjust each clip to bring them within the safety zone but there has to be a better way to judge my framing when shooting.
 
DVX100Shooter said:
The 1280x720 timeline stretches the video out.
Click to expand...

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by this. It will be exactly the same aspect ratio as what you shot in the camera. It will not be 'stretched out' at all.

As for your framing problems, be aware that the safe zones are not important on all displays. They mainly apply to old CRT monitors - many LCD displays, as well as any web video's, will display the full image.

Having said that, if you're subject is falling outside the title-safe areas then most likely you are not employing proper framing practice. Use the same rule of thirds that you use in photography to divide the frame up, and compose your image with key subjects or objects (eg the horizon, people) on those lines and with key focal points (eg a person's eyes) at the points where those lines intersect. If you follow the rule of thirds when composing your images, not only will they look much better, but everything will fall inside your safety zones.
 
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