Pillarboxing on the sides

[Movie_Dude_3]

Hey guys,

I'm pretty naive when it comes to Premiere - I only really do basic cuts, fades, and effects. The projects I do as a videographer haven't really demanded much more than that so far. I'm using Premiere CS3.

Here's the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPM2QsMMS30

My buddy and I filmed a concert with two cameras: his was an older Sony model and mine the Panny DVX 100b. I had to shoot 4:3 since his camera doesn't support shooting in wide screen.

So, I export to Premiere, edit my footage as 4:3, then export video as 4:3. I upload to Youtube and get this nasty pillarboxing on the sides...even when I export a 4:3 video as 16:9, it's still there - just a little less so.

Anyone know how to get rid of these bars entirely on Premiere? Any help would be so appreciated.

 

[Huy Vu]

Not sure what you're trying to do. Youtube exhibit their video in 16:9 now so if you're putting 4:3 footage on there there's gonna be those black bars on the side.

 

[Movie_Dude_3]

Not sure what you're trying to do. Youtube exhibit their video in 16:9 now so if you're putting 4:3 footage on there there's gonna be those black bars on the side.

Since it's 4:3 by default...I want to know how to possibly 'stretch' the image to fit a 16:9 space, if possible in Premiere.

 

[Mike Beckett]

I would create a new 16:9 sequence, drop your previously edited sequence onto the new timeline, and use the scale property to adjust the size to the desired effect. Then render from the new 16:9 timeline instead.

There'll be some loss of quality of course, but it's up to you to decide how much of that is acceptable. At best, you could reduce the pillarboxes slightly. Clearly you'll have to allow for any captions/subtitles etc. and maybe adjust them to fit the new layout.

Or do what they do here on the BBC, place a zoomed-in, blurred copy of the 4:3 timeline in one track, scaled to completely fill the 16:9 frame, then put your clean 4:3 sequence on top of it. I'm not sure if I'm doing the best job in explaining that one, and I think the effect can look a little naff.

 

[Movie_Dude_3]

I would create a new 16:9 sequence, drop your previously edited sequence onto the new timeline, and use the scale property to adjust the size to the desired effect. Then render from the new 16:9 timeline instead.

There'll be some loss of quality of course, but it's up to you to decide how much of that is acceptable. At best, you could reduce the pillarboxes slightly. Clearly you'll have to allow for any captions/subtitles etc. and maybe adjust them to fit the new layout.

Or do what they do here on the BBC, place a zoomed-in, blurred copy of the 4:3 timeline in one track, scaled to completely fill the 16:9 frame, then put your clean 4:3 sequence on top of it. I'm not sure if I'm doing the best job in explaining that one, and I think the effect can look a little naff.

I'm not 100% sure what you're referring to with the BBC technique, but I'll definitely try your advice. I appreciate the help.

 

[Mike Beckett]

I'm not 100% sure what you're referring to with the BBC technique, but I'll definitely try your advice. I appreciate the help.

They use it as a means to show old 4:3 footage in news reports or documentaries sometimes. I've attached a few screenshots to show a rough idea:

1. I've dragged a 4x3 DV video onto a 16x9 DV sequence's timeline
2. Clip effects: I've scaled it to 135% to fill the frame, and applied a 25% blur
3. I've dragged another copy of the 4x3 video onto the same timeline.

It's easy to do a better job than this, this was just a quick demo. You could darken or lighten the background, apply a different blur, put a border round the inner clip, etc.

Having said that, I don't really like the effect, I just thought I'd try to explain a bit better.

 

[Pietro Impagliazzo]

Does BBC do this? Looks so odd...

 

[Mike Beckett]

Pietro,

They probably do a better job than me, but yes, they use this as one of their techniques for 4:3 footage sometimes. I've seen it on peak time TV (The One Show springs to mind).

More often, they just scale the footage to make it fit 16:9, or leave black borders.

 

[Movie_Dude_3]

Pietro,

They probably do a better job than me, but yes, they use this as one of their techniques for 4:3 footage sometimes. I've seen it on peak time TV (The One Show springs to mind).

More often, they just scale the footage to make it fit 16:9, or leave black borders.

Now I get it! I think I've seen the effect used before on broadcast news. For a concert, I actually think the blur on the sides might work for me. I'll give it a shot. If not, I'll just scale the image.

Really appreciate your time and help!