I'm about to enter a few film festivals for pure fun. However, I'm wondering whether or not to crop my 4:3 SD production to 16:9 within the 4:3 SD display. It kinda modernizes it for the small screen but what about the big screen? I have to re-encode anyway to color correct so I was thinking this would be a good time to ask around. Any pros or cons here? Thanks
Screening 4:3 or 16:9
- Thread starter zoob
- Start date
Aspect ratio isn't an affectation you add later; it's an artistic choice to be made in pre-production. It's a part of the overall image and part of the artistic intent. It's a basic compositional question. If you intended your project to be 4:3, then it should stay 4:3.
Also, as said, if you haven't framed for 16:9 from the get-go, you will most likely end up with awkward frame compositions if you just decide to crop it.
You really need to make this decision before you shoot. I know you mean your sig line as a joke, but you need to be asking the questions first.
Agreed with all responses. If composed for 4:3 originally and assuming it looks great with that aspect ratio, then it should stay that way. Just like the first 20 minutes of Oz coming out this week. Creating a native 16:9 version of that would require you to extract 2/3rds of the image throwing away 1/3rd as part of a tilt & scan process, then maybe it works. Certainly the Seinfeld episodes rebroadcast in HD have had this done. Perhaps the last few seasons were shooting for 4:3 center extract from a 16:9 frame. So if HD is a delivery for the festival, you will most likely be pillarboxing or adding side bars to create a center 4:3 image in a 16:9 frame.
Michael
Michael