Shoot in 4:3 and formatting in 16:9 during post

H

haperez

Member
I am shooting my fist short film in a DVX100b and I will be using 4:3 framing. My goal is to convert it into 16:9 in post. I have a few questions.

1) I heard that I have to use masking tape to cover the top and bottom of the LCD screen for proper framing. How much should I cover with tape.

2)Is this a recommended method? I have been reading that many people uses an anamorphic adapter, which I cannot afford, or use sqeezed mode but I will loose some resolution at the end.

Thanks for all your help
 
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1) don't tape over your image. Shoot in letter box and use those as your frames when filming.

2) this method is fine, and you would have a little bit more resolution then shooting in squeeze. If I was to do this (assuming your working on final cut pro) I would take the letterbox footage and import it into a sequence setup for 16:9 footage. Then scale your footage to fit the 16:9 image. The scale option is under the basic motion tab.
 
Haperez,
I shoot full frame and letterbox in post. That way, you can adjust up or down a bit for headroom, etc. Masking your LCD is the way to go. Don't use regular tape, some of those adhesives aren't kind to LCDs. Use a framing overlay on your LCD or just rubber bands to show the approximate 16x9 lines.
EVS, Birns & Sawyer or Abel Cine, might have some of the Screen Skins I made for this purpose, in stock. Since the proliferation of HD camcorders, there hasn't been much call for them.
Hope this helps.
Ken
The Screen Skins guy
 
Can you sell the screen overlays directly?

I called the three companies and they don't have the screen overlays. I will be shooting in a week from today,

Please could you let me know what area should I cover on the LCD screen? I need to cover some of the screen with rubber bands but I don't know how much space should l cut from top and Bottom.

Thanks for your help
 
Thanks for the advise. I will be using final Cut pro.

One more question, how is the video quality once you scale the letterbox footage to fit the 16:9 image. Do you loose resolution or not?

Take care
 
haperez said:
Thanks for the advise. I will be using final Cut pro.

One more question, how is the video quality once you scale the letterbox footage to fit the 16:9 image. Do you loose resolution or not?

Take care
Click to expand...

I'll do a test for you tonight. I'll post the results in an hour.
 
Why don't you just shoot in squeeze mode? You'll have a lot more vertical resolution then (the full 576 lines instead of something like 405 lines (in PAL that is, NTCS is different, but the principle still applies))
 
Why would you shoot in cam letterbox and not do it in post? You get more framing options in post shooting without it. Am I missing something?
 
If you want 16:9, your best result is to shoot squeeze. (Or the anamorphic adapter, but obviously, you don't have that.) Cropping and uprezzing in post (which is what you'll do any other way) will cost you more resolution than squeeze will.
 
hjrt said:
Why don't you just shoot in squeeze mode? You'll have a lot more vertical resolution then (the full 576 lines instead of something like 405 lines (in PAL that is, NTCS is different, but the principle still applies))
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advise.

So to get the best resolution from DVX in 16:9, squeeze is the way to go?
 
Laurence said:
Why would you shoot in cam letterbox and not do it in post? You get more framing options in post shooting without it. Am I missing something?
Click to expand...

So, What format do you suggest? 4:3, letterbox or squeeze? and Why?

Thanks for your suggestions
 
David Jimerson said:
If you want 16:9, your best result is to shoot squeeze. (Or the anamorphic adapter, but obviously, you don't have that.) Cropping and uprezzing in post (which is what you'll do any other way) will cost you more resolution than squeeze will.
Click to expand...

David,

I have been researching a bit and several people suggest to have the best resolution do it in 4:3 and get the 16:9 in post or use letterbox. But usually some people prefer to stay away from squeeze. From your suggestion and experience (21,000 posts, very impressive) squeeze will be the way to go.

Just let me recap - The obtain the best image quality in 16:9, the anamorphic adapter is the best option(I cannot afford it right now), then the second best is squeezed mode. This will be OK if I want to send the DVD to Film festival and project it on Big Screen during screenings.

Best Regards
 
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