Shooting for TV?

F

fieldreportermf

Active member
Hello,

I am shooting a local "Zombie Walk" and have a couple of quick questions about settings.

I'm fairly confident with the lighting, use of zebra stripes, focus assist and choice of format( 1080/24p), however, I'm a little unsure about how to set the HMC for best results when the final output is SD 4:3. Would anyone be kind enough to offer a suggestion on how I should set the Cam as to allow for the footage to 'appropriatly fit' a TV screen(without being too stretched out or squished)? Is there an on-camera setting that I can configure (letterbox, etc) that would yield the best results?

Thanks for all suggestions/tips and I apologize if this question is a little on the 'bonehead' side...

*I am using Toast 9 to convert and Final Cut Express to edit and export*

Thanks Much.
 
You can always turn on the 4x3 on screen guides, so your framing will work for 4x3. The camera also allows you to play out in either letterboxed or cropped 4x3. If you're going to do it in post, drop it into your SD timeline (don't let final cut change the project setting) and increase the size of the footage to about 51%... of course you can always reframe as needed, too....
 
voxwerx said:
You can always turn on the 4x3 on screen guides, so your framing will work for 4x3. The camera also allows you to play out in either letterboxed or cropped 4x3. If you're going to do it in post, drop it into your SD timeline (don't let final cut change the project setting) and increase the size of the footage to about 51%... of course you can always reframe as needed, too....
Click to expand...

Thank you Vovwerx!

I will turn on the 4x3 screen guides. Can I ask how to set the "play out" to be 4x3? Also(silly question I'm sure), how do I prevent FCE from changing the project settings? and what would be the reason for increasing the size to 51%?

Again, thanks for your advice and sorry for the barrage of questions...Greatly appreciated
 
The output setting are in the playback mode menu under "AV out setup" - then "DOWNCON MODE" just select what you want there, hook up your yellow/white /red cables, and you should be good to go.

In Final Cut- if you have already made your project settings ready for 4x3, when you try to drag the 16x9 footage over it's going to ask you is you want match the setting to the footage... just select the cancel or no option... which ever it is (I don't even look). 51% just seems to work about exactly right for filling up the frame. Play around with it a little and see what you like. It will be in your "motion" tab... the software seems to want to default to a letterboxed frame, instead of filling the frame and cropping the video. If you are doing SD work, this is one area where having all that extra video is super nice... you can reframe, resize (within reason) and really do a lot with your footage in post... Kind of makes you want to go out and get a RED camera....
 
I thought that modern TVs are widescreen, and for those stone-aged 4:3 TVs a TV station can use letterboxing.
 
Funny... Talk to old engineers and they'll tell you that a television has a cathode ray tube... all these other devices are LCD panel monitors...

I totally wish I could only do 16x9... until I watch an IMAX presentation....
 
voxwerx said:
Funny... Talk to old engineers and they'll tell you that a television has a cathode ray tube... all these other devices are LCD panel monitors.
Click to expand...
Funny, but sale of HD monitors is prohibited on consumer market by some weird law. I mean, they should be explicitly marked as monitors, but also I believe must be marked as "for professional use only". Consumer-use devices must have an HD tuner built-in, by law. So they ARE TV sets :-) Sorry for digression.

Also, CRT TVs can be widescreen. Just travel to Europe, you will see lots of widescreen CRTs there, not HD ones, but SD. Those who do not have a widescreen TV watch letterboxed image.
 
I was just saying.... just a perspective thing, ya know? I'm afraid that I will be stuck doing "full-screen" SD 4x3 television for a long time to come- that's what pay the bills. But I'll keep hoping for the "new" standards to finally trickle into the backwoods!
 
Cranky said:
I thought that modern TVs are widescreen, and for those stone-aged 4:3 TVs a TV station can use letterboxing.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the input Cranky...do you have a suggestion on the best FCE export settings for a file to be delivered to a station for broadcast( I'm wanting to save it on a USB drive and hand it off)? Again, thanks.
 
fieldreportermf said:
Thanks for the input Cranky...do you have a suggestion on the best FCE export settings for a file to be delivered to a station for broadcast( I'm wanting to save it on a USB drive and hand it off)? Again, thanks.
Click to expand...
I use Vegas, so no valuable input from me, just smalltalk. I wonder did they specifically ask for 4:3? Is letterboxed content still a no-no for SD broadcast in the States?
 
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