OT: Shooting & Posting For WideScreen LCD

jkrepner wrote on 2/9/2006, 8:00 AM
Well, this is sort of OT, but we will all start to deal with this as time goes forward (or maybe we already do and I'm just slow on the uptake.)

I'm shooting and editing a piece for a tradeshow that will be played on a progressive 16x9 LCD screen. This is the first time that I've known for sure what sort of TV set my work will be displayed on. I'm bringing in a more experienced cameraman to help with grip duties and DP. His main camera these days (over a 2/3 Betacam) is the Panny DVX100.

My question is: should we shoot "widescreen" in-camera (electronic anamorphic compress - not letterbox), do something in post to get the 4:3 footage to display correctly in 16:9 land, or let the LCD TV pillar box the footage and deal with chopped sides. (or, get the client to get a hold of a 4:3 LCD?)

Which would yield the best results? I bet keeping the footage in its native 4:3 would be best.

(p.s. should I dabble in the 24p of the DVX or just stick with 30i?)

Thanks in advance.
Jeff

Comments

JohnnyRoy wrote on 2/9/2006, 8:10 AM
Just my opinion, but knowing that the presentation of your work will be on a 16:9 LCD I would definitely shoot it in 16:9. No question about it, take advantage of the format. I would keep it 60i (not 24p) unless you are going for the film cadence as a “look” for this work.

~jr
jkrepner wrote on 2/9/2006, 8:59 AM
Thanks, I'll get with my camera guy and I'll make sure to run a test first in 16:9.

I don't have a 16:9 NTSC monitor, so I guess I can set the Vegas project to widescreen DV, and the preview monitor will be 16:9 on the computer screen and will appear elongated on the 4:3 NTSC monitor, right?

I'm going to be purchasing some footage from a stock house that will most likely be 4:3, how's that going to look on a 16:9 screen? Will Vegas just chop the top and bottom? (I'm not worried about losing that part of the picture, I just want to make sure it doesn't lose too much resolution)

Thanks again.
Jeff


JohnnyRoy wrote on 2/9/2006, 9:14 AM
You can set your Vegas project to DV Widescreen and check the preview window option to Simulate Device Aspect Ratio and everything will look fine in Vegas. This is important as you add titles or any generated media because you want that media generated at 16:9 too. So make sure you start with a DV Widescreen project.

As for 4:3 stock footage, you will loose a bit of vertical resolution. You’ll have to do some tests to see if it’s an acceptable loss depending on how large the final LCD display is. Just use the Pan/Crop tool with the 16:9 preset to get the aspect of the 4:3 footage corrected. This will crop off the top and bottom. (in fact, you can just use Match Project Aspect and it will look fine since you whole project will be 16:9.)

You’ve got to look at the tradeoffs. If you make the project 4:3 and the customer doesn’t like the pillar boxing, they will probably set the display to stretch your 4:3 to 16:9 anyway which will look strange. (I see this on the LCD TV’s in restaurants and bars all the time. Everyone looks much fatter and that’s never a good thing) Better to give them real 16:9 and I’ll bet no one notices the stock footage being slightly less resolution.

~jr
jkrepner wrote on 2/9/2006, 10:38 AM
Awesome! I really like getting feedback on these things -- it serves as a sort of reality check in keeping things straight when dealing with all of the other decisions before a shoot.

Thanks again!

Jeff