What is “Aspect Ratio” ?

September 13th, 2007

Aspect ratio is merely a fancy way to describe the shape of the image. Is it a long, thin rectangle or more like a square?

Think of it as a measurement of the sides of the shape. So 16 x 9 is the same shape of a piece of paper that is 16 inches by 9 inches. Or it’s mathematical equivalent is 1.78 by 1. This is a nice balanced rectangle shape.

Standard definition TV is more like a square. It’s 4 x 3. But not really. It’s close to 4 x 3 so people call it that, but it is actually 1.33 by 1. It’s much more of a square than the 1.78 : 1 rectangle.

Many theatrical motion pictures are shot in 2.35 by 1. That is a really long rectangle called Panavision.

There are so many presentation formats and TV signals and so a lot of re-sizing has to be done to fit all these different rectangle shapes in their destination format.

kirk

Posted in 16x9, Aspect Ratio | Comments Off on What is “Aspect Ratio” ?

HDV to Standard Defintion – Go for the letterbox!

September 13th, 2007

HDV is the little brother to broadcast High Def such as HDCAM or D5. It shoots/records in the 16×9 aspect ratio which, for the math inclined is the same as 1.78 : 1 But standard def television uses an aspect ratio of 1.33 :1

So in down-converting the HDV to standard, you basically need to force the shape of a longer rectangle into a the shape of a regular TV which has a more square shape. (see examples below)

The two ways of doing this are to hack off the sides of the rectangle (also called a “center extaction”), which still provides excellent resolution . But in that case, the sides of the picture will be gone. For example, if there is a dinner table scene and one of the actors is far to either side of the frame, they will be cut off.

However, if you want to see ALL the image, then the long rectangle needs to be shrunk down to fit inside the square. This means there is no image at the tops and bottoms of the frame in the standard def tv. It’s letterboxed. The black bars at the top and bottom are just “empty”areas where there is no picture because it has been shrunken down.

Letterbox is widely accepted on broadcast tv these days. Many network shows run this way due to the complications of trying to have different versions for high def and standard def. People are used to it and the filmmaker’s compositions are preserved. So shoot/record/ dub your HDV into letterbox when you put it on a regular tv. It looks cooler, and the dude at the dinner table isn’t cut off.

kirk
aspectdemo_betasptodvd.jpg

Posted in 16x9, Aspect Ratio, Down-convert, HDV, Letterbox | Comments Off on HDV to Standard Defintion – Go for the letterbox!

Dropframe Timecode and Non-Dropframe TC are the same duration!

September 6th, 2007

I will get into deeper discussions of Dropframe Timecode (DFTC) and Non-Dropframe Timecode (NDFTC) later, but for now, just think of them as Miles vs. Kilometers. Mmmm kay?

If you drive 10 miles to the store to pick up tapestock the odometer will say one “10”.
But you drive the same 10 miles in your French buddy’s car that uses a metric odometer, it will say “16” kilometers.

NOTE:
1) The distance can be driven by either car (Like DFTC and NDFTC can be played on any machine)

2) The trip to the store takes the exact same amount of time as measured by a stop-watch.

3) Both measuring systems have nothing to do with the ACTUAL trip to the store, but merely measure the trip.

And here’s a tidbit that is totally unrelated, but interesting…

Dropframe timecode uses semi-colons like this: 01;16;22;21
Non-Dropframe timecode uses colons like this: 01:16:22:21

And here’s some more unrelated trivia:
VITC timecode and Linear Timecode call the same frame the same timecode number. VITC and Linear are merely different ways of recording the timecode itself. It’s kind of like having an AIFF file on an Audio CD or a DVD-R. The file is always the same but just recorded differently.

As you can see, I am the king of analogies, lame though they may be.

Posted in Linear, Timecode, VITC | Comments Off on Dropframe Timecode and Non-Dropframe TC are the same duration!

Digi-Beta: The indie film savior! Don’t pay for online!!

September 4th, 2007

Here’s a little trick for the economy-minded indie filmmaker/television producer… whether you are shooting your tv show or independent film on 16×9 high definition (1.78 : 1 aspect ratio), 35mm Film (1.85 : 1 aspect ratio).

Your project needs to edited. So have your dailies transferred to letter-boxed digibeta. Have all your source timecode and feet and frames count placed as a window burn over the black part of the letter box.

Then edit the heck out of the show.  Lock it down for time, polish it with an “online” pass in the Avid or Final Cut Pro. Then layback your mix into the timeline. Then create a new digibeta master of your entire show, taking careful attention to make the most professional master possible. Of course, don’t forget to mask out the timecode in the letter box area (but don’t worry, those valuable numbers are still in your timeline sequence.)

Now you have a pristine 100% digital master for making DVD screeners, uploading to the web, or any other presales formats.

You still haven’t blown a zillion dollars on an onlined HD master or a film conform, two processes that can literally make you bankrupt in the final stages of a production.

Take your digital betacam “master” and market the living hell out of it. Send it around, make your calls, have screenings, and basically exploit your film.

Then, if you make a sale to standard definition TV, just clone the digibeta master and collect a check for the rights to your film.

If you make an HD or theatrical sale, set up a reasonable delivery date, get an early check from the buyer, then race down to your nearest online joint (or film lab) and create a new high-resolution master for distribution.  Then go home, pour yourself a nice beverage and think of how great it is to have someone else paying for the finish of your film.

And by the way, if you don’t make any sales at all, at least you still have your house because it wasn’t repo-ed by the bank.

Filmmaking my be tough, but finishing your film doesn’t have to be when someone else is footing the bill!

Posted in Digibeta, Independent Film, Online | Comments Off on Digi-Beta: The indie film savior! Don’t pay for online!!

MiniDV – The miracle down-convert and archiving format!

September 3rd, 2007

MiniDV is the most under-rated and maligned standard definition video format!

Many people think of miniDV as a low-grade, consumer “home movie” format, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.  MiniDV is the most ubiquitous standard format out there.  If you’re not shooting high-def in your home camcorder, you’re shooting MiniDV. Most people shooting MiniDV aren’t professionals and know little about proper lighting, exposure, stabilization, pleasing camera angles, etc. So consequently, most MiniDV footage looks terrible.  Also, the cheapo lenses on the front of your average home camcorder exacerbate the problem.

But the actual technology of MiniDV is quite remarkable. Not only can it easily import into any computer via Firewire, but when properly mastered, the footage can knock your socks off. It’s the old “Garbage in equals garbage out” adage.

Here at BetaSp To DVD.com we have transferred some really stiking footage to MiniDV. For example, we had a high-end music video that was shot on 35mm film by one of the greatest DP’s (director of photography) out there. The video was editing, color-corrected and mastered to a pristine Digibeta tape. The digibeta master looked absolutely phenomenal.

A few months later, the client wanted to create a demo reel for their company using the video. They had Final Cut Pro in their office but they didn’t have a digibeta deck. I suggested they just transfer all the footage to MiniDV and then import it directly via firewire into their computer. The client was resistant, due to the amateur reputation of MiniDV.

So I told them that transferring to MiniDV from Digibeta is done entirely as 1’s and 0’s, completely digital.  It’s also a really robust and CHEAP archiving format that looks fantastic.

The clients wanted to see a test. So we transferred the Digital Betacam to MiniDV. Then we all sat in dark room with a large Sony standard definition television and played the MiniDV and Digibeta tapes in a blind test 5 times. After 5 viewings in random order, we took a vote and asked people to guess which tape was which.  Low and behold, nobody in the room came up with the same guess consistently. In other words, in a blind test, nobody could tell the difference between MiniDV and Digital Betacam.

Digital Betacam is far superior to MiniDV in it’s technical specs and it Digibeta is a much better choice for the first digital master in the chain of post production. But ultimately, if the audience can’t tell the difference in later processes or editing, then why spend the money to stay in the digibeta format?

Further more, if you are submitting a film to a festival that accepts MiniDV, then everyone is going to be watching MiniDV anyway.

We often run into people with resolutionitis. It’s a disease that makes filmmakers think they must have the absolute highest resolution and quality no matter what. But they forget that content is king. Films on YouTube can have tens of millions of views, even though the video quality looks terrible. Remember the “Blair Witch Project?” That film was shot on crappy Hi-8 video and it still grossed tens of millions! Content is king.

MiniDV is cheap, easy to import via firewire, and makes a great archive tape (that doesn’t take up a lot of shelf space). And since almost every standard def camcorder out there is a MiniDV camcorder, it couldn’t be easier to find one to borrow to import your footage for editing in Final Cut Pro or Avid.

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on MiniDV – The miracle down-convert and archiving format!

MiniDV tape is cheap! LP mode will kill you.

September 3rd, 2007

If you’re shooting a wedding or event and don’t want to run out of MiniDV tape during the event, do not use LP mode on your camcorder!  Just don’t do it. The compression is pretty substantial for LP mode and your footage will have many undesirable video artifacts, especially if you plan to use video effects with this footage.

And if it’s about saving money, fuggettaboutit. MiniDV tapestock is the cheapest item on the production budget, weighing in at a whole $2.95 each.

Okay, so how do you record a 90 minute wedding without LP mode and only using 60 minutes worth of tape?

Here’s what you do. Before the wedding, have one tape in the camera and a second tape unwrapped and sitting on the box under the tripod.  At the exact moment where the wedding guests are falling asleep as the pastor goes on and on about the joy of the marriage, quickly eject tape #1 and insert #2.  And yes, you are going to lose about 30 seconds of the ceremony, but I don’t think the people watching the tape are going to be too bothered. In fact, I think they would thank you.

Make sure the bride and groom know in advance that 30 seconds of the wedding will not be recorded… either that… or they can have inferior video quality. Believe me, the want the best!

Posted in LP Mode, MiniDV | Comments Off on MiniDV tape is cheap! LP mode will kill you.

Don’t include count down leader within your show!

September 1st, 2007

Count down leader is meant for technical purpose only!

It is used for projectionists and dubbers to let them know exactly when to go “live” with the show.  The audience is NEVER meant to see the count down.

If you put “fancy” count down leader on your show, you run the risk of looking like an amateur. Even more so, if you actually include the count down leader as part of the actual program.

Put count down leader on your show, but be a pro about it:

1) No cute or fancy numbers or animation.

This also detracts from the impact of the first image of your film.

2) Only count down to the first frame of #2. Put the audio sync pop on that frame.

3)  Obviously, never include the #1 either.

4) After the first frame of the #2, only  show black until the actual program starts.

5)  From the sync pop to the show start should be EXACTLY two seconds.

6) Always start your program on the exact timecode number 1:00:00:00

Every professional video engineer, editor, or projectionist in the world is expecting to see a show at exactly 1:00:00:00.  This is especially important if the show has audio that starts before the picture.

Posted in Count Down Leader, Lead-In, Sync pop | Comments Off on Don’t include count down leader within your show!

DVD-R is better than DVD+R

September 1st, 2007

Trust me, if you want to have no worries with your DVD burns playing back in machines, ONLY use DVD-R, not DVD+R.  No matter what anyone else says, don’t record to anything except DVD-R if you want to be able to play back on the most DVD players.

Posted in DVD-R | Comments Off on DVD-R is better than DVD+R

Color bars and tone need to mean something!

August 31st, 2007

We often get MiniDV tapes that people want to transfer to BetaSP for submission to film festivals and/or broadcast. However, when we go to transfer it, we have difficulty setting up the program to the right levels because the bars and tone on the miniDV are completely random and don’t have anything to do with the levels on the actual program.

The reason color bars and reference tone are on the tape is to allow the technicians dealing with the tape to make the best playback possible for use in broadcast, projection, or dubbing.

The tone becomes even more critical when it is a stereo show with different audio information in each track. We once transferred a surfing documentary where they were using a song by the Ventures in the track. The Ventures would literally put all the drums on one speaker (track) and all the guitar on another track. This was a novelty technique when hi-fi stereo was just breaking out.

So transfering this footage became really difficult because we couldn’t figure out the intention of the filmmaker for the music. Did they want the drums to dominate or the guitar. If we had had actuall reference tone, then we could have easily figured out the perfect levels.

Same with the color bars. They need to actually reference the color and production processes of the show.

So here’s the deal when setting up your bars and tone:

COLOR BARS:

1) Set up your monitor with trusted (unmanipulated) color bars:
If you don’t have a vector scope or know how to use one, make sure the reds are RED and the yellows are YELLOW; that should be a good setting for a poor man’s vector scope.

1) Make sure you are using the correct Bars for your particular video format. NTSC needs NTSC bars. PAL Needs PAL

2) Adjust your monitor. (If you don’t have a vector scope or know how to use one, you can just make sure the reds are RED and the yellows are YELLOW and that should be a good setting for a poor man’s vector scope).

3) Make sure that the bars are in the exact same timeline as the program they are supposed to represent. Actually cut them into the sequence.

4) Make sure the bars in the sequence still look good in the monitor.

5) Adjust your show’s color and contrast to match the bars.

6) Output your master with confidence!

AUDIO REFERENCE TONE

1) Adjust the audio levels in your show so that the very loudest sounds (screams, gunshots, etc.) are just barely upto the red on whatever meter you are using. But make sure they don’t peak off the the meter.

2) NEVER ADJUST YOUR SPEAKERS in the middle of a mixing session, because you will lose your valubable point of reference.

3) Cut some reference tone into the timeline of your show and set it at the same level as the loudest sounds.

4) Run your show’s tone through your output deck and dial the tone to the same level on the deck as it was in your timeline.

5) Output with confidence!

Now you have real bars and real tone that really mean something for everyone who has to deal with your master in the future!

Posted in Audio Reference Tone, Color Bars, Lead-In | Comments Off on Color bars and tone need to mean something!

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