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Hi, once again, I need some advice. I've been messing around with cinemascope and was wondering two things: (1) Is there some kind of standard setting for the letterbox measurements? and (2) Is it possible to grab the video and move it around so that the letter-boxing doesn't cover key parts of the image?

I've got a documentary feature film (clocking in at 104 minutes) and I think that the introduction portion would look great in letterbox. But when I letterbox it at 25 height setting it tends to cut off pretty close particularly at the top. It would be great to pull the video down a little and letterbox in around it. Basically, tops of heads get cut off, so pulling the whole thing down would be better than just adding the bars as a simple mask.

This whole experience on this film has been eye-opening. As an untrained new filmmaker (I've been at this now for like 3 years only), I made so many mistakes. Thanks to the AVIO, I've been able to cover a lot of them. The flip special processing has been a help (I've now been introduced to the law of thirds and what it means to break the line!). Of course, this board has been so helpful.

Thanks!

By the way, the film, called "Crashing the Party," is about the birth of the modern two party political system in the state of Alabama. Very neat stuff! We've crafted a good narrative, but learning how to tell it using the film medium is pretty new to me and my production partner (we write books normally and are just getting into documentary filmmaking.)

Hi Jon,

It will take a coulpe of passes but yes you can move the picture around.

"Special Note" I'm really looking forward to the release of Bogart OS 2. With OS 2 the procedure outlined below can be done in one pass, eliminating the generation loss due to multiple passes.

Find the scene in the Scene Bin you want to mess with.

On the work screen click on "Special".

Scroll down to "BB Move Rectangle".

Make the "Source Area" the size you want then click OK.

Then click on "Destination Area" and move the box that is outlined where you want it, click OK.

Then click on "Color" and change it to black, click OK.

Your scene, the portion you want, will now be moved with a black bar on the top.

Render the scene and make a copy.

Now working with the copy in "Special" again scroll down to "Rectangle" make the color black and make the "Position/Size" what you need to match the black bar on the bottom of the screen the same size as the black bar on the top.

This is real easy to do but might take some playing around with till it's to your likeing.

You may have to bring up the color and brightness a bit but it's best to do that befor you do the above.

I've used this process many times to move all kinds of stuff around.

"Crashing the Party" (love the title) sounds neat.

Will try it straight away! Thanks man!

I'm going to buy a S4000, but my dealer told me that I might not be able to move my project (Crashing the Party), so, I'm holding off until we submit to festivals (which is a long shot).

This means that I'm probably buying the new system in November or December, and I hope that an upgrade to the OS provides for Internet compression options.

Will let you know how your suggestions turn out. We are going to cut a trailer and I'll make it available to all.

Gosh, I don't have "BB Move Rectangle" as an option on my "Special" in my "Edit" screen?

Am I missing something?

I understand the Rectangle option that permits you to overwrite with a color a portion of the image, but I seems like I need something else to work with that one.

We're happy with the title of the film, although I think it's been used before, our subtitle might be: When Republican was a dirty word. It is kinda neat looking at the history of a political party and how it came into being. Lots of crazy stories that shaped the landscape.

Jonathan
BB Move Rectangle is one of the BB Bluebox World, options. If you do not have this program, you will not be able to access it for your final product.

As Paul said, this will give you the effect you are looking for. Why not try it out in demo mode and if it is what your are looking for, consider buying the program. In any case BB Bluebox World is a great program and one I would not be without.

Ian

Sorry to hear you don't have BB World, in my book it's a "must have" effect and well worth the money. As you develope your editing skills you will find new uses for it all the time. Can't wait to see the trailer.

Thanks, guys, I figured that it was something I didn't have. Looks like it's about $230, which I'd rather save to put on the new system. However, I'll look at the demo option.

For all you CB PAINT fans:

16:9 letter-box look is SO easy in CB PAINT. I simply made a TEMPLATE with top and bottom black bars precisely in a 16:9 aspect and placed same on top of a GREEN background. I then filed away the layers.

Whenever I want to have the exact letterbox proportion on a standard screen, I simply import my scene. Then I add the above.

I then KEY out the GREEN area using CB PAINTS advance keyer and then RENDER. BLACK BARS and a perfect letterbox. NOW....since I kept the black borders as a separate layer, I can move the black border around as a custom brush.