4:3 content in 16:9 SHOWREEL

[dylan 0]

... any advice for how I should use 4:3 work in a widescreen showreel without it looking a bit skinny would be greatly appreciated ?

 

Thanks !

[oms 0]

From what I've seen, most people that have both formats in their reel typically make the reel 4:3 and just deal with the letterbox on the 16:9 content. The horizontal black bars are not nearly as jarring as vertical ones.

[microdot 0]

agreed

[mete_shop 0]

agreed, but i can't wait till all my 4:3 work is eventually phased out by new work and i can finally make my reel 16:9. all my work now is in 16:9.

[ianfreeze 1]

Ive seen some people do a tile type effect where they move one full frame of 4:3 video to the far left or right of the screen, then bring in a partial duplicate of the same video to fill out the the remaining side. It gives a pretty cool looking effect.

[monovich 0]

if the clips can handle it, blow them up to fill 16:9

 

I hate 4:3

[milk:machine 0]

if the clips can handle it, blow them up to fill 16:9

 

I hate 4:3

 

I just faced the same problem when cutting my reel.

My solution was to use a lower resolution; 720x405

 

Works great for online distribution.

[parallax 0]

I agree with monovich.

 

If your material is good enough (compositionally), it might even look better in 16:9.

 

But what about the cinemascope stuff?

[mete_shop 0]

If I design something for 4:3 i hate to crop it so that it works in 16:9. It's being displayed in a manner it wasn't designed for, and while it may work, it won't look its best. At least to me.

[Duder 0]

I would just add a nice gradient behind the 4:3 content in the 16:9 frame.

[krpdesign 1]

i agree with mete-shop bout the cropping....if you're able to, you could go back into the project and re-work it slightly to work for 16:9.

 

if you need to stay 4:3 and letterbox the 16:9 stuff, would it look better to create a custom letterbox or mortise, rather than keep it black? maybe so, maybe not...

[a2visual 0]

But what about the cinemascope stuff?

 

We have a project that has a 2.8:1 aspect ratio, pain in the ass for the reel.

[Nick Campbell 0]

I cropped all of my 4/3 work to fit 16/9. It worked in almost every case. I have also seen that tile thing work really well. It's used to great effect in this reel. http://roman.koenigshofer.net/work/showreel2008/

[monovich 0]

We have a project that has a 2.8:1 aspect ratio, pain in the ass for the reel.

 

yeah I've got a 4096x768 I don't even know what to do about when it comes to reel-cutting time.

[a2visual 0]

yeah I've got a 4096x768 I don't even know what to do about when it comes to reel-cutting time.

 

Man, I thought we had it bad

 

Maybe cut it horizontally then tile it vertically? Depending on the content might work and still look good, though obviously not as intended.

[mete_shop 0]

I cropped all of my 4/3 work to fit 16/9. It worked in almost every case. I have also seen that tile thing work really well. It's used to great effect in this reel. http://roman.koenigshofer.net/work/showreel2008/

 

it's a nice reel, but the tiling is confusing. most of the tiled pieces make it look like the tiling was a stylistic decision made for the individual piece, as opposed to a functional design choice for the reel.