Letterbox or Squeeze for Documentary?
by Col. Kurtz
on
Jul 15, 2007 at 2:32:52 am
I am shooting a doc soon and wondered whether to shoot in letterbox mode or squeeze or 4:3 and crop in post-prod.? With all the changes in televisons to wide-screen and HD projection & broadcast, I don't want the project to be obsolete format-wise before I finish it. Any opinions?
Re: Letterbox or Squeeze for Documentary? by Michael McIntyre on Jul 16, 2007 at 9:04:18 am
Depends on how much vertical resolution means to you versus the DVX's electronic 'fake widescreen'.
This has been an ongoing debate but Barry Green showed in camera tests from his book that letterboxed has more lines of resolution. This doesn't necessarily address all future widescreen delivery options (unless you're going to blow it up).
Not sure if it applies but James Longley shot his documentary ("Iraq in Fragments") in letterboxed mode. Oh, yeah... it was nominated for an Oscar too.
Re: Letterbox or Squeeze for Documentary? by Col. Kurtz on Jul 16, 2007 at 12:00:18 pm
Thanks all,
It is really confusing as I was running tests and I really did notice the loss of resolution in squeeze (I had a tap out to a monitor). I'm going to keep testing and check it out on a friend's widescreen.
Re: Letterbox or Squeeze for Documentary? by Michael McIntyre on Jul 16, 2007 at 11:16:51 pm
I hear you and I know what you mean. I really wanted squeeze to do its job - going so far as to ignore all of the tech info (including Barry Green's tests). I liked the idea of doing a 16:9 DVD and I have a switchable monitor so it would've been great.
I started a doc as well and shot a bunch of material over a few days in all sorts of conditions. It was much softer than I would've like and was a pretty noticeable difference from the letterboxed footage I usually shoot.
Worst case, it's pretty much a no-brainer to edit it together with normal 4:3 letterboxed footage later. I don't know what you cut with but Final Cut Pro automatically scales it when you drop it into a standard sequence. At the end of the day, it's not terrible or anything, but you may notice some loss in resolution with SQUEEZE.
Re: Letterbox or Squeeze for Documentary? by Col. Kurtz on Jul 16, 2007 at 11:35:15 pm
I was also mucking about with uprezzing 4:3 Letterbox footage w/PhotozZoom. I think it works all right. I had some trouble but that was my fault - I chose some wrong settings in FCP. I think the loss by uprezzing is the same as the loss in Squeeze. I'm leaning towards 4:3 Letterbox and if I need to deliver WS, I'll uprez. I am also thinking that shooting 4:3 and masking the viewfinder to frame letterbox may be complicated on a 2 person crew. And time is short & I am not sure I want to worry about the future of the electronics industry more than planning my interviews in this way...No easy answers I think.
