Aspect Ratio questions

[Luke Holwerda]

Looking for some opinions...

I'm working on a doc that was shot on Scarlets, Red One, 5D's, and 7D's. The footage is all mixed. Lots of 4k @ (4096x2160) and some @ (4096x2304)... some 3k... some 2k... and of course "HD" @ (1920x1080) on the Canons.

I'm most in love with the aspect ratio that the Scarlets shoot in (before the recent update)... (4096x2160)... 1.89:1... I like the width. I'd like to conform everything to that aspect ratio.

My question is ::: what sort of trouble am I looking at when making prints for festival screeners or DVD/Blu-rays??

My original thought was to make a 1920px wide print in the 1.89:1 aspect ratio... so I'd end up with a 1920x1013 image. Thus, cutting off the top and bottom of the frame from the 16:9 shots... (which make up a smaller portion of the film)... without resizing the image, or "up-scaling" to 2048.

Is this a bad idea?

Something is getting cropped regardless, and I'd prefer to avoid blowing up the lower quality Canon shots. So do I stick with 16:9 or go to 1.89:1? And if 1.89:1, should I go 1920x1013 ("HD"), or 2048x1080 (2k) and call it a day?

Thanks.

 

[MichaelP]

Well Blu Ray is 1920 x 1080 so everything will be letterboxed within that aspect ratio. Are the festivals accepting anything bigger than 1920 x 1080 as in a DCP?

Michael

 

[Luke Holwerda]

Letterboxing is ok with me.

I THOUGHT some festivals are accepting 2k prints. I could be wrong. But I didn't know if it was better to err on the side of bigger.

I know anything CAN work... after a fashion... I'm just looking for someone to tell me if my train of thought is completely crazy.

 

[Matt Gerard]

Far be it for me to have any input here, I've never submitted anything to a festival. but, i would say to work in the AR that works best for the film. There is so much mood that is conveyed by the AR, framing, composition, etc. An awesome shot can be ruined when having to crop it.

Go with your gut, at least you will be true to the film and its intentions.

 

[Luke Holwerda]

Agreed. That was my problem all along. It didn't feel right. A large majority of the film was shot on Scarlet in 1.89:1... I hate to conform to 16:9 just to match the other stuff.

 

[Adrian Jebef]

Hmmm. You know, 1.89 is an arbitrary aspect ratio? If you like the "widescreen" aspect of the Scarlet footage I'd recommend conforming everything at 1.85 aspect. At least that's an industry standard ratio for theatrical and home video release.

 

[John Tissavary]

Agreed - 1:1.85 is the standard. I would recommend finishing to a full 1920x1080 with letterbox burned in.

best,

JT