Question for you vid-making/vid-watching people

[sholio]

In a multi-fandom vid that uses clips from shows/movies with different aspect ratios (that is, newer widescreen clips and older, TV-screen-shaped clips, or widescreen clips of different widths), what do you think is the least intrusive way of handling it?

If it's different for you as a vidder or a viewer, I'd be most interested in knowing what works best for you as a viewer -- what you find least jarring when you watch a vid.

[Poll #1734222]

Separate polls posted to DW and LJ, since you can't crosspost a poll; the DW entry is here. Answer wherever you prefer.

Comments

[mecurtin.livejournal.com]

My hatred of stretching/squeezing is so great I am voting on both sides.

[sholio]

... so I'm getting the subtle impression that you don't like stretching clips, then. :D

[mecurtin.livejournal.com]

I sometimes watch TV with someone who isn't bothered when the aspect ratio is off. MY PAIN, LET ME SHOW YOU IT!

[trobadora]

I'm completely with you on this. There's nothing worse than distorting the aspect ratio.

[justtheficsmaam.livejournal.com]

Nothing makes me turn away from a vid faster than messy aspect ratio. It just seems... lazy to me. Feels like they didn't want to make it beautiful, just threw it up on my screen.

[sholio]

I think it's interesting how many people feel that way - it's close to unanimous. I don't really like it, but I'll put up with it if I like the vid otherwise (there are actually several vids in my favorites-to-rewatch folder that are squished for various reasons).

[abyssinia4077.livejournal.com]

I'd say absolutely don't stretch/squeeze. My first choice would be to actually leave as is (um, maybe that's the letterbox option?). I've watched vids like that where some are shots are 4:3 and some 16:9 and it looks fine to me (the sources are different anyway).

But cropping should also work fine.

As a vidder, I'd probably pick which was easiest and which required the least work (if I have more of one size than the other, make them all the size I have the most of)

[sholio]

*nods* I think you're probably right about going with the easiest thing. Frankly I'm not sure how I'm going to manage cropping *or* letterboxing in iMovie ... this is going to require some thought and ingenuity. *g*

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Thirding/fourthing the votes against squishing aspect ratios. Ugh!

I tried to work around this by adding letterbox bars to a House vid where different seasons had different aspect ratios. Only afterwards did I realize this meant I had a 4:3 vid that contained 16:9 footage + bars, which meant when I posted it to YouTube, it had black on all four sides instead of fitting neatly into the nice rectangular viewing pane. Let that be a warning to us all. :) Though I suppose, if you have the tech, you could crop your video after you export it but before you upload it. Seems easier to just crop everything when you're putting the vid together, though.

[sholio]

haha, oops. I guess there is no perfect solution ...

The thing that frustrates me most about vidding is that the technological bar is so high. I'm not a complete ignoramus when it comes to technology, but vidding often leaves me floundering on the little details. Fanfic is so simple: it's TEXT. *g* With vidding, there's always something new to make me tear my hair out ...

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Tell me about it. I've (only?) been vidding for two years, using the same editing program, and I *still* haven't been able to just sit down and make a vid. There's always some better (see also: correct) ripping/conversion method or quality setting or frame rate or compression code... Or, y'know, a computer crash that requires rebuilding vids in progress...

[shayera.livejournal.com]

Stretching/squeezing the footage makes me completely unable to watch a vid - it's an instant backbutton, because no matter how good it is otherwise, it makes my head hurt. ^^;

I prefer vids with cropped footage - that feels less intrusive. There's nothing to call attention to the fact that the footage is from different sources. But letterboxing is okay, and will not make me complain. (As a vidder with extremely limited tech, I've realized that sometimes letterboxing is the best option.)

[sholio]

You know, I didn't realize until reading this comment that you must've cropped clips in your DW vids, since you mix different Who eras. Sometimes I've been very aware of cropped clips, but you did it so seamlessly that I never realized, even as many times as I've watched the "Gone in the Morning" one! *tips hat to you*

[shayera.livejournal.com]

*bows* Thanks! ^_^

I use VirtualDub to crop. WMM can't crop, and it letterboxes to 4:3 as default.

[greyias.livejournal.com]

I'd look at the native aspect ratio of your final output, and base your project on that (when all else fails, do a test render both ways, and look at how it appears in full screen mode on the website/file format). As bironic mentioned, the double letterboxed 4:3 can look incredibly odd.

Never never never never never stretch and squeeze, it makes a Greyias cry.

If you go with 16:9, for your 4:3 clips you could lay them on top of another video track that either has a pretty image or a motion back, or something of that nature to take up the space. It's not perfect, but it takes a lot less time than panning/scanning. Depending if you're working with HD footage, or SD widescreen, that method might technically be blowing up your footage.

[sholio]

I don't want to make a Greyias cry!

... yeah, the annoying thing about iMovie is that it stretches/squeezes by default; there is no way to crop clips within the program itself. This isn't always a bad thing, since it "fixes" clips that are just a teeny bit too wide or too tall (as my clips often are). But it's going to make cropping clips ridiculously complicated.