Letterboxing on purpose

[Animated]

So, here's the deal... I'm planning on making an amv that's... more like a story, rather than a music video. So, to get a more cinematographic look, i plan on adding black borders. I know that letterboxing is a forced technique due to different aspect ratios between the screen and the movie itself, but hey... we grew up watching movies that way, and that's the feeling i want to give to my project. So... does it sound as a good idea or will it seem like a beginner's mistake?

The fact that it's the Year of the Shark pushed me to write all this.

[Enigma]

do it.

[Castor Troy]

do it.

[Animated]

Ok, i'm convinced. Now the fact is that i've tried numerous resolutions and aspect ratios and... none of them seem to work. What would you recommend for HD footages?

[Enigma]

try using Addborders?

[Animated]

Hah, such an obvious answer. Thanks, seriously

[Phantasmagoriat]

If this was your original:
Red = edge of monitor
Yellow-Green = edge of frame
0.)

= 848/480 = 1.766 ~ 16/9 = WideScreen

You've got 3 options:
1.)

crop(0,60,0,-60)
= 848/360 = 2.355 ~ 2.35/1 = CinemaScope (aka x-wide)

2.)

crop(0,60,0,-60)
addborders(0,60,0,60)
= 848/480 = 1.766 ~ 16/9 = WideScreen
(Although the picture is Scope, the frame itself is WideScreen so it fills the entire monitor)

3.)

addborders(0,78,0,78)
= 848/636 = 1.333 = 4/3 = FullScreen
(oh the irony of FullScreen videos on WideScreen monitors...)

There is a big difference between Borders and Letterboxes. Borders add black around the perimeter of your image. Letterboxes turn the edges of your image black. Assuming most people have widescreen monitors these days, if you simply add Borders to the top and bottom, you'll just end up with the appearance of a rectangle in the middle of the screen (like #3), and I'm not sure if that's the look you are after. However, Letterboxes effectively do the same thing as cropping then adding borders equal to what was cropped off (#2). While this does do what you are looking for, it is pointless since it looks the same as cropping, so you might as well just crop to CinemaScope (#1) which is about as cinematographic as it gets. I'm pretty sure that's what they were going for when they made The Animatrix (example)

But it's unlikely your footage is scope to begin with, so you'll have to crop to 2.35:1 or something close to it (like #1). That way the blank space looks like you've got black letterboxes (#2), without actually encoding them into your video. As an added bonus, your file sizes could be as much as 25% smaller. It might help if you edit at 16:9, but overlay letterboxes in your editor so you can see what parts will get cut off. You'll have more control this way. And if you want to actually use the letterboxes for something (like text), at least you'll have them. You can always crop them later.

[godix]

You know, if I watch an AMV in full screen, or it gets projected at a con, then it is automatically letterboxed without the letterboxing being hard encoded. I could see, perhaps, letterboxing to make the preview have letterboxing, but it seems to be a wasted effort with a distro version.

[EvaFan]

You could achieve a cinematographic look through other means. If all you plan on doing is adding borders than I really don't see the point cause I doubt that alone would give me the "cinematographic" look your talking about, but thats just me.

If your story and editing is strong enough, it should achieve what your wanting it to regardless of adding borders. Assuming you use FX and whatnot that relates to cinematography. I for one don't know much about cinematography but I thought it related more to lighting, colors, and tone of the video more so than the borders.

I remember discussing on the old donators forum about how I hated the fact that movies kept changing their aspect ratios but someone, I think prodigy said something along the lines of the aspect ratio being chosen for movies suitably to major scenes to maximize their effect. So I guess what I'm getting at here is, if you plan on adding borders or changing the viewing portions, try to rationalize it to your major scene/story ideas instead of just throwing certain borders in there.

[Animated]

You know, if I watch an AMV in full screen, or it gets projected at a con, then it is automatically letterboxed without the letterboxing being hard encoded.

Yes, this happened when i watched amvs in my old 4:3 screen... I guess you have a 4:3 one too?

Tons of advice

Thanks a lot for all this, totally helpful since i've been looking for avisynth tutorials (again) all night Most Helpful 2011?

You could achieve a cinematographic look through other means. If all you plan on doing is adding borders than I really don't see the point cause I doubt that alone would give me the "cinematographic" look your talking about, but thats just me.

I'm planning to use more than borders, such as altering the framerate, slow motions, colour corrections etc... I've already written down the storyline and other simple ideas, so...