Widescreen or matte?

Someone has given me photos to edit in FCP. He had already croped them to where there is black at the top and bottom. However, I've added motion and some fill the screen at times. I was planning on adding a matte to cover this part up and keep the widescreen look. What's the best way to do this. I tried a widescreen matte but couldn't get it to work right. Should I export it to Motion?

hi hal
as noted, the widescreen matte is a "Generator" ... drag it from the bin down onto the timeline and drop it onto a track above all the existing tracks, it will appear as a clip item in the timeline.
in the canvas you'll see that a default widescreen matte layer is added over the top of your existing clips ... load the generator into the viewer by double clicking its clip item in the timeline and then in the viewer window you can adjust the settings to taste in the controls tab.
many many folk have put together simple (and complex) plugins to aid there own workflow and have made them freely available to others, or maybe charge a nominal fee. just follow the links already provided for a good selection, or just hit google and search for "fcp plugins"
cheers
Andy

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Is There A Way To Crop/Stretch Either Horizontally Or Vertically?

So I figured out how to do the whole letterboxing thing but at end of my video I have promo shots of people that was filmed against a white background but because it was small I had it in wide figuring I would stretch image to take out the wall at white sheet.
Letterboxing by WIDESCREEN of MATTE doesnt work on images that are stretched so I had to make a MATTE COLOR SOLID for top and bottom but the top and bottom are cut off too much so I just want to stretch it horizontally but it only allows for both at same time. Is there a work around? Thanks.

I think what you are looking for might be in distort menu under the motions tab.
There are a list of values:
Upper Left
Upper Right
Lower Right
Lower Left
You are gonna have to play around with some values, but I believe that is the way to do what you are looking for.

Letterboxing With Footage To Shrink In Automatically?

So I figured out to letterbox you drag the WIDESCREEN from MATTE in EFFECTS folder onto the clip then select the 2:35 for Cinema look but I was wondering if it was possible that rather then cut out parts from the shot if the footage can automatically adjust so nothing is missing? Thanks.

Doesn't the matte filter have the option to adjust the footage vertically? In mine, "offset" moves the clip vertically so you can frame it, then keyframe so that the important areas are always visable (a sometimes tedious process if the shot was not planned out).
Why shoot yourself in the foot? What if you miss it, I would hate to notice a shift in the black bars between cuts if you forgot to adjust one part... Especially if you have lots of clips (as is usually my case)... Forget that. I'd rather key the footage slightly if needed or simply move it, instead of having to key the matte...
But if you want to complicate an already complicated process at times, suite yourself.
BTW, I only add bars to SD 4:3 footage, I don't bother in 16:9, which is an already elongated format, unless the client were to specifically request it...
Do you add letterboxing before or after you color correct in COLOR.
You could add the black bars first and make sure everything falls where you want it. Then disable the tracks with the color mattes and color correct (the more tracks you have the more likely you'll need to render)

How do i apply a widescreen matt to a rotated clip without the matt rotating too?

Hi,
I'm new to this.... but i have a problem...
Basically some of my footage isn't straight and i rotate it a little but obviously i have the black in the gaps where the image has moved.... but to combat that i want to apply a widescreen matte (which is being applied to the rest of the film anyway)..
BUT when i apply to matte it rotates to the image.... is there anyway to stop this?
Thanks

apply a matte to the layer above.
You can create one in Photoshop,
or download my Letterboxer Plugin (free, and I guess will not work in FCP X. :-(
Or use the one Andy Mees has built. ( http://web.me.com/andymees/Free_and_Easy/main/Entries/2008/1/23_Andy%E2%80%99s_L etterbox_2.html )
Rienk

Strange 'Ghost Lines' on Widescreen Matte in FCP 5

Since upgrading to FCP 5, I've noticed that whenever I use the Widescreen Matte on a clip in the timeline with another clip layered underneath it (which has the same WS matte on it), I see these strange white fuzzy lines around the edge of the matte. They're very faint, but were obvious enough to have a client point them out. If I eliminate the clip underneath, it usually gets rid of them. But it makes it very troublesome to do layered dissolves and such. At times, I've had to use two black slugs to 'cover up' the edge of the matte, and essentially create my own WS matte. Has anyone else noticed this? FCP 5 bug maybe?

probably better to nest the layered dissolves sequence and apply the widescreen matte to the nest
alternatively, as you suggest, just create your own widescreen matte with slugs, or make a matte in photoshop (or you can download a widescreen matte generator plugin from Dave Slater's ProAppTips website at http://proapptips.com/tips/filemgmt/singlefile.php?lid=23 ... i think you'll need to register to access the page)
hope it helps
Andy

Applying widescreen matte to still photos in motion

I shot some footage for a documentary using my Canon XL2, 16:9 format. I'm adding some still photos using motion. Is it possible to apply the Widescreen matte effect so the photos match the widescreen look of my footage? I can't figure out how.

Use the Photoshop preset for DV/D1 widescreen as a template and paste your photos into that.
You will need to use Photoshop's Transform controls to frame your photos and have to decide what part of the top and/or bottom gets cropped off.
If you want to zoom or pan, use the original photos in Motion and make sure the photo fills the screen at its smallest size. Again, you will have to sacrifice the top or bottom of the photo to some extent.
If you absolutely must see all of the photo's content, consider using a complimentary background fill, perhaps with some blurring. Place your photo on top and shrink it down to within the safe area.

Cannot use cross dissolve while Matte effect "widescreen" is applied

I have the Matte effect widescreen applied to a clip. It's set to 2.35:1. I also have a dissolve at the beginning of the clip, which does not work when the widescreen effect is applied. Does anyone know why this is?

Doesn't work here either .... don't have time to investigate right now but time enough to check and verify that I can also see the issue ... may be codec, settings specific ... quick workaround is simply to keyframe the clip opacity to create your dissolve / fade up from black

Widescreen matte disappears on export.

i put a widescreen matte on my entire timeline. my project is 1440x1080. if i look at it from desktop preview i can see the letterboxing on the top and bottom. Can't see it in the canvas though. When i export the timeline to 853x480 or anything smaller than 1440x1080, there is no widescreen matte.
i don't know why this does not work. I just want a scaled down version of what can be seen in desktop preview.
Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thank you for all of you responses. everything is as it should be.
Now i have to go back and redo my music videos titles to fit the letterbox.
I very much appreciate your help.
the answer is
1 create new sequence.
2 drag current sequence into new sequence.
3 drag new timeline of new sequence into the monitor window.
4 go to video filters and choose widescreen matte.
5 set it to 2.35 .1
6 it should be reflected in the canvas window.
be aware that you may have to readjust your titles.

Widescreen matte and render times

trying to apply a 2.35:1 matte to my sequence using filters/matte/widescreen/2.35... but it seems to require a long time to render even one clip after it's been placed in the timeline... is there a way to apply a 2.35 matte and not have these long render times?... thanks.

here are two solutions for your problem:
1) Make your own widescreen bars out of black mattes and place them in the tracks above your video.
2) Nest your edited sequence (the one with the motion) into another sequence and put the widescreen matte on that one.
#2 is the preferred route. #1 would just make for more rendering time.
Worth remembering that when you letterbox a 4:3 movie, for the best result you need to assess each shot's composition as it stands after the letterbox has been added. Each shot may need to be reframed, perhaps a little resizing too to push out distracting edging from otherwise obscured elements. For this reason alone #1 is by far the better approach. As for rendering, you will need to do so regardless of method.
Good luck
Andy

Widescreen Matte to a Sequence

I just cut a sequence however I had to alter the size of some of the cuts. I would like to add a matte(widescreen)over the entire sequence. I've tried selecting all the cuts, double clicking on that entire selection, then dragging the widescreen filter on to that selection, but it just doesn't work. What am I doing wrong?

try nesting first and then applying the widescreen matte filter to the nest
an alternative is to create a matte in photoshop and place that above the other clips in your sequnece, or use a couple of slugs cropped to provide the upper and lower mattes, or just one slug with the mask shape filter applied so as to create a widescreen cutout to your clips below...
or you can use my widescreen matte generator which you can place on a higher track and away you go. you can get it here: http://homepage.mac.com/andymees
cheers
Andy

Widescreen matte with dissolve shift position

We were using FCP 6.0 on PAL projects.
After we add the widescreen filter to 2 clips and make a dissolve between them, the black matte change size during the dissolve and back to normal after dissolve.
This only happen in FCP 6.02 and it were fine in FCP 5.0.
Any suggestions?
Thanks in advance.
Mike

Make sure that the clips are fully rendered... no coloured bars above the timeline.
rh

"Widescreen Matte" - trouble placing WS matte on clip that was resized

Hello all -
I'm working in FCP Pro 5. I'm fairly new with this, and am having trouble with placing the widescreen (1.85) matte on a clip that I had to rotate and resize (it's enlarged slightly).
When I place the matte on it, the matte is also rotated and resized, and I don't know how to drop a matte on this clip so that it will match everything else in the timeline that has a 1.85 matte.
Your advice/assistance on this is very much appreciated!

Give HanumanG the Solved points, then...
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Patrick

Widescreen Matte dissolve problem

Bit confused on this.
My dissolves no longer work when a widescreen matte is applied to the clip. When the matte is removed, the dissolve works perfectly.
Any ideas?
Thanks

Marc
Try making your edits without the widescreen matte. When done, nest that sequence in a new one and apply the matte here to the whole nested sequence.
Hope that makes sense !
Alberto

Widescreen matte on rotated shots

I'm shooting on a DVX 100 in letterbox mode. In FCP 5 I enlarge and rotate some of my clips, then wish to apply a widescreen matte so these rotated/enlarged clips conform to the widescreen of all of my other clips.
When I apply widescreen filter, nothing happens.
Any ideas? Or am I missing something?
Thanks.

I bet you enlarged (scaled) the images to for, so that you just don't see the matte anymore. They scale with the clip. As they do rotate also.
Obviously you'll need to build a matte on the top layer to have a consistent matte.
Create one in Photoshop or use my free plugin:
http://www.rienq.dds.nl/fcp.
The photoshop-way renders faster by the way. My plugin is easier in the way that you can use it within FCP. You can decide yourself.
Rienk

Widescreen matte problem

I have some footage that is shot in both 4x3 and letterbox. I planned to do all my editing and then use the widescreen matte over my finished sequences to make them all uniform. When doing a test however I found that in the sequences where I had a dissolve, say a fade to black that the dissolve was messed up after I added the widescreen matte. The footage got blotchy red colored.
Does anyone know why this is happening and is there a work around? What's the best way to work with letterbox and 4x3 footage?

There are probably several good ways, but when I wanted to do aomething similar in a project, I made a luma matte (mine was "sculpted") and composited the footage using Travel Matte - Luma.
As long as your matte for the 4:3 footage matches the 9:16 format, it should be painless.

Widescreen or matte?

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