Expert: Andre Hickman - 9/5/2008

Question
QUESTION: After Effects has several wide screen formats to choose from. Which would you recommend, and which is most like the one used in a Hollywood movie?

ANSWER: Hey Jim,

First off, understand  that movie resolution is totally different than DV and HD, because it is shot to film.  But to get that film look, as far as aspect, on an After Effects setting, I would use the one that best suits your purpose and footage, and then doctor it up to look like film...

Let's look at this: HDV/HDTV 720 29.97

The aspect has 720 pixels in the vertical at 1280 pixels in the horizontal (i.e. 1280x720).  If you are using footage (not full screen), or creating animated elements you could use this one.  If you are in Europe, though, you'd want to use the 25 version rather than the 29.97 (this is how many frames per second, and they are the standard for different the regions.  29.97 is NTSC speed and 25 is PAL speed)

Using this size composition may not work for you though.  It really depends on your footage, especially if you are using the footage full screen.  If you have HD footage, then you are fine. If you are using DV footage, or D-1 footage, the resolution is only 720x480 or 720x486 respectively.  You would almost have to stretch it twice the size to make it fit full frame (which is 1280x720 on HDV 720, or 1440x1080 on HDV 1080 settings). That kind of distortion would leave you with a blurred and pixelated image.

If you want your standard DV or D-1 footage to look like a movie, the easiest trick to do is to 1) using regular NTSC DV or D-1 settings, or PAL if you are in Europe, mask the top and bottom a bit with black boxes, to give it the appearance of a Hi-def aspect ration, then 2) add a bit of noise to the footage. 3) adjust hue and saturation a bit, by desaturating a little and 4) adjust brightness/contrast and make the contrast a bit harsher.  Do these to your liking.  There is no magic formula, just trial and error, dependant on the footage. Sure, you will be cutting off the top and bottom of your footage, but it will give it that widescreen look.  

There are ways to make the footage look like 24 frames per second(fps), which is the speed of film, but I would try what I just suggested before trying to go deeper.  

So remember:   HDV/HDTV 720 29.97  is 1280width x 720height at 29.97 fps  and regular DV footage is only 720x480, so if you don't have a plan to fill all of that space without expanding the footage beyond 100% then don't use that comp setting. Instead, use the masking trick.

I hope this helps (AND MAKES SENSE!)

Cheers,
Andre

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Just curious about one more thing: How can I apply a filter effect like "glow" to all the layers in a composition at the same time? I've had to select one layer at a time for it to work.

About the previous question: My footage was shot with a Canon GL2 NTSC camera, and the "NTSC DV Widescreen" format seems to work fine.

Answer
NOOOOOOoooooooo.......! LOL! don't do it layer by layer.  If you are trying to add an effect to layers, Then you want to create a new ADJUSTMENT LAYER and add the effects to it.  An adjustment layer (found under 'new' in the layers pull-down menu) will effect ALL layers below it, so if you don't want some of the layers below it affected, then you need to select all the layers that you want affected (including the adjustment layer) and create a PRE-COMPOSITION (Pre-compose, should be found in the layers pull-down menu) and check 'Move all attributes into the new composition'

It will basically create a 'subset' composition of those layers, and place it in the composition in place of all those layers.  So now you will have a comp within a comp, which is great for keeping things organized.  If you wish to edit that segment of layers, you just go into the pre-comp and make your adjustment, which will automatically translate to the main composition.

Check out the galleries on my website (andrehickman dot com)  There is a Cox communication commercial there, and the first scene ends up with a man on a laptop screen.  Well, when we shot it, the laptop was blank, and the footage of the guy on the screen was done on greenscreen.  I pre-comped him over background footage of some barracks, then using an adjustment layer, tweak the colors, grain, etc.  inside of the pre-comp.  Then pulled the whole pre-comp into the main comp, like it was just one piece of footage, and pinned the corners to the area of the laptop screen, using motion tracking points.  Once everything was set up if I needed to make changes to the image on the screen, I simply went and edited the pre-comp.

Sorry for the long answers...I just love this stuff, and being able to explain it helps me to sure up what I know, and keep it fresh in my head.  Ha! I guess it also helps you too!

Cheers!

Andre


SORRY MAN, BUT MY GALLERIES SOMEHOW WENT INOPERABLE ON MY SITE. THEY ARE BACK UP.  ANDREHICKMAN dot COM  (I write it like that so bots don't pick it up...)