Anamporphic & title safe

Some 16:9 programs are setup to simply crop the left and right to make a 4:3 program. But in most cases, 16:9 programming is displayed letterboxed on a 4:3 screen. What is the end use of your program? If it's for broadcast or cablecast, the enduser will have specifications for you. If it's for DVD, a properly authored 16:9 dvdvideo will display either fullscreen 16:9 or letterboxed if it's correctly configured (if that's what you want to do).

can we trust FCP & Motions 16x9 Title safe areas?

I always have.
Never had anything rejected either, at least not for a caption that used the full width of the 16:9 title safe.

My project will be released on DVD configured to forced letterbox. With no scientific backing at all behind this statement(!)the safe area looks rather small, is this to accommodate pan-scan? ALSO: Using Lower Third titles the text is much higher than the safe area limit. Is there a way to drop them down the screen (apart from messing around with Motion)?

If you letterboxed into 4:3, then the safe areas of the 4:3 screen would apply.

There are probably plenty of aesthetic reasons that you would not want to drop lower thirds down to use the extra space though.

If they are simple subtitles or a constant, static logo that could be acceptable.

The title safe markings are designed to be 20 percent smaller than the size of the entire frame. This is not editable in FCP. This has nothing to do with pan and scan.
--Bob

I am forcing to letterbox as 16:9.
Currently the titles seem far too high, and if I need to use a background bar it will cut into an important part of the image.
Title safe guides seemed reasonable in 4:3, but look excessively cautious for 16:9- do some 16:9 monitors really cut that much off?

{quote:title=James Forbes wrote:}{quote
Title safe guides seemed reasonable in 4:3, but look excessively cautious for 16:9- do some 16:9 monitors really cut that much off?

No they don't. and neither do projectors. Which is why I often use the action safe as my guide.
--Bob

Good, that was the direction I was leaning towards so thank you for the reassurance. As I have almost 100 interviewees to credit if anyone wants to council against: please speak up!