cropping movie to vertical format?

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cropping movie to vertical format?

I have some HD 1920×1080 footage from a Canon HF10 camera that I need to edit together and output as a portrait shaped movie for a website. (The content at the sides of the movie are not needed - its just empty space that I want to crop off).

Proportions wise, the final movie needs to be about 1080 high x 600 wide (although the actual size will be smaller). However I can't see how to crop the final movie in FCP. I have been changing the 'sequence presets' in 'Audio / video settings' and I seem to be able to set a size of 1080 high x 600 wide, but the canvas window still shows a horizontal shape movie. I tried changing the 'capture presets' but that didn't work either.

What do I need to do?

thanks

Steve

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.3)

Posted on Jan 22, 2009 12:12 PM

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Answer 1

SPDB Author

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Jan 22, 2009 12:14 PM in response to SPDB

Should have added I am using Final Cut Pro 5

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Answer 2

SPDB Author

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Jan 22, 2009 12:15 PM in response to SPDB

should have added I am using Final Cut Pro 5.0

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Answer 3

Jan 22, 2009 12:16 PM in response to SPDB

Click the MOTION tab then use the CROP option and adjust top, bottom, left and right till you're happy as a clam.

rh

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Answer 4

Nick Holmes

Level 7

30,018 points

Jan 22, 2009 12:23 PM in response to SPDB

QuickTime Player offers rotate and resize controls in the Movie Properties window
Press command & J keys, click on the video track entry and choose Visual Settings.

Final Cut Pro prefers working with industry standard settings. Edit your video in a normal Timeline, export and make the adjustments in QuickTime Player.

Lay your monitor on it's side if it helps you to better see what you are doing in FCP 🙂

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Answer 5

SPDB Author

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Jan 22, 2009 12:24 PM in response to Randy Holder

Doing that in crop just adds black edges to the sides and/or top. The movie is still horizontal with black bands down the sides. Or am I missing something?

steve

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Answer 6

Jan 22, 2009 12:27 PM in response to SPDB

Yep, sorry, I misunderstood what you wanted. Nick has what you want.

rh

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Answer 7

SPDB Author

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Jan 22, 2009 12:41 PM in response to Randy Holder

Thanks for that. Never thought of using Quicktime. Will give it a go.

Steve

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Answer 8

SPDB Author

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Jan 22, 2009 1:15 PM in response to Nick Holmes

Nick

I have now tried quicktime pro. However although I can alter the size that the movie displays, it just squeezes the movie into the new proportions distorting the image. I cant see any option to crop off the sides of the movie anywhere.

Am I missing a setting somewhere?

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Answer 9

Nick Holmes

Level 7

30,018 points

Jan 22, 2009 1:36 PM in response to SPDB

When you edit your 1920x1080 sequence as normal in FCP, do you not have a full frame of visual information?

Rotate and resize in QuickTime player does not produce bars at the sides. There is no crop function.

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Answer 10

SPDB Author

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Jan 22, 2009 2:08 PM in response to Nick Holmes

The frame has action in the centre of the screen and empty space at the sides of the set to left and right. I want to crop the unwanted areas off either side of the frame to leave my 1080 height but only 600 pixels wide in the centre of the image

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Answer 11

Nick Holmes

Level 7

30,018 points

Jan 22, 2009 2:20 PM in response to SPDB

Aha, got it now!

Do you have access to Photoshop CS3 and are you familiar with it's video functions?
If you have Shake that would be even simpler and faster.

Post back if you need help on either of them.

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Answer 12

SPDB Author

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Jan 22, 2009 3:15 PM in response to Nick Holmes

yes I have Photoshop CS3, but have never used it for movies -only stills. How do I crop a movie in it?

s

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Answer 13

Jan 22, 2009 3:30 PM in response to SPDB

SPDB wrote:
I have been changing the 'sequence presets' in 'Audio / video settings' and I seem to be able to set a size of 1080 high x 600 wide, but the canvas window still shows a horizontal shape movie.

Make a new sequence preset with these settings. Make a new sequence with these settings. Drop your current sequence into it, scale to your preference then export.

Message was edited by: J S Langham

Sorry. Just re-read and realised that this is what you've done. It's worked for me in the past. I'll have to test it tomorrow to see what might be the problem.

Message was edited by: J S Langham

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Answer 14

Nick Holmes

Level 7

30,018 points

Jan 22, 2009 3:43 PM in response to SPDB

In CS3 go to the menu bar: Window > Workspace > Video & Film.

Open your video file. Go to Image > Rotate Canvas and choose whatever direction you want to rotate.

Go to Image > Canvas Size. Change the value to pixels and enter the dimensions you want. This will do an exact center crop. If you dont want a center crop, use the directional arrows in the same way as you would for a still image to bias the crop direction.

Go to File > Export > Render Video. Run through the Save dialog as usual.

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Answer 15

RedTruck

Level 4

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Jan 23, 2009 6:55 AM in response to J S Langham

When you send the movie to Compressor for the final transcode, after you apply your setting, go to the second to last tab in the inspector and choose the Custom in the crop menu. Figure out how many lines you want to crop off, then divide that by two and fill in the proper numbers in the dialog boxes. You will output a movie that will look exactly the way you want.

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