letter box/pillar box on still photos

Question

Level 1

8 points

letter box/pillar box on still photos

Here is my problem:
Within a 16x9 video project in FCE, I want to import a few 'vertically oriented' still photos, then zoom and pan on them during their duration, so I can include visual content in both the upper and lower parts of the photo.
But, it seems, unless I crop those photos in a strong horizontal orientation, when I bring the photos into FCE they show up with pillar boxing on both left and right side. This is the 'grey' pillar box that does not go away when you zoom in on the image using the scale command. That zooms in on the photo, but the pillar boxing remains.
So, in other words, I cannot simply increase the scale setting and have the image fill the widescreen frame. Does anybody know, just from reading this, what I'm doing wrong?
I have tried custom cropping, trying to make the original image at least slightly horizontal, and that does seem to decrease the width of that 'permanent' pillar boxing, but it doesn't make it go away entirely.
Is there a way to use what would normally be a vertical photo, and have it fill an entire widescreen frame, using the motion properties to pan up or down during the time the photo is in the timeline?

Thank you for any help you can offer on this one!

-- Mark Strand

iMac, Mac OS X (10.5.4), 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4 GB 800 MHz DDR2 SDRAM

Posted on Jul 5, 2009 12:26 PM

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Answer 1

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,809 points

Jul 5, 2009 12:33 PM in response to Mark Strand

The gray pillarboxing is not part of the image. Only black pillarboxing is part of the image. If you're working in a 16:9 frame set the canvas to fit to window. You might see gray letterboxing at top and bottom if the frame doesn't match the canvas shape, but you shouldn't see any permanent pillarboxing. You should be able to scale the horizontal image so it fills the frame from left to right, cropping the top and the bottom. Perhaps you can post a screenshot somewhere of what you're seeing.

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Answer 2

PieroF

Level 5

4,283 points

Jul 5, 2009 12:55 PM in response to Mark Strand

The "grey" pillar boxes in fact appear when a sequence frame size does not match the canvas or the viewer window size: in this case if you use the Window/Arrange/Standard command (ctrl-U) the viewer and the canvas windows aspects automatically match the sequence frame aspect and the grey pillar boxes (or letter boxes, if any) disappear.

So it seems that you insert the vertical images into a "vertical" oriented frame aspect... even if I don't know of any available in FCE. You should make sure your sequence is in fact 16:9, because from your description I feel it is not....
My feeling is confirmed by the fact that zooming in a vertical image does not solve your problem.

But I might have misunderstood your problem

Piero

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Answer 3

Mark Strand Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 5, 2009 2:20 PM in response to PieroF

Thank you, both, for your help with this...
I will have to figure out how to send you a screen shot, maybe. The problem persists. I actually am in the standard window arrangement, and the windows of the viewer and canvas are both set to fit to window. It is no doubt my inexperience; I am probably not doing something right...
It seems like FCE wants to "show you" the entire vertically-oriented photo or something, so it gives me those pillar boxes on the left and right, which show up in grey. But when I attempt to use the scale command to zoom in on the photo and force it to fill in the entire frame from left to right, those gray pillars remain and do not let me see what might be 'inside of their boundaries.'
I'm certain the sequence itself is set to 16:9, because that's what I set it to and have numerous video clips, all in HDV, already inserted into the timeline, and they play and appear fine.

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Answer 4

Mark Strand Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 8, 2009 7:10 AM in response to Mark Strand

Hello again...
After digging in and studying the basics of this, I learned that most of my problem was stemming from trying to do the "Ken Burns" effect on still images in the Viewer... and it works much better to do it in the Canvas. When I put the playhead at the beginning of an image that was already placed in the Timeline, then used wireframe mode and set an initial keyframe... THEN adjusted zoom and pan settings... then moved the playhead to the last frame on that image, then set a second keyframe and adjusted the final zoom and pan settings... it worked just fine.
I suspect I would not be the only FCE user who has attempted to do this in the Viewer, attempting to work with keyframes, center point, scale, etc... because that is how it appeared to be done, from watching, for example, a video tutorial on the Lynda.com web site...
Thank you again for your assistance. I think, at least for this issue, the deal is solved.
My next challenge is to learn how to superimpose a logo over a sunset photo, then have the logo appear out of the sunset. Wish me luck...

-- Mark

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Answer 5

PieroF

Level 5

4,283 points

Jul 8, 2009 7:32 AM in response to Mark Strand

Let me add a couple suggestions.

First, you should add any effect (including Ken Burns like) to clips that are in some sequence in the timeline: that's where your final movie is.
The viewer and the canvas are only 2 different ways to watch your clips: the canvas always displays a sequence in your timeline; on the other hand, the viewer may display either +single clips+ from the browser (your clips storage) or +single clips+ from the timeline. Remember that if you open a clip from the browser, the viewer has a white scrubber bar, if you open a clip from the timeline the viewer has a "dotted" scrubber bar (or having "sprocket holes"). In the first case any editing in the viewer affects only the clip in the browser, and no sequence at all. In the second case instead the clips in the sequence are affected and you can see the final effect also in the canvas.
In summary: first open a clip from your timeline, and then apply effects, keyframes, scale etc. using the Motion tab in the viewer.

Second suggestion: if you are interested in Ken Burns effect you may try the free filter Auto Pan Zoom. You can apply it to all your stills in a single move after you inserted all your stills into the timeline. Just make sure to read the "One Step Usage" instructions and to use stills that have at least 50% higher resolution than your sequence. E.g. if your sequence is DV your stills should be at least 1500x1000 pixels or similar to avoid blurring due to the automatic zooming.

Piero

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Answer 6

Mark Strand Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 8, 2009 7:47 AM in response to PieroF

Thank you so much for the additional information!
You just taught me more valuable details that I did not know... I had been wondering why some clips displayed that "sprocket hole" appearance you describe and others did not... one particular still image had 'worked' when I attempted to do the Ken Burns effect to it, but I did not understand why this was so... it obviously had to do with me opening the clip from the timeline rather than the browser.
Is the free filter, Auto Pan Zoom, a download... or did it come with FCE? Where do I get that?
(I am interested, though I rarely find that automatically applied filters or effects are satisfying to use... I usually find that it's better to do a custom application of an effect to each image, one that suits that image's individual content and the impact it can have if the zoom and pan is tailored to it.)

-- Mark

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Answer 7

PieroF

Level 5

4,283 points

Jul 8, 2009 8:22 AM in response to Mark Strand

Auto Pan Zoom is a download.
Just click on its name here and you get to the web page with the filter instructions and the actual download link (the filter name itself in its web page). Then use the Installation Instructions, but basically you have to drag the downloaded file (a text file with postfix .fxscript) into the folder +<Your Home>/Library/Preferences/Final Cut Express User Data/Plugins+, close and open again FCE.
As I already wrote make sure to read the "One Step Usage" instructions and to use stills that have at least 50% higher resolution than your sequence.

I agree with you, in general I prefer to control the application of a filter. But I suggest you to try first the automatic application and then to fix only those stills that do not satisfy you; it will be much faster than doing it one by one.

Piero

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Answer 8

Mark Strand Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 8, 2009 8:36 AM in response to PieroF

Thank you again... I plan on looking into this plug-in. Thanks for pointing out that the auto functions can be overridden and customized when you want to...

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