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Topic: "Adjusting Aspect Ratio" (Urgent)

Well, I am working on a project that needs to be done by the end of the week, but I want to solve a serious problem first.

All my videos have annoying black bars around them because I use a very strange aspect ratio. The only thing is, I have no idea how to change it. I shoot with a Logitech webcam 9000 and use Monkey Jam. I couldn't really figure out how to change the ratio.

I am I being ignorant? I dunno, somebody please enlighten me. mini/lol

Last edited by PushOverProductions (September 9, 2014 (05:12pm))

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Re: "Adjusting Aspect Ratio" (Urgent)

What software to you use to shoot? Sometimes when you go to export the movie, it gives you options to choose the aspect ratio there.

Also, youtube lets you change the aspect ratio of any video uploaded to match the ratio you created it in. To do this, simply put yt:stretch=aspect ratio in the tags. Of course, swap out the aspect ratio part for the number, so if it's shot in 4:3, it would be yt:stretch=4:3 and if it's shot in 16:9, it would be yt:stretch=16:9. This works with any ratio, not just the standard 4:3 or 16:9.

Here's a little cheat sheet so you can work out the aspect ratio.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ac/Filmaspectratios_svg.svg/300px-Filmaspectratios_svg.svg.png

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Re: "Adjusting Aspect Ratio" (Urgent)

You probably shoot in 800x600 resolution, because I have one of those webcams, and when I used to use it, I shot in 800x600. This isn't a proper aspect ratio, so you'll need to crop your videos. What video editor do you use? Do you use Sony Movie Studio? If so, just change the project settings to what it needs to be, and crop all of your footage to fit it. This also applies to any other video editor. Most people crop their footage anyway to achieve the aspect ratio they want. For example, my DSLR shoots in an aspect ratio that is great for 4x3 photos. For videos, I always crop them to a 16:9 aspect ratio. You could crop them to anything, as long as it fits your film. Try not to upscale footage when cropping, though, because that causes pixelation.

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Re: "Adjusting Aspect Ratio" (Urgent)

Monkey Jam is your problem. It only shoots in 4/3 while a YouTube veiwer is 16/9. You can either change the aspect ratio in editing or use a more flexible program like helium frog.

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Re: "Adjusting Aspect Ratio" (Urgent)

If you do decide to shoot and crop the "undesired" ratio to something more suitable, make sure that you shoot it a bit wider (i.e. farther away from the set) Then, when you're cropping things frame by frame (or even all at once in a video editing program, you want to have enough room to zoom in for the final shot, otherwise, characters heads could be cut off in close ups, or, other objects could be cut from the frame if they're too close to a side that will be cropped.

I think that I touched a bit upon this subject on this thread: Aspect Ratio Question I showed several videos demonstrating different aspect ratios over there. I suggest you check that out. mini/smile

Last edited by Dyland (September 9, 2014 (06:01pm))

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Re: "Adjusting Aspect Ratio" (Urgent)

No longer on YT but I think it lets you remove the black bars after posting.

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Re: "Adjusting Aspect Ratio" (Urgent)

Have you tried googling it. Or making a pic with a transparent bacround and black bars at the top and bottom[saw that on a youtube tutorial] or mabby you could crop it.

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osomstudios's Website

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Re: "Adjusting Aspect Ratio" (Urgent)

Thanks everyone!

That chart was really helpful KB, and the YouTube stretch trick has proved to be invaluable.

Endfilms wrote:

Monkey Jam is your problem. It only shoots in 4/3 while a YouTube veiwer is 16/9. You can either change the aspect ratio in editing or use a more flexible program like helium frog.

Yeah, you are right. I have been struggling with monkey jam lately, but helium frog is impossible to find anywhere since their site was shut down. Even so, I haven't got time to learn how to use a new program. I am probably going to have to use Dyland's suggestion and just crop around the black bars in Adobe Premiere Pro.

no more brickfilming *sad face*.

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Re: "Adjusting Aspect Ratio" (Urgent)

PushOverProductions wrote:

Thanks everyone!

That chart was really helpful KB, and the YouTube stretch trick has proved to be invaluable.

Endfilms wrote:

Monkey Jam is your problem. It only shoots in 4/3 while a YouTube veiwer is 16/9. You can either change the aspect ratio in editing or use a more flexible program like helium frog.

Yeah, you are right. I have been struggling with monkey jam lately, but helium frog is impossible to find anywhere since their site was shut down. Even so, I haven't got time to learn how to use a new program. I am probably going to have to use Dyland's suggestion and just crop around the black bars in Adobe Premiere Pro.

I can send a copy to you.
Also, the site still exists- http://www.heliumfrog.com/Helium_Frog/h … nload.html

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Re: "Adjusting Aspect Ratio" (Urgent)

Hey, you did say that you didn't want to learn a new program,
but I have the Helium Frog files if you want me to e-mail them to you. mini/wink
(Didn't think the site was down, only moved, but whatever.)

And yeah, I used MJ for a while and just cropped off the top and bottom to get 16x9.
It shouldn't be too hard to crop correctly in Adobe, and it'll save you the trouble of the Youtube stretch trick.


P.S. END beat me to it, thank you poor internet. mini/lol

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Re: "Adjusting Aspect Ratio" (Urgent)

END films wrote:

Also, the site still exists- http://www.heliumfrog.com/Helium_Frog/h … nload.html

Oh.....so it does..... mini/blankexpression

Well, thanks guys, but I don't really need to use it. I will just stick to monkey Jam because it's what I know, and I haven't got much time left anyways. mini/smile

no more brickfilming *sad face*.

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