Action filming aspect ratio

[matteusclement]

2 part question

1. what is the shooting aspect ratio for shooting action? I am referring to the screen size. 16:9 vs ????

2. if I am to do this on my hv30 or t2i, what is the best way to make sure I am in those marks? some kind of tape on my screen? (well, maybe not tape)

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Depends on the aspect ratio you want to go with.
Some action movies use 16:9, some 2.35:1.
And to mark 2.35:1 on a viewer, you could use tape, that is easily removable (not Gaffa of course) and if you use an external display, you could put a 2.35:1 image onto it and then mask it for better framing, unless you cameras have video in.

 

[nateo200]

2 part question

1. what is the shooting aspect ratio for shooting action? I am referring to the screen size. 16:9 vs ????

2. if I am to do this on my hv30 or t2i, what is the best way to make sure I am in those marks? some kind of tape on my screen? (well, maybe not tape)

2.35:1 in its self can give a dramatic look to a movie but sometimes it looks like your trying to hard..plenty of movies that have been shot in 1.85:1. I find 2.35:1 to look great when the movie contains allot of scenes that warrant it like wide open spaces, etc.

For screen marking, you can use tape or you can use your best guess...just make sure you keep everything in the 16:9 frame to too close to the edges and cropping really shouldn't be an issue...I've tested it a few times by transcoding my 1920x1080 straight to 1920x800 and unless I'm using a ridiculous amount of zoom in close quarters I don't loose much. Worst comes to worse you can "pan and scan" in post edit.

 

[matteusclement]

what I have done is measure my video display, done some math and then put tape over the area that will be lost. So for my hv30 that has a display of 33mm, i have taped off 5mm on the top and bottom

 

[acearchie]

2. if I am to do this on my hv30 or t2i, what is the best way to make sure I am in those marks? some kind of tape on my screen? (well, maybe not tape)

If you put Magic Lantern on your DSLR you can get it to display the 21:9 crop bars for you.

 

[matteusclement]

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2. if I am to do this on my hv30 or t2i, what is the best way to make sure I am in those marks? some kind of tape on my screen? (well, maybe not tape)

If you put Magic Lantern on your DSLR you can get it to display the 21:9 crop bars for you.

I've been meaning to do that. Will try it out this weekend. Do you have a good video to show how to do it?

 

[nateo200]

If you put Magic Lantern on your DSLR you can get it to display the 21:9 crop bars for you.

How complex of a process is that? I mean I don't need the whole deal I can google it and do it but is it relatively ohshitijustbrickedover700dollar free?

 

[paolo-]

How complex of a process is that? I mean I don't need the whole deal I can google it and do it but is it relatively ohshitijustbrickedover700dollar free?

It's really really easy. Apparently no one bricked a camera using it. Basically it just runs some software on top of the camera's software.

Just follow this to install, nothing complicated, just follow the steps. http://magiclantern.wikia.com/wiki/Unified/Install It's not harder than installing a Canon firmware update on the camera. There's even a video showing you how it's done.

 

[matteusclement]

It's really really easy. Apparently no one bricked a camera using it. Basically it just runs some software on top of the camera's software.

Just follow this to install, nothing complicated, just follow the steps. http://magiclantern.wikia.com/wiki/Unified/Install It's not harder than installing a Canon firmware update on the camera. There's even a video showing you how it's done.

I'll try it when I am not hopped up on cold meds.

 

[Fandongo]

I'll try it when I am not hopped up on cold meds.

If you want something done right, you've got to do it on Nyquil.

you can quote me on that... and put it on my tombstone.

 

[matteusclement]

If you want something done right, you've got to do it on Nyquil.

you can quote me on that... and put it on my tombstone.

BWAHAHAH! so true.

I really have to try the install this week end. All this BS with putting tape on and hoping it's the right aspect is taking up too much time.

The video looks pretty straight forward.

But from a quick glance, it no longer looks like you can do a format from the camera any more with out losing the Magic Lantern Software. Is that the case?

 

[paolo-]

BWAHAHAH! so true.

I really have to try the install this week end. All this BS with putting tape on and hoping it's the right aspect is taking up too much time.

The video looks pretty straight forward.

But from a quick glance, it no longer looks like you can do a format from the camera any more with out losing the Magic Lantern Software. Is that the case?

I think you just can't do a low level format. Otherwise, there is the Erase all images option that should do the trick in most cases.

 

[Fandongo]

BWAHAHAH! so true.

I really have to try the install this week end. All this BS with putting tape on and hoping it's the right aspect is taking up too much time.

The video looks pretty straight forward.

But from a quick glance, it no longer looks like you can do a format from the camera any more with out losing the Magic Lantern Software. Is that the case?

I haven't updated to unified yet, but if I format it does erase everything.
It's fine, it just loads up the vanilla firmware...
But since I remap the video record dial, it's a bit annoying.

Just make a folder on your desktop w/all the ML files.
Or as that^^^guy said, the erase images trick works great.

The funnest thing to play with is the LCD sensor.
LCD shortcuts = cover the sensor, up+down = backlight adjust.
You can also use it to adjust focus w/o touching the camera.
Awesome.

You can find any cropmarks you want and add them to the cropmarks folder.
Cinescope blocks out part of the image with black bars.
I like it, but you gotta turn it off for pics (or use the half shutter clear screen function).

Good luck and have fun!

 

[matteusclement]

I haven't updated to unified yet, but if I format it does erase everything.
It's fine, it just loads up the vanilla firmware...
But since I remap the video record dial, it's a bit annoying.

Just make a folder on your desktop w/all the ML files.
Or as that^^^guy said, the erase images trick works great.

The funnest thing to play with is the LCD sensor.
LCD shortcuts = cover the sensor, up+down = backlight adjust.
You can also use it to adjust focus w/o touching the camera.
Awesome.

You can find any cropmarks you want and add them to the cropmarks folder.
Cinescope blocks out part of the image with black bars.
I like it, but you gotta turn it off for pics (or use the half shutter clear screen function).

Good luck and have fun!

Good God, this sounds VERY customizable.