TAG | 16:9
When it comes to editing, I have no shortage of “pet peeves,” and perhaps one of my biggest is seeing footage with “Incorrect Aspect Ratio.” Far too often I see television shows, news packages, promos, even graphics in a video with the wrong aspect ratio, causing the images to appear squished. I’m not talking about TV networks that incorrectly display entire programs (I’ve got a future blog lined up to complain about that); no, I’m talking about a shot or two incorrectly formatted in an otherwise perfectly fine video.
I love HD television. I would guess that 90% of the recordings on my Tivo are HD, and if I’m watching live TV I always scan the HD listings first. Unfortunately, there are still many instances on the HD channels where you see shoddily upconverted or simply misformated 4:3 video (I believe RedArrowRyan will be having a blog post in the near future on his particular frustration with The Today Show). There are occasions, though, where you see some new and brilliant techniques that take a completely different approach to this issue, a couple of which recently reminded me of a lesson from one of my favorite movies of the past 10 years: the 2003 documentary, The Five Obstructions. (more…)
