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Some little things have been bothering me lately.
We seem to get more and more cropped shots.
For instance :
This movie was shot in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio. All DVD releases are presented in this ratio.
Yet, somehow, we got this 1.81:1 aspect ratio shot.
Obviously, it's not distorted. But both sides seem to have been cut off...
Why ? Probably to fill the whole WTM frame. I'm just guessing here, but it looks very much like it.
Well, this is not how it's supposed to be. The WTM frame has a permanent 1.80:1 ratio. Just like your TV set has a 1.33:1 or, more likely, 1.78:1 ratio.
But movies are released (both in theaters and on DVD) in many different ratios : 1.33:1, 1.66:1, 1.85:1, 2.35:1 and many more...
And shots from those movies should have the same proportions : 1.33:1, 1.66:1, 1.85:1, 2.35:1 ...
Shots uploaded on WTM are not supposed to be distorted or cropped to fill the whole WTM frame. Because both cropping and distorsion actually ruin the original shot composition.
That's one of the reasons why I've been working on a new tutorial. http://siboul.free.fr/wtm/index.htm
It goes from taking the shot to uploading it on WTM. It's actually split in 3 steps : Taking the shot / Processing the shot / Uploading the shot
Feel free to make comments and/or suggestions to improve it. Just keep in mind I'd like it to remain quite simple, with no more than 3 pages. -
Great tutorial MisterZob. I noticed this also. I think people get confused about the whole "black bars" thing and try to make all their shots 1:80:1 so the WHOLE frame is filled. People see "no black bars" and they think this also means the "legal" bars introduced due to aspect ratio.
At least 3 people, who have had their shots removed due to black bars, have complained to me about how LOTS of shots have black bars, only to quote a perfectly fine 1.33:1 or 2.35:1 aspect ratio shot :)
Anyway, this tutorial is needed, nice work. -
Great tutorial indeed. Next problem: how to get it to the people who really need it :p
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Maybe first time somebody uploads a movie you get to see the tutorial automatically. It has to be concise otherwise people will skip it, and also pictures says more than long texts. I'd say show what happens when somebody doesn't cut of the black bars so WTM adds additional black bars to the side. And then how it should be done.
Maybe that's an idea? -
lol krukev - did you read Misterzob's tutorial? http://siboul.free.fr/wtm/index.htm It shows exactly what you are suggesting.
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CommentAuthorLePaposaure
- CommentTimeMay 7th 2010
Great work, MrZob !
And good question, Zythux... Perhabs a pop-up news, like the quests announces, linked to this tutorial, for a start... -
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yes, I mean: You now see only at page 2 what you can do wrong. Also it first says everything about VLC, but install is rather easy and I believe it has the right properties right away. So it becomes rather long, and I think the link to the next page has a too low contrast in comparison with the background. Maybe make it yellow or something?
Or maybe make like a content list:
- How do I make a snapshot?
- What about the black bars and ratio?
- Quality
That way anybody that already has a snapshot can read about the black bars. You can then always start by saying: you should make your snapshots with VLC and not with Windows Media Player classic.
I couldn't find anything about that the tutorial is shown before somebody wants to upload a shot for the first time? -
Interesting how you save your shot as png, and when you start editing it's suddenly bmp! Pure magic!
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.. anyway....
I thank you MisterZob for taking your own personal time to do this and it's perfect in my eyes. The FAQ in the forum is very out of date and I am in the middle of rewriting it. I will incorporate this into it, and will have a chat to the admins about incorporating it into the general FAQ. -
That's a nice tutorial MisterZob, you did a great job again.
As you're asking for suggestions, I would just add a practical hint about how to make a snapshot with VLC, giving the keyboard shortcuts. I'm not sure about the standard combination because I changed it to ctrl+x on my computer, but I think it's shift+s or something like that. This is not an important point in your tutorial, but I think it's much easier than clicking on "video" than "snapshot", especially for people who don't know VLC yet. -
About the 3 steps :
- Step 1 is mostly to avoid distorted shots. If your VLC settings are correct, you will never get distorted shots.
- Step 2 is about black bars and saving the shot in high quality. That's the most needed part of the tutorial, IMHO.
- Step 3 is about understanding why most shots won't fill the whole WTM frame.
That's actually why I split this tutorial in 3 parts: so that we can go straight to Step 2. --> http://siboul.free.fr/wtm/tutoWTMstep2.htm
But it would be silly to talk about black bars before explaining people *why* most DVD shots have black bars; hence Step 1.
I'd say starting from Step 1 is for true beginners.
Starting from Step 2 is for people who know how to make a snapshot, but don't bother process it.
And Step 3 is for users who know how to make a snapshot and how to process it. They just don't do it right. -
@Asmodai
Yeah, I'm too lazy to update that screenshot, which dates back to a time I was using some other DVD software. -
@MisterZob
I think the statement, that a raw shot will always be 4:3 or 16:9 is no longer true for BluRay. As far as I know BluRay lets you specify the aspect ratio.
EDIT: Ignore what I said. -
Do you also have to cut away the side bars (i.e. left and right) of a shot?
http://whatthemovie.com/shot/74492 here are very small side bars, but never heard anyone complain about them :) -
Yes, you do. The image file should have no black bars at any side, so when you upload to to WTM you only have bars on two sides (either left and right or top and bottom). In some cases the black bars are minimal, and not enough to delete, but we prefer you to crop them anyways.
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Ok, thanks, in future I will!
I was afraid it would have the wrong aspect ratio again.
Thanks!
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