Mixing Aspect Ratios

[Karritto]

I want to use 16:9, but I have some 4:3 clips I want to use. These slips will primarily be flashbacks. I considered using something like a dream-like border to help cover up any pillar bars. Or would it be better to crop the 16:9 footage to 4:3. I use Adobe Premiere CS6, so what is the best way to crop and tweak so both older and contemporary footage looks consistent?

[Katranat]

I too would like a more experienced opinion on this!

I've kinda been doing the opposite of what you've mentioned

Or would it be better to crop the 16:9 footage to 4:3

I'm currently working on a video that mixes several different sources and I've been scaling any 4:3 clips so that they fit 16:9. For the most part it works, but in some cases it's not been great.

[Kireblue]

I think it's kinda a case by case basis deal. Are all your 4:3 scenes at a specific spot together? If so then you'd have a lot more options on how to make this look good. One idea could be to use the dream-like borders, but another way could be to add a 16:9 blurred version of the scene underneath like this

Spoiler :

But if your 16:9 clips are scattered throughout the whole video, then you can just crop/ pan into your 4:3 footage so it fits into the 16:9 frame. Your editing program should be able to do this automatically if you tell it to match your clip's 4:3 aspect ratio with your 16:9 output.

But with this said, just because you can do this, doesn't mean you should. I don't know what your idea is, but if I was in your position, I'd generally choose to just exclusively use 16:9 sources. Or ditch the 16:9 sources and just use 4:3 (depending on which ones are more important to your video).

[Mol]

Can also : mirrror 4:3 scenes x2, use mirrored scenes to cover left and right. Cant try to allign it with scene , but it depoends on scene by scene basis. Also can stack whatever look you want onto that.

[seasons]

I'm currently working on a video that mixes several different sources and I've been scaling any 4:3 clips so that they fit 16:9. For the most part it works, but in some cases it's not been great.

What resolution are you trying to edit this video in? Just curious. (1080p, 720p, something else?)

[Katranat]

I'm currently working on a video that mixes several different sources and I've been scaling any 4:3 clips so that they fit 16:9. For the most part it works, but in some cases it's not been great.

What resolution are you trying to edit this video in? Just curious. (1080p, 720p, something else?)

1080p!

And yeah, so many sources with different aspect ratios... It's gonna be a Frankenstien video by the time I'm done with it