Importing Issues - Aspect Ratio Changes

[Quin22636649wgc7]

Hi community!

I'm an experienced Adobe Premiere user and have been editing with it for 10 or so years now. I've just directed my recent short and shot on anamorphic lenses, which hasn't been an issue in the past. Importing the files into the project panel, I've noticed that there is letterboxing on the sides. I've tried all of the pixel aspect ratio settings but it doesn't seem to help, and I'd ideally not like to stretch to fill the container within the sequence.

The imported files are 2944 x 2160 - exactly the same as the source files, however they just don't fill the full width. Is Premiere changing the PAR subtly and is there a way to change this? Having exported a test clip, it's clear that the problem persists within the export. 

Any help would be greatly appreciated as I'm very stuck!

Here's a screenshot of the letterboxing:

 

[Ann Bens]

This pillarboxing is it just the Project Panel or timeline also in a matching sequence.

[Quin22636649wgc7]

Hi Ann,

Thanks for replying, it's in both the project panel, the timel and and the media browser which makes no sense to me. The source files in Quicktime are definitely not pillaboxed though (and also don't have the embedded LUT that I can remove through 'interpret footage' anyway).

Here's a side by side comparison of the source files and premiere media browser:

Thanks so much!

[Neckebba · Accepted solution]

Hey hey, i heard this one before i gues. I went to google it and i fond in creative cow a thread what i think is the issue you see . I copy paste it here maybe it is of help for youre issue :

2944×2160 is a ProRes format with black padding left/right, the active image is actually 2880×2160.

Currently there are two way depending on your lens choice:
a) 4:3 2.8K with anamorphic lenses
– set your project resolution to 2048×858
– set Input scaling preset to “Scale full frame with crop”

Since the 4:3 is way too wide for 2.39 we need to do two things: crop & scale.
for the 4:3 2.8K shot set sizing “Zoom” to 1.142 (2944/2578) and “Height” to 0.5 to squeeze the image.
Now you can edit your 2048×858 next to this shots.
from:
https://forums.creativecow.net/docs/forums/post.php?forumid=3&postid=999640&univpostid=999640&pview=...

Aspect Ratio = (Horizontal Resolution / Vertical Resolution) × Pixel Aspect Ratio
https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/3/1005181#1005187
ts a big reduction in quality. you can upload 4k to youtube as youtube will automatically letterbox.

as you have surmised, going from anamorphic to 16:9 won’t be pretty.
Since:
Aspect Ratio = (Horizontal Resolution / Vertical Resolution) × Pixel Aspect Ratio

so your AR = 2.66666 square
and 16:9 = 1.77 square

To fit the player perfectly, encode at these resolutions:
2160p: 3840×2160
1440p: 2560×1440
1080p: 1920×1080

but if you had to keep AR, 2.6 square would be 1920/720 square pixels or 2880×1080.

anamorphic videos will be letterboxed in both 16:9 and 4:3 players. The player can only do this if the native aspect ratio of the video is maintained – i.e. don’t add black bars to the video itself.
Note: If you add letterboxing to a video before uploading it, the widescreen player will add vertical bars, resulting in black bars all around the video and a bad viewing experience.

[Quin22636649wgc7]

Hey! Thanks so much for getting back to me, this is the answer! I had no idea that the ARRI shot 2944×2160 but was actually only 2880 x 2160 - it makes so much sense. The links are very helpful and it's a case of finding an aspect ratio that works for us and scaling to fit!

Thanks for your help!