Premiere Pro - Crop is transparent, not black

[Jack Deere]

I dropped an adjustment layer on top of my video (sequence Canon 1080p 24fps, automatically adjusted for DJI Phantom 4 4K 24fps) and cropped top and bottom part 12% but it does not show black bars, it is transparent. I tried to put black matte under the video sequence, but crop is still present as transparent. I also tried to crop video directly, but same result.

Would there be any setting that can change crop from transparent to black? Or maybe there is another way to make anamorphic screen..

It seems like only I have this problem.

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[excited_Genie16B8]

The default "background" is nothing.  Black shows only because you can't actually show transparent on a computer screen, revealing the wall behind your monitor.  So when you crop, you see whatever is behind.

If you want black, you need actual black.

The easier method is to just change the sequence settings to the aspect you want, rather than adding black bars top and bottom.  I often edit in a 1920 x 800 sequence to achieve a 2.40 aspect ratio.

[Jack Deere]

JIm_Simon, thank you for your reply.

How would I be able to change the default background to black?

I wanted to preview the footage with black bars, I understand, even though I did not try, these transparent bars should become black after I render the video.

This method of editing in 1920x800 sequence works too, but I wanted to have something not invasive so I can just "flip the switch" and also have the preview with black bars. 

[Meg The Dog · Accepted solution]

Click the wrench in the lower right of the Program Monitor and UNCHECK "Transparency Grid"

MtD

[shooternz]

The easier method is to just change the sequence settings to the aspect you want, rather than adding black bars top and bottom.  I often edit in a 1920 x 800 sequence to achieve a 2.40 aspect ratio.

Hey Jim.

In that workflow you suggested...do you know if YouTube displays the 2.40 aspect without letter boxing (mask)?

What would be the export setting require to do so? 1920 x 800?

[excited_Genie16B8]

if YouTube displays the 2.40 aspect without letter boxing (mask)?

The YouTube player is 16:9, so anything not exactly matching that will have black somewhere.  In my experience, uploading 1920 x 1080 is best for YouTube, so while edit at 2.40, I export at 16:9 and the black is added automatically during export.

Digital copies for computer playback remain at 1920 x 800, no black necessary.