Skip to main content

Investigation 2/9: Aspect Ratio Transition

One of the ideas that I have for my next film involves a transition that switches between aspect ratios. The context of the transition involves the first scene with it's 4:3 aspect ratio to slowly zoom out to reveal the second scene which uses a 16:9 aspect ratio.

Effect In Movies

The changing of aspect ratios during the middle of a film is not entirely uncommon. The choice of aspect ratio can impact a scene and what it is trying to portray. The first example I have included is from the The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. In this clip, as the elevator in the scene rises up, the aspect ratio expands to fill the whole screen. This effect results in the audience feeling more engaged in the new surrounding of the next scene. The second example I have included is from Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. The first clip in this example has the aspect ratio shrink smaller in order to create a claustrophobic effect within the dream sequence. The aspect ratio then grows larger and returns to normal as the dream sequence ends, telling the audience that the world has returned back to normal.

Creation Of Effect

As for creating this effect within Premiere Pro, I could not find a definitive guide to help me do what I am attempting to. However, I do have a plan on how I intend on achieving this effect. My plan is to artificially add black bars onto the sides of the original clip, re-framing it to the desired aspect ratio. Then, as the scene begins to transition, I will animate the black bars to smoothly move off-screen. I tested to see if my plan would work by using footage from my previous project. The results of my test show that I believe this effect will functionally work and that once used with the proper footage, will create the effect I am intending.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

O Brother, Where Art Though?/Homer's Odyssey

Throughout O Brother, Where Art Thou?, The Coen brothers included various elements in the film that drew inspiration from Homer's The Odyssey . The following are a few of these elements and characters from O Brother, Where Art Thou?  that are meant to reference Homer's The Odyssey . The Sirens In The Odyssey , Sirens are seductive creatures who try to tempt the main character of Odysseus into coming with them. To counteract this, Odysseus fills his ears with beeswax and is bound to the mast of his ship as instructed to him by Circe. In O Brother, Where Art Thou? , the Sirens act like they do in Homer's poem. They're used in the plot as a way to tempt our main characters. However unlike Odysseus in The Odyssey , Elmer, Delmar, and Pete do nothing to protect themselves from the Siren's temptations and allow themselves to be thrown off their path. Big Dan Teague In The Odyssey , The creature of the Cyclops is known as Polyphemus, son of Poseidon. In...

End of MP 1 Blog Post

After now reaching the end of the first marking period of the 2019-2020 school year, I am able to reflect back upon the work that I have completed so far. Intention Definition & Exploration Of Ideas Having no prior experience in any particular area of film, I set out to choose a topic to focus on that would allow me to help narrow down my focus. The area I chose to focus on was documentary and mockumentary styled film making. I made this choice with the intention to be able to explore both formal and less formal ideas while also not relying on having to create an entire original idea by myself. The topic of my film (The Game) was chosen because of my familiarity and pre-existing personal opinions about it. Planning Planning an entire production entirely by myself was a change of pace in comparison to how I worked in previous years. I began the planning process by typing out all of my thoughts in order to help establish what I am trying to do. Once I developed an idea for th...

Investigation 4/25: Scott Pilgrim Takeaways

Typically, I only really watch movies in a social setting or if there's one particular film that I really want to see. Over the past few days I've tried to change this habit by watching a film each night in the evening. The first of these films is one that I always wanted to watch but never had until now. Scott Pilgrim VS. The World  was originally released in 2010 and is based upon the 2005 graphic novel of the same name. The film follows Scott Pilgrim who has to fight the seven evil exes of his new girlfriend Ramona Flowers in order to be able to date her. The film is great and instantly became one of my favorites. However, the purpose of this blogpost isn't to gush about how good the film is. The purpose of this blogpost is to talk about a few takeaways that I got from the film. Editing Since the film is based upon a graphic novel that is heavily inspired by video games, it took a large amount of creativity to bring those influences to life on the big screen. One of the ...