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Overlaying black bars

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Im currently re-editing a sequence from Superman II and have come across a problem.

Basically, I have zoomed in on a piece of footage but when iv done so, its also put footage 'over' where the black bars should be.


What I need to do is add black bars over the top, now doing this is to simply load up a NTSC 720x486 template in Photoshop, making the background transparent and then adding the black bars...................but I dont know how thick to make them. Iv tried making them 60pixels each but that wasnt enough, then I tried 85 pixels based on this formula.:

Equate like so: 720/h = 16/9 cross multiply to get the value of h, which works out to 405. So if the video is supposed to be 405 pixels high, then 576-405 = 171 which is the total height of the bars. Divide that by two and you get 85.5, so make one bar 85 pixels high, and the other 86 pixels high.



But that was too much...so I then made it 80 high and that was too much.

Im going to try 75 pixels but does anyone know how high to make the pixels for sure?

This way, I can then overlay these black bars and no matter where I reposition the footage I wont lose the black bars.
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The variables are incorrect. You want the black bars over a 16:9 ratio for a film 2.35:1.

1/2.35 = x/720. Cross multiply and get x = 306. Subtract that from 360 height for 16:9 dvd video source and you get 54. Divide by 2 and you get 27.

Why is the template 720x486 and not 720x480?

I think 27 each is right, but I don't know why--you said making them 60 pixels each wasn't big enough. Maybe putting together your template with a height of 360 instead makes my equation work. I'm sorry I didn't come in with stock knowledge and instead calculated it myself (and might've calculated it wrong. But that's what I would do.

Spaced Out - A Stoner Odyssey (five minute sneak peek)

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The easy answer is load one of your untouched frames into photoshop and measure the black bars you have. You can just use an 'unaltered' scene as your template. rubber band out the picture area and make it transparent, rubber band the existing black bars and make them black.

The bars can be any size depending on how you captured it, at what settings, the source etc. etc. so pulling an existing frame from *your* capture is the easiest way to go.