shooting for 2.40

[Gregory Bennett]

The director I'm working with wants to frame for 2.40 aspect. We are not shooting anamorphic, so I assume we will have to crop the 4K HD image in post. Any recommends on the best way to approach this? Thanks!!

[mikeburton]

Simple, just enable the 2.40 guides on the camera so you can frame within those guides on set. However, they are just guides and will not crop any information. Then, in FCP or avid or whichever post software you use crop the 2.40 aspect ratio or transcode the footage via redrushes or clipfinder with a crop.
Cheers!

[Emmanuel Cambier]

You may consider to shoot in 4K 2.1 instead of 16.9
This will allow you to shoot at 30fps, and you will also save a bit of storage as well as less stress on the editing system.

Emmanuel

[Gregory Bennett]

You may consider to shoot in 4K 2.1 instead of 16.9
This will allow you to shoot at 30fps, and you will also save a bit of storage as well as less stress on the editing system.

Emmanuel

Doesn't 24fps use less space? I do plan to shoot 4K HD at 24fps.

[A. Clint Litton]

What's your primary reason for choosing 4K HD? Are you intending to output to 1920x1080p and then applying the crop in post? I only ask because 4K HD will give you less horizontal resolution (3840x2160, in favor of an easy mathematic scale to 1920x1080), though since you're shooting widescreen, it may be useful to hold onto that extra bit of resolution that comes with shooting full 4K (about 250 more lines).

As Emmanuel mentioned, recording in the 4K 2:1 aspect will save you some drive space and give you higher framerates (as well as giving you the opportunity to use 8gb cards for handheld, etc. @ RC36...i.e. without having to bump down to RC28). Of course, if there's any remote chance the director will change his mind and want to go back to 16x9...well, then your framing would be a bit off too.

Bottom line, if you're going to cut all that top and bottom resolution anyway, may as well configure the camera in a way that will give you the most benefits.

A side note: it may be worthwhile to stick to the 4K HD or 4k 16x9 if you plan on cutting with footage shot from, say, an EX1/3 (editing the whole project at 1920x1080) so you don't have mixed aspect ratios prior to the crop or matte, thereby convoluting the post process. If you're only shooting Red, then 2:1 could serve you well.

Cheers,
Clint

[Emmanuel Cambier]

Doesn't 24fps use less space? I do plan to shoot 4K HD at 24fps.

I was only mentioning 30fps as a slow motion effect, it can really help to give an elegant feel to some shots.

You sure want to shoot a feature at 24fps.

Emmanuel