Shooting for HD, Super 35? and What Ground Glass?

[rydog4]

Hi,

If you were going to finish something in HD would Super 35 be a good choice? And also what Ground Glass should I tell the Production company to use? 16x9 with TV safe lines? Thanks, so much for any help you can provide on this matter. I'm not use to be asked these questions normally it's delivered to me on a D5 and I get what I get.

R

[Will Vincent]

The aspect ratio of Super 16mm is much closer to that of HD than is Super 35mm... should be cheaper to shoot too.

[WideShot]

What are you wanting to achieve?

You can shoot any format of film and finish to HD 1080p and it will look fine, obviously the better formats like 35mm, super35, 70mm and variants will all look good and typically superior than super16mm, but a good super16 cam in a pro's hands could look terrific in HD. So the medium you use all depends on your budget and desired look.

As for markings, 16x9 is fine for HDTV but what about legacy standard definition? Are they going to letterbox it? Are they going to pan and scan it (its still standard practice)? Are you sure you don't want to frame it for 4x3? Really, without you telling us what you want to produce and where its going, there's no way to tell you any exact answers.

[Justin Hayward]

Super 35mm is 2.39:1, HD is 1.78:1, super 16mm is 1.78:1 and SD is 4:3 (the close to square format).

Super 35mm is usually meant to be printed anamorphic and projected in scope in a movie theater. If you are shooting on 35mm film and finishing on HD for HD television broadcast, 1.78:/16x9 is standard.... sometimes keeping things framed toward the center of the 16x9 widescreen format in case it's broadcast in standard def 4:3.