Letterbox matte

[Bill DiPietra]

Does anyone know where I could purchase a letterbox matte for my mattebox to create the 1.85:1 aspect ratio on a regular 16mm image? Is such a thing even made?

 

Thanks.

[David Mullen ASC]

You're not talking about a mattebox hard matte, which won't produce a sharp edge, you're talking about a 16mm camera gate cut to 1.85 (since your camera probably doesn't have a hard matte slot in the gate). I haven't heard of any; it would probably have to be made special since it doesn't involve filing out a gate, but making a gate smaller vertically.

 

 

I assume the only reason you'd want this is to be able to make a 16mm contact print for projection with a built-in 1.85 matte.

 

It seems it would be possible to "burn in" a black matte onto a print using some sort of A-B roll (a negative with a solid rectangle with a clear border)?

[Dirk DeJonghe]

David is right,

 

the way to add a mask is to expose an B-roll with a black rectangle on transparent stock. We have several versions and can make custom sizes on demand.

Is is also needed on 16 to 35mm optical blow up in order to have black framelines on the positive or interpositive stock.

[Tim Carroll]

Does anyone know where I could purchase a letterbox matte for my mattebox to create the 1.85:1 aspect ratio on a regular 16mm image? Is such a thing even made?

 

Thanks.

 

Bill,

 

You're ARRI mattebox for your Arriflex 16S does have a slot for a hard matte, but ARRI never made a 1.85:1 matte for it. And what David talked about will come in to play if you try to make a matte, it will be soft.

 

You can still shoot 16:9 or 1.85:1 with your 16S by just taping the ground glass (you can see how here) and then shooting a framing chart at the beginning of the first roll on your project in either 16:9 or 1.85:1, depending on which you want to shoot.

 

Then the telecinist can frame off that first footage. Or if you want to optically blow up the image, do what David described above.

 

-Tim

[Bill DiPietra]

Bill,

 

You're ARRI mattebox for your Arriflex 16S does have a slot for a hard matte, but ARRI never made a 1.85:1 matte for it. And what David talked about will come in to play if you try to make a matte, it will be soft.

 

You can still shoot 16:9 or 1.85:1 with your 16S by just taping the ground glass (you can see how here) and then shooting a framing chart at the beginning of the first roll on your project in either 16:9 or 1.85:1, depending on which you want to shoot.

 

Then the telecinist can frame off that first footage. Or if you want to optically blow up the image, do what David described above.

 

-Tim

 

Thanks a lot for the info, guys.