Clip conversion question

[dkwilliams.livejournal.com]

I'm making a vid and I've ended up with a mix of 4:3 and 16:9 clips. In the past, it's usually been a majority of 4:3 and I've converted the others to that format, but in this case, I want to use the letterbox format. So - what are your suggestions for the best way to convert these clips to letterbox without messing up the aspect ratio?

Comments

[barkley.livejournal.com]

I generally just put a 16:9 letterbox matte on top of them and go one at a time, adjusting the centering of the clip until you make sure you're not cutting off something important. Usually, a lot of them can stay as they are, but I always look out that I'm not cutting off someone right in the middle of their face and just move them down.

[littleheaven70.livejournal.com]

I have a preset crop in my editing programme that automatically turns 16:9 to 4:3, and then I can manually shift it around to make sure I'm not missing anything in the frame.

Though I prefer 16:9 I found it easier to make everything 4:3, because generally the subject is centered in the frame, so losing a bit on either side rarely has a detrimental effect on the clip. I've found that trying to make 4:3 into 16:9 often results in the tops of people's heads being lopped off.