Titles Getting Distorted
 

My current workflow for editing a weekly show is to edit 16:9 footage in a 16:9 project, and then import the edited footage (by importing the entire 16:9 project) into a 4:3 project. The reason I do this is b/c the show is broadcast in both 16:9 (youtube/internet) and 4:3 (TV), and I need to export 4:3 footage with black bars.

Currently, I have to add the titles separately in each project, b/c I have not yet found the way to add the titles in the 16:9 format without having them be distorted, in size, location, and even the color quality, when I import the 16:9 project into the 4:3 one. Since this is a huge waste of time, is there any way (via correcting some settings in the titler or otherwise) to improve this workflow in order to be able to add the titles once, in the 16:9 project, and then import the entire project directing without having to repeat work?

I'm not sure exactly what you mean when you say the titles are distorted in 16:9?

What are you viewing your output on? Can you fill in the details of your video format, sequence settings, etc... ?

When I import the 16:9 project, with the added lower thirds (bars, text, and logos), into my 4:3 project, the titles are in the wrong spots, and the color quality is changed (worse). They generally look distorted in that they are not appearing as they do in the 16:9 project. I would expect them to, given that the video footage itself looks identical except for the black bars at the top and bottom of the screen to make it a 4:3 image.

I am using Premiere Pro CS3. My 16:9 project is simple "widescreen dv" and the 4:3 project, as you might imagine, is "standard dv."

The video footage is quicktime 16:9 files, but, as I mentioned above, the video footage is unchanged and my problem has only to do with graphics.

Ah...OK.

What I would do is probably just edit the whole darn thing on the 4:3 timeline... Your computer probably has the juice to simply play through the render bar if all you're doing is scaling 16:9 footage down to letterbox it into 4:3...

Or...you could export a 16:9 master clip and bring that into the 4:3 timeline...

What are you delivering as a final product? Are you bringing the 16:9 stuff into the 4:3 sequence to force a proper letterbox since Media Encoder completely fudges that up if any graphic, etc leaves the 16:9 frame?

The titles are simply going to adapt if you import the project with the source files...the pixels will scale with the project settings...from 1.2 to .9, which is what you're seeing...

I don't edit everything in the 4:3 timeline b/c I want exported 16:9 footage for Youtube and other websites. I haven't found a way to "export a 16:9 master clip" and re-import it into the 4:3 project without having the titles look fuzzy and generally like they have one generation of quality loss.

Is there ANY possible way to export 4:3 LETTERBOXED footage from a 16:9 project?

The media encoder in CS3 ends up showing stuff in the "letterbox" black areas above and below if anything exists there if you've scaled a clip up a bit or something like that...it's ridiculous.

I'd edit on the 4:3 timeline with the 16:9 footage...make your titles...and then use the crop tool in the media encoder to make a "center cut" of the widescreen content on the way out for the other applications...