A client recently approached me about editing footage they have for a documentary. They have been going back and forth to Panama shooting a tribe - great footage. All the footage they have shot is on Sony mini-dv tapes in SH 4:3. Ultimately, they would like to enter the finished film to film festivals, duplicated on DVDs, and if good enough, maybe a cable tv channel.

My question is, how should I edit this footage? I know some film festivals require final digital videos be 16:9, as well as for broadcast (knowing some will not even look at it if not HD). Should I make my timeline in Premiere just the standard 4:3 project, edit, then end up with the movie in the timeline at 4:3. Then I can open a new 16:9 project, import the 4:3 film, and stretch the left and right sides to fill the frame?

Or maybe some other process is the better route?

Then I can open a new 16:9 project, import the 4:3 film, and stretch the left and right sides to fill the frame?

I'm not sure what the solution is to using SD 4:3, and undoubtedly REC.601 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rec._601). But distorting the image is bad. Unacceptable. As in, I'll get up and walk out if you try to make me watch it. Everyone can see the distortion as soon as the first person shows up on screen.

The best thing is perhaps to be honest about it and pillar box (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pillarbox) it.

On the plus side, DVD is all about SD and works fine with 4:3 aspect ratio and indeed with the REC.601 color space, so no problem there.

TV stations all have their own individual standards for submissions. But if the content is compelling...