Editing a Zoom recording with different aspect ratios

[explorewithlori]

I attempted to record a zoom meeting in HD. Both my guest and I configured all the settings to record in HD and I also ensured I contacted support to ask them to enable 1080p recording. When I am in view, I am full screen at 1920x1080, but when the view switches to my guest as the active speaker, the screen has black bars on both sides. I assume this means it recorded her at 4:3? I am editing the recording in Premiere Pro and am wondering what the best course of action is? Cutting the footage into segments and then rescaling my segments down to match hers would likely be time consuming and effectively reduce the quality of the footage when viewed on a large screen. Any other ideas or suggestions? I plan to post the edited video to YouTube.

[Ray_Harwood]

Welcome to the Zoom Community, @explorewithlori.

I do a lot of editing of Zoom video for post-event posting to YouTube and Vimeo using Premiere Pro. What you see is what Zoom was provided. Chances are someone had a camera that output at 4:3 ratio, and Zoom added the black bars since the format of the output video is 1080 at 16:9. 

If you’ve got two main speakers, my recommendation is to make a sub-sequence with two copies of the Speaker View track, cropping one of them to display only the 4:3 camera and mask off the black bars. Adjust one or both tracks to fill the available space, or not (if you can live with the different appearance). 

Then, make that sequence a Multicam Sequence and use it in your main sequence as source for the two speakers. That way you can easily switch between the 16:9 View and the 4:3 view. If you’ve never used Multiviee, it can take some getting used to, but once you learn it, you’ll be using it a lot!

[explorewithlori]

Dear Ray,

I already started editing the footage, cutting out the beginning and end of the recording and some parts where the audio dropped. Since I have some razor cuts in the current sequence, does that mean creating a duplicate for editing as you suggest isn't possible or can I do it at this stage? Also,  I'm not clear on what the advantages are of the multicam sequence. Can you share any examples of a video that switches between the two  views? Also,  won't her footage look dithered when resized for 16:9? 

Thanks so much! 

[Ray_Harwood]

Hi Lori,

A complete tutorial on Multicam in Premiere Pro is beyond what I can do here. It’s especially difficult to retrofit an existing sequence that’s already been started. When you have time, though, it’s worth exploring and learning. 

You can consider dropping in the 4:3 video on another video track and using scale, position, and masking to get a good appearance, then when you make your cuts, enable the video from one camera while disabling video from the other.  Switch between the two videos as needed. 

[explorewithlori]

Ray,

I wasn't asking for a full tutorial on Multicam. My main concern is all this worth it if the 4:3 part of the footage will look dithered upon masking, rescaling, etc to match the resolution of the 16:9 part of the footage? I guess the only way to know is by making a sample which I will do. Thanks for your suggestions. 

Lori

[Ray_Harwood]

I’ve never had any issue with dithering or pixelating, except when trying to mask and expand a single camera from a gallery view with many participants. Don’t change the aspect ratio, trying to fill all the same space. Most people won’t notice (or care) that the frame size is a little different; those that do notice will generally understand that you’re working with different cameras. 

An approach I’ve used once or twice is to mask the 16:9 video to a 4:3 ratio, which works fine if your subject doesn’t move around much.