Post-Processing CGI Footage 2.35:1 Aspect Ratio

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The Subtle Stack of Effects

When I make CGI renders, specifically for our space short film Syntactic Labyrinths, I have to do a 2.35:1 Anamorphic/Widescreen conversion of the footage.
Instead of simply cropping the top and bottom of a 16:9 shot to fit inside a 2.35:1 composition, I like to use a combination of Bezier Warp, Shift Channel and Optics Compensation to create a more natural effect.

This is a personal preference technique that varies from artist to artist. My personal method includes using the Bezier Warp effect with a -30 to -60 value on the Vertices to squish the edges before making a 2.35:1 crop of the composition. Afterwards the use of Shift Channel will separate the Red, Green and Blue channels. With the Optics Compensation effect we can subtly add some Chromatic Aberration to the edges.

Never too much, just a touch to add to the "lens imperfections".

Finally an Adjustment Layer with a masked Rounded Rectangle will create a blurry feathered edge of our shot. This blurry vignette uses an instance of Camera Lens Blur with the Aspect Ratio set to 0.5 and a subtle Exposure effect that lowers the Gamma Correction. Finally to recreate the filmstock look I add a Tritone effect. We can then play with the Highlight, Midtone and Shadow colors. By adjusting the Blend with Original strength we can get really beautiful results.

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