Blackmagic Forum

Anyone have any idea why Filmhub and other distributors won't accept videos with pillarboxing? My video is a mix of HD and SD and I don't see the harm in keeping my SD shots in their native 4:3 ratio even though they appear with black borders on the sides. I really hate having to blow the SD shots up to fill the full screen due to the resulting loss of resolution. I've seen letterboxing in other videos and I don't find it objectionable at all.

I assume you've read https://help.filmhub.com/articles/26637 ... quirements which states No padding, letterboxing, pillarboxing.

If I were you, I would complain to them instead of here.

If I were you, I would also look into the Blanking Fill in Resolve Stylize.

Thanks. As far as trying to contact Filmhub, I understand their technical support is practically non-existent these days and it can take many days, if not weeks, to get a reply. It's pretty much an automated system nowadays. I was wondering if anyone here might know the rationale behind this rule? Anyone have any idea why some pillarboxing within a video would be an issue for distribution?

And thanks for the tip on Blanking fill.

That's messed up. The entire practice of Blanking Fill is an abomination that no real filmmaker would ever use.

That said, the web site doesn't specify if scenes within the larger frame cannot have empty black. It might be they just don't want you uploading a 16:9 version of a program that's entirely 4:3. Or uploading a 16:9 version of a Scope aspect film.

I'm wondering if it's meant to stop "reverse screen burn in" on plasma displays. I didn't know there was such a thing as REVERSE burn-in until I did some digging.

What if you used a dark gray (or colored) background surrounding the 4x3 shots? Technically, that's video and not blanking per se.

I really want to hear their explanation and rationale of why Pillar and Window boxing of mixed aspect ratios are not allowed, and how they expect the filmmaker to deliver mix content of HD and SD, as it is the example in your case. Wes Anderson uses this different aspect ratios in many of his films to stylize, depict periodic film sequences, and other directors communicate vase landscapes or heights with different aspect ratios in their film (i.e. King Kong) causing the Pillar or window blanking effects.

Please let us know what you find out from FilmHub. I’ve worked with other indie distributors, although they have some kind of similar requirements, it’s mostly like Jim said - don’t window your entire 4:3 to a 16:9 version. And that would make sense.

Thanks, Ellory. Yes, I will definitely report back if I ever hear anything specific from FilmHub, but as I mentioned earlier, they are not easy to get through to.

I've searched the internet and the only negative things I came across against pillarboxing is that it can cause reverse screen burn-in and that some some viewers find it visually distracting when there is a mix of pillarbox and HD. I personally don't find it distracting at all and prefer it as it maintains shot resolution. I've looked around a bit and looked at some video on MagellanTV, a documentay streaming platform which has a lot of WW II docs which mix HD and SD and all their videos are edge-to-edge, no pillarboxing going on at all. Yet, I was watching a World war II program on PBS the other day which had a mix of pillarboxed historic SD with non-pillarboxed HD. So, go figure.

By the way, you mentioned that you've worked with other indie distributors. How's that been going for you? What sort of shows do you produce? My project is a doc about the Hiroshima bombing which features never before seen footage and eye-witness accounts. Are you aware of any other forums or list serves that have categories devoted just to FilmHub or self-distribution? I've looked at Indy Talk and Filmmakers Forum but couldn't find any.

PeteMatul wrote:By the way, you mentioned that you've worked with other indie distributors. How's that been going for you? What sort of shows do you produce? My project is a doc about the Hiroshima bombing which features never before seen footage and eye-witness accounts. Are you aware of any other forums or list serves that have categories devoted just to FilmHub or self-distribution? I've looked at Indy Talk and Filmmakers Forum but couldn't find any.

I don’t do docs so I can’t recommend any distribution for it. I work on narrative short and long forms. Most indie distributors are genre specific and work with a bunch of streamers. They market to streamers that’s looking for films of a particular type and probably who are following the trending patterns of what Hollywood is touting. That said, there are ones that are more agnostic and might take on documentaries as well. Indie Films in LA is one that distributed a couple feature titles on Amazon Prime, ones that I worked on. They have a revenue sharing program which is not bad.

PeteMatul wrote:I was wondering if anyone here might know the rationale behind this rule? Anyone have any idea why some pillarboxing within a video would be an issue for distribution?

The restriction was likely implemented as a measure to prevent potential Active Format Description / Widescreen Signalling issues and possible consequent improper stretching and/or cropping of the content due to detected pillarboxes / letterboxes. It's not an entirely uncommon policy, though perhaps a little outdated these days.

Jim Simon wrote:The entire practice of Blanking Fill is an abomination that no real filmmaker would ever use.

Thankfully for us all, Jim, you're not the arbiter of what 'real filmmakers' would and wouldn't do. That said, I think scrolling timelines in NLEs are an abomination. Lol. ;)

Ellory Yu wrote:

PeteMatul wrote:Indie Films in LA is one that distributed a couple feature titles on Amazon Prime, ones that I worked on. They have a revenue sharing program which is not bad.

Thanks for the Indie Films reference. Looks like it could be helpful. It also led to Film Freeway for easy film festival entry which could also be helpful for me.

Hey Ellory (and others), I can finally tell you my experience with Filmhub regarding their so-called restriction on Pillarboxing. I was finally able to get through to a live rep and he didn't know the answer either and told me to "just try it." It was a bit of a gamble as Filmhub only allows three attempts at submission before your show is forever banned from their distribution. So I didn't want to waste one of those attempts. But I took a chance and it worked. My show, with a mix of 4:3 pillarboxing and 16:9 edge to edge, was accepted! Adding to the drama was that my show had already failed one time as the trailer I submitted with it was rejected due to repeated frames as a result of my outputing the trailer at the wrong frickin' fps. A real bonehead mistake on my part, that's for sure. So everything is fine in the kingdom now and I can get on with sending out press kits to newspapers and media outlets, etc. . BTW, my show is called "The Horrors of Hiroshima," and Filmhub will be will offering it to streaming services throughout the world. One channel, MagellanTV has already expressed its intent to pick it up and I expect others to follow. The show's release is timed with the 80th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing and the end of World War II this August. So go out there and demand that your favorite channel pick it up if they haven't already done so.

Hey Peter. Happy to know the FilmHub fiasco got resolved for you and congrats to your film’s distribution.

Ellory Yu wrote:congrats to your film’s distribution.

Thanks, Elory. It's been a long journey! Good luck with your projects.

And by the way, Ellory, thanks for the Indie Films lead. They were interested in my project until I told them it was a short. I will definitely consider them again with longer projects. Frankly, though, Filmhub might be a good choice as it turns out, now that I've gotten through QC. Well, actually, it might be the only choice, ha. As the song goes, love the one you're with.