If you want to read the entire series from the start, please follow these links:
Getting Started
HDTV Graphics: Getting Organized
HDTV Graphics: The Rules - Chapter 1
Safe Zones: Truth or Myth
There are two different Safe Zones that video editors used in the old days of picture tubes, Title and Action. You'll also hear the term, 20% Crop zone from time to time. The Title Zone (20%) was an area on the screen that you had to keep all your text in and if you went outside of that area you committed a video sin and must be flogged with strands of Betacam SP tape. The reasoning behind the title safe zone was to make sure all your text was seen by the viewer and wasn't getting cut off on the edges of your TV's bezel that surrounded the CRT screen (picture tube). The other zone was the Action Zone (10%). This is where you had to make sure your main video subject matter was to stay. If any subject matter fell outside of that zone it was no biggie because most of the action was right in the middle of the screen. Breaking this zone or rule wasn't considered that much of a video sin, so no flogging was necessary.
Getting Started
HDTV Graphics: Getting Organized
HDTV Graphics: The Rules - Chapter 1
Safe Zones: Truth or Myth
There are two different Safe Zones that video editors used in the old days of picture tubes, Title and Action. You'll also hear the term, 20% Crop zone from time to time. The Title Zone (20%) was an area on the screen that you had to keep all your text in and if you went outside of that area you committed a video sin and must be flogged with strands of Betacam SP tape. The reasoning behind the title safe zone was to make sure all your text was seen by the viewer and wasn't getting cut off on the edges of your TV's bezel that surrounded the CRT screen (picture tube). The other zone was the Action Zone (10%). This is where you had to make sure your main video subject matter was to stay. If any subject matter fell outside of that zone it was no biggie because most of the action was right in the middle of the screen. Breaking this zone or rule wasn't considered that much of a video sin, so no flogging was necessary.
That of course was in the days of CRT's (the picture tube) that TV's had in them at the time. What gets me is that there are still graphic artists and video editors out there that swear by these default zones or the 20% Crop and still use them.
NEWS FLASH... We don't have picture tubes anymore.
Now I can hear some of you saying, "But every major video editing application has title and action safe guides that pop up over your image so you know that your staying in the safe area." Yes they do, but that doesn't make it right for today's graphics or video considering everything is now on a flat screen monitor that exposes every single pixel of information. Nothing is behind a bezel. Nothing is being cropped.
Some quick facts: As of 2015, 81% of households in the US have at least one HD TV set, and about 52% of all households have multiple HD TVs. Seven years ago, 46% of US households had at least one HD TV, and 17% of households had more than one HD TV. So where do you think we are today? I would bet that we're close, if not past 91% of US households in 2017.
Ok, so why throw into the ring the info on how many HD TVs are out there? Because practically no one is watching what you're producing on an old TV. So knowing this, why is part of the graphics industry still stuck in the past with old standards? Who knows and who cares.
Some quick facts: As of 2015, 81% of households in the US have at least one HD TV set, and about 52% of all households have multiple HD TVs. Seven years ago, 46% of US households had at least one HD TV, and 17% of households had more than one HD TV. So where do you think we are today? I would bet that we're close, if not past 91% of US households in 2017.
Ok, so why throw into the ring the info on how many HD TVs are out there? Because practically no one is watching what you're producing on an old TV. So knowing this, why is part of the graphics industry still stuck in the past with old standards? Who knows and who cares.
With that said, the industry still has set up a safe zone standard for today's HD TV for broadcasters (see figure 1 above). If you want to bother looking it up, knock your socks off. It's not the easiest thing to read or understand, so I'll break it down for you. The current recommendations are that all makers of 16:9 television programs should frame pictures to ensure that:
So what are these new Safe Areas? Well in looking at Figure 2 below you'll see that the new Action Safe Area is now 3.5% of the screen and the Graphics Safe Area is 5% of the screen. This all means that you loose 67 pixels left & right and 38 pixels up & down for the Action Safe Area. For the Graphics Safe Area you loose 96 pixels left & right and 54 pixels up & down. Granted, it's a lot more space than you had before with the old standards, but it's still really not necessary. I've included my .psd file for Photoshop below so you don't have to spend the time recreating one.
- Where appropriate, all essential action takes place inside the Action Safe Area
- All graphics are framed in the Graphics Safe Area
- The center of the image retains its position throughout all production processes unless there are creative reasons to deliberately do otherwise.
So what are these new Safe Areas? Well in looking at Figure 2 below you'll see that the new Action Safe Area is now 3.5% of the screen and the Graphics Safe Area is 5% of the screen. This all means that you loose 67 pixels left & right and 38 pixels up & down for the Action Safe Area. For the Graphics Safe Area you loose 96 pixels left & right and 54 pixels up & down. Granted, it's a lot more space than you had before with the old standards, but it's still really not necessary. I've included my .psd file for Photoshop below so you don't have to spend the time recreating one.
default_hdtv_picture_format.psd |
If you still feel you need to follow some sort of rules, I would try to keep all my graphics in the Action Safe Area and pay no attention to the Graphics Safe Area. It's pretty much what I do and how I have Photoshop and my editing software set up. Whether you know it or not, most editing packages will have the old 20% crop title safe and 10% action safe as the default. As I've stated, this is simply unnecessary for modern editing. You can change the default percentages in most major video editing software.
So what's my point? My point is that the classic 20% Title Safe Zone is unnecessary for modern graphics and editing. In fact, if you’re using a 20% default title safe as your guide, you’re using a standard that was created before we landed on the moon. So stop it and get with the times!
So what's my point? My point is that the classic 20% Title Safe Zone is unnecessary for modern graphics and editing. In fact, if you’re using a 20% default title safe as your guide, you’re using a standard that was created before we landed on the moon. So stop it and get with the times!