If you work in the film or technology industry, or if you just watch Netflix, chances are that you’ve heard about the phenomenon that is 4K. It’s already an important part of video and film production, and although we might not be watching 4K all day any time soon, it’s worth getting ahead of the game to start using 4K footage right now.
Learn about the benefits of licensing 4K below, and decide whether the rising video format is right for you.
Editing Flexibility
Licensing a 4K clip means that if you’re working on an HD project, any section of the video can be cropped to 1920 x 1080 (as seen in the image below), while still maintaining the full quality of the video. Working with 4K clips also allows for zooming in and panning from side to side without losing quality on a finished HD project. This flexibility allows you or your video editor to create better, higher-quality videos, and gives you more options when putting the final project together.
Future and Platform Proofing
Creating a video in 4K, even for a project that only needs to be HD, is the best way to ensure that the video will remain usable as 4K becomes more widely used. It makes for a higher quality product when you shoot video in 4K, and using stock of the same quality throughout that project will keep everything consistent, ensuring that the final video can be used in full for years to come, as more consumers adopt 4K.
Anyone who works with post-production knows that companies will return over and over again to create alternate versions of a project that they may not have anticipated needing. Take, for example, a company that decides to purchase 4K television screens for their offices — If past projects were created in 4K, they already have a collection of usable content ready to show to visitors. Another colleague might want high-quality screenshots for social media, and other teams could opt to use 4K video to test new advertisement models or to present on 4K monitors at their next trade show.
It’s impossible to prepare for every possible scenario, but by creating your original project in a high-quality 4K format, you’re prepared for the future and for many different platforms.
New 4K Products, Prices, and Innovations
Over the course of the next few quarters, it’s safe to assume that 4K adoption will occur on a much wider scale. 4K televisions from major brands like Sharp and Samsung have already taken steep price cuts — below $600 for the first time — while lesser-known brands have begun selling quality models for less than $300. Broadcast tests conducted by LG and the NBA have also proven successful, which suggests that we might not be as far off from 4K broadcast as previously anticipated. Plus, the upcoming holiday season will be the first in which Blu-ray 4K DVDs are widely available.
More consumers and professionals are capturing content in 4K, and as television prices fall, we’ll see more people purchasing 4K TVs to watch their own content in full resolution. Apple’s upcoming iPhone, the 6S, is expected to include a 12MP and 4K video recording for the first time. With so many new developments on the horizon, there’s still time to get ahead of the 4K trend — if you haven’t already jumped on board.
Explore 50+ of our 4K summer highlights »
Top image: Aerial view of Croatian sea and islands by nomadFra