Possibly stupid question?

[Steve D.]

Originally Posted by old_tv_nut

The "safe title area" used to be the inner 80% of width and height, but modern TV sets are much more consistent on overscan (usually 3% or so), so it's not as critical.

I think I have seen a picture of a viewfinder with the round tube outline drawn on it, but maybe someone who was involved with early color production can say yea or nay.

Back in the mid '60's when rectangular color tubes were being introduced and our control room monitors were still roundies, we were very careful not to cut off any graphics and that the sponsor's product was centered in the frame. This applied to any image that included tight head shots to wide master shots. Roundie color sets were a consideration for many years after the intro of the rectangular sets. I don't recall the camera viewfinders having cutoff lines marked on the crts. The director could determine the framing. This refers to live & videotape. I assume those working with film for tv did the same.

-Steve D.