30p on 60i or 60i on 30p

I have a project that I am working on that will incorporate 30p and 60i footage.
What would be the best timeline to work on in FCP? A 30 fps timeline or....wait, what are my options here, anyway? I was going to say a 60 fps timeline, but that's not right. Do I need to covert the 60i footage or something, or do I just drop it onto a 30 fps timeline? I feel like I should know this answer. Just feel like I'm missing something.

If it's any help, footage shot with Canon XL2 in 30p and 60i & Canon GL2 in 60i.

Steven Gladney

(no pun intended by my quote below)



Sometimes the obvious is hidden in plain view.

What footage do you have the majority of?

Scratch that...WHAT WILL YOU BE DELIVERING ON? What format? This determines EVERYTHING.

SORRY ABOUT THE...all caps. hehe.

Well, Shane. In answer to your second question, we will be outputing to DVD.

In answer to your first "Scratch that..." question, the majority of the footage will be shot 30p. Personally, that's how I would like to shoot it all, but we are estimating that about 5%-7% of the entire production (Church Documentary, by the way) will be 60i footage that we have no option but to shoot 60i.

So what do you think?

Steven Gladney



Sometimes the obvious is hidden in plain view.

> we will be outputing to DVD.

Is that the only destination format? Before you say yes, also bear in mind whether you'll want a tape copy at highest quality for archival purposes.

Frame rate doesn't matter for a DVD, so if that *is* your only destination format, stick with 30p. However, read this:

[www.lafcpug.org]

I'm not too familiar with 30p. I suppose it's "frame" mode, non-interlaced but without the "film flicker"? I honestly haven't run into too many people who want to use this setting.

Thanks Derek for the info. Yeah, I feel very confident that this project will only go out to DVD (I'll never say 100% certain because something can ALWAYS change).

And, I've have two projects that I'm currently working on that are 30p and I really like the look of it (reminds me of watching ALIAS or something). It's pretty cool to work with (as far as shooting) because it looks pretty close to 24p, but I run into alot less bluryness issues with automatic focus than I do with 24p.

I'm just starting the post process on these projects though, and I'm not quite sure how to set-up my settings in FCP. I've tried searching the forum, but I'm not sure if I'm typing in the best keywords or phrases. Can you advise what setting to use for my timeline for 30p? Do I use regular DV NTSC (anamorphic for one of the projects which was shot 16:9)? Maybe I'll post this question later if I can't figure it out.

Steven Gladney



Sometimes the obvious is hidden in plain view.

For 30p and 60i just use a normal DV timeline - 29.97fps timebase. Really, 60i and 30p are just the same, but they look different.

Graeme



[www.nattress.com] - Plugins for FCP-X

Thanks Graeme,

Appreciate the assist. I was getting a liittle worried that I would get too far into my project and find out 60% of the way in I had something set-up incorrectly.

I have another quick question. I'm working on a 2.0 Dual Core G5 with a 24" Dell Monitor (the one that Granzin swears by *which is great, by the way*). When I capture my footage as anamorphic and preview it via Digital Desktop in FCP, my 16:9 footage is centered on my screen, instead of filling it up.

Then, when I export as a quicktime movie and bring into DVDSP and run a simulation (after chaning my settings in DVDSP *I think I selected 4:3 pan and scan*) it still looks the same way, like a 4:3 clip centered on a 16:9 timeline.

Then, when I burn the DVD and view it on my computer, still the same thing.

BUUUUTTT, I've tried viewing this on 3 different Television sets (one 14", one 27", and one 42" *the 42" is a wide aspect television*) and all play fine. The 14" and 27" TV's display Letterbox and the 42" wide screen displays full screen. No stretched aspect or anything.

Is this natural? What is the reason for this?


*edited 18:16* You know the weirdest thing, right? I just went back and tried it again on my computer, in FCP, everything is showing correctly (full widescreen) through FCP now. Still need to double check the DVD though. Weird.

Steven Gladney



Post Edited (07-11-06 18:18)

Sometimes the obvious is hidden in plain view.

Not too sure on the appearance of the video with regards to 16:9. If the video fills the canvas in FCP, and looks not stretched in the preview, it's probably fine.

As for the DVD, I'm not sure as all the DVDs I've made have been told to be widescreen anamorphic and I've not set the 4:3 pan and scan for older TVs.

Graeme



[www.nattress.com] - Plugins for FCP-X