Still images are still moving!

Hi there,
I made a few still images from master clips using the "make freeze frame" command, and they look great in the timeline. However, when I burn to DVD, and play it on my TV, the people in those frozen frames shake and convulse! It looks like the freeze frame is caught between two frames.

Should I export my still and bring it back in as a jpeg? Do I just need to deinterlace the shot, and if so, how do I just deinterlace a single shot? Any other ideas?

Thanks!
Jason

www.jasonblalock.com

The answer is in the FAQ Wiki

[www.lafcpug.org]

Michael Horton
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Whoa, that was fast, Mike.

But it looks like we've forgotten to put one little aspect of this process into the FAQ, and that's FCP's own Make Freeze Frame command.

To make it not "convulse", apply a De-Interlace filter and try both the de-interlace and Flicker Filter options. If you want to go the route of exporting an actual still image file, export a TIFF or a TGA, not a JPEG.

And when you're editing, you should not be relying on the Canvas to judge the effect. Hook up an external monitor, even if it's just a TV set -- FCP's Canvas not only shows effects in a degraded form, it also doesn't show any sort of field- and interlacing-issues. So if you keep going like that, you'll end up wasting a lot of time and blank DVDs while those issues still persist.


www.derekmok.com

Better results with Photoshop I say in this case. So says Andrew at the top of this FAQ. Most folks have PS, or if they don't a copy of PS Elements will do fine.

Michael Horton
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A very good article on the many ways Photoshop can help is here:

Photoshop methods to reduce flicker

Also there is an action's palate in Photoshop that has a number of VIDEO actions - -one is a macro specifically meant to reduce flicker -- it must be done on an unlocked layer in Photoshop - think stills come in to photoshop as default locked -- the way to unlock them - double click on the layer in layer's palate and give it a new name.

Very often there is only a small part of the picture creating the flicker (very fine detailed lines) that you can select and apply a small blur to that will fix the problem - Andy