Vid Rate Question (59.94fps vs. 23.98fps)

I am an independent film maker in Hollywood attempting to edit
a short film with Final Cut Studio 2 and a G5 Mac.  The film was shot on DVC
ProHD, at 23.98 fps and 720p on a Panasonic HDX-900 camera.

I found someone to convert my tapes into QT files to put onto my hard drive.
When they finally did, they did it in such a fashion that my browser
displays 59.94 fps for the footage. I checked the formatting within each
file and it still said 59.94.

However, my DP told me that the footage was shot at 23.98 fps. If the film
was originally shot in 23.98 how do I convert it back to it's original frame
rate of 23.98? Is that possible?  What are the consequences of leaving it at
59.94 fps? I am guessing that the person doing the conversion did not use
the correct setting on the deck.  Does that sound like what happened to you?

Also, considering I own FC Studio 2, is there frame rate conversion software
built into the program that will help me out? If so, will going through this
process affect the quality of the footage?  Do I need to rent a deck and do
it all over again?

I have a bad feeling that the person doing the conversion for me neglected
to put the correct setting of 23.98 on the deck. I am novice to editing and
I have put so much effort into this film I don't want to be cutting corners.
Any comments and/or suggestions you may have would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much,

Josh

<<<neglected to put the correct setting of 23.98 on the deck.>>>

That or they thought they were doing you a favor. Editing a show at 23.98 is not "normal" unless you are one of the Big Kids or are working on a major film project.

Cinema Tools has a process to remove, I believe both 3:2 and 2:3:3:2 (advanced) pulldown. You do need to know which one, tho.

Nattress conversion tools can do it, too.

One of these tools makes you manually find the "A" frame in the dance for each clip. I don't remember which.

Do you have a lot of material? This process isn't fast and it may pay to have the work retransferred. Especially in straight 3:2, you can get image damage going back and forth.

Koz

Josh,

There's so many questions here. Let's start with this: Are you doing a "film out"?

If the answer is no, then shut up about "23.98". Most video cameras that shoot at "24p", actually record to tape in something known as "24 over 60"...which means that anyone in video land can actually deal with the tapes.

I'm guessing that your DP shot in 24p, but recorded it onto tape at 23.98 over 60, which is quite common. You can edit till the cows come home in a regular 59.94 timeline and not have to worry about any of this frame rate stuff UNLESS you're going back to a film print. If the answer is NO, then don't worry about it. You'll get the "film look" of 24 frames, but you'll be able to handle it in a regular Video timeline. If you're NOT doing film, then you don't need to worry about any of this pull down stuff. If you ARE doing film.... you should hire someone who knows what their doing, 'cause you're in for a world of hurt.

Good luck.

Mark

mark raudonis Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If you're
> NOT doing film, then you don't need to worry about
> any of this pull down stuff.


Except...

If you're going to the web. More and more productions we deal with also go to the web (some entirely just for the web) and as a result, shooting in native 24p (i.e., not 60i with pulldown) can be a huge benefit. The advantages are many...

- 24p (or 30p if you must) looks better on the computer screen than 60i or 24p over 60i.
- Codecs don't have to deal with interlacing, which can result in a better encode.
- If you must resize, you wont have to deal with interlacing.
- File sizes will be smaller which equals better bandwidth of course.

And...

The same can also be said if you're going to DVD.

True 24p isn't just for film-outs anymore.

Marco Solorio | OneRiver Media | ORM Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Media Batch

Very good to know as I definitely want to set myself up to be on the web. It is especially important for a new film maker who is trying to get as much exposure as possible to be as web ready as they can be. Then, of course I will want to make DVDs....

It's starting to look like I will have to redo the process of transferring the tapes to a hard drive. It seems like if I cut corners now it will only come back to haunt me down the road. I'll just chalk this mistake up as a learning experience. Thanks so much for your input.

jkingdon Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It's starting to look like I will have to redo the
> process of transferring the tapes to a hard drive.


I don't think you'll have to. How was the footage shot... 24pA or 24pS? You should be able to take the footage as is and perform a reverse telecine on it, thus making it true 24p for your output.

Marco Solorio | OneRiver Media | ORM Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Media Batch

How do I do a reverse telecine? Thanks.

jkingdon Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> How do I do a reverse telecine? Thanks.


Well it depends. First, how was the original footage captured from the deck to the hard drive... via FireWire (a lossless transfer) or anything else (like SDI, analog component)? If it was captured via FireWire *and* it was shot in 24pA, then you shouldn't have to do anything because the pulldown cadence is flagged in the video file and FCP will automatically reverse telecine the clip on the timeline. Ideally, this is how they should have shot and captured the footage for you.

If it was shot in 24pS, then you need to remove the 3:2 pulldown manually. You can use Nattress plugins to remove the pulldown (I know the Standards Converter plugin can but you might try the free "G Cadence Detect" plugin... I don't know if it'll remove the pulldown or just show what the 3:2 cadence is, but it's free so it's worth trying).

[nattress.com]

Good luck!

Marco Solorio | OneRiver Media | ORM Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Media Batch