Exporting at the wrong frame rate

I have a large documentary film project (4+TB of total footage) and a sequence with nearly 90minutes of footage on timeline. Files and framerate
have been imported from many different sources so there's a good variety of frame rates sprinkled within the sequence. When I locked the cut in and
tried exporting it, I realized the frame rate (which was suppose to be 23.98) came out at a bizarre rate of 22.18. Furthermore, I tried cutting the enitre project up into shorter clips and still having the same problem. And the frame rate can be different every time I export it.

I've never seen this shift before and can't seem to find a solution to help lock it all in and export it correctly.

Please help.
epp
www.eppicfilms.com


FCP 7.0.3
Mac OS 10.8.3
Quad-Core
10GB memory

> I realized the frame rate (which was suppose to be 23.98) came out at a bizarre rate of 22.18.

That's pretty unlikely. Are you checking the frame rate in QuickTime Player? QuickTime Player plays movie files at various frame rates, depending on its ability to keep up. It is not an accurate reflection of what your file's frame rate actually is. To check the file properly, import into Final Cut Pro and press COMMAND-9 to check its properties.


www.derekmok.com

I didn't think to check that, but you are correct, in FCP it is showing up correct at 23.98. But both my colorist and sound designer are having major sync issues and can not
seem to line up things correctly. Take a look at this screen grab from the inspector in QT Pro of the frame rate it's showing: 22.80.

[www.dropbox.com]

There is obviously something shifting during the export and causing my post production team all these fits. Any clues of how to get to the bottom of it?

Thanks,
epp

What are your Sequence Settings? What sample rate are you using for the audio? Did you render everything (including Audio Mixdown) before exporting?


www.derekmok.com

You may have hit the nail on the head with "rendering everything out". I left a few things unrendered in a rush to get it out and this may be the culprit.

Okay, that didn't work. The sample rate for the sequence is 48K, but as I went back and reviewed a lot of the clips I'm noticing a lot of variations with the sample rate too. Is there a way to lock all the sample rates in?

> The sample rate for the sequence is 48K, but as I went back and reviewed a lot of the clips I'm noticing a lot of variations with the sample rate too.

Those are Hail Marys. While you should render before exporting and convert all audio to the same sample rate as the sequence, these rarely affect the final exported movie file, which would conform to the Sequence Settings. The more likely explanation is that some of your media is not optimized (eg. H.264) and is therefore affecting the processing on the rest of the timeline.

You still haven't given the Sequence Settings. Pretty hard to help you unless we know this.

The only way I can think of is to start a new Sequence with a clean preset. Then copy the items from the old timeline a group at a tie to the new Sequence, render, and export from the Sequence. That may help locate which piece(s) of media in the timeline may be causing the problem.


www.derekmok.com

>You still haven't given the Sequence Settings. Pretty hard to help you unless we know this.

Yea. Make sure the sequence is set to a supported codec like ProRes.



www.strypesinpost.com

I've seen a bug like this come up with sound. There is an mp3 or an aiff file at 44.1khz in a 48khz timeline. Perhaps even the very first bit of audio. Your project will play ok, an exported quicktime will be okay. But an OMF, will be wrong.

The fact that some of your footage isn't 23.98, and you just dropped it into your 23.98 sequence might cause some issues too. And if your sequence isn't ProRes, or some other FCP codec...or some of your footage isn't ProRes or supported codec (like H.264) that will cause issues.


www.shanerosseditor.com

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