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Need to mix DVCPRO HD, P2, and Flipcam HD footage for broadcast
I have a project coming up that will be dealing with DVCPRO HD footage and P2 footage, both shot at 720P/23.98fps and Flipcam HD footage. For purposes of a pilot, we were running the Flipcam HD footage through Compressor to make it match the DVCPROHD60 codec/720p/23.98 (23.976) and then editing in FCP in a 23.98 timeline.
Now, there will be multiple episodes that need to be delivered in HD (Sony HD CAM SR master) at 1080i/29.97, and probably an SD digibeta as well. (But I’m assuming that can be just down-converted from the HD master.)
I’m wondering if working in the 23.98 timeline is the best idea? Is converting the 29.97 flipcam to 23.98 only to have it going back to 29.97 in the end just asking for trouble? (I’d say about 30% of the show would be made up of the flipcam footage.)
Would there be a more sensible way to shoot and/or import the material into FCP to make things work as smoothly as possible in the edit?
Thanks a lot for any input. I’ve read many threads on 23.98/29.97/59.94 issues, but am still a bit uncertain as to the most efficient way to proceed with this.
Molly
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6 Replies
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Before getting into the details, do you know who made the decision to shoot 23.98, and what was the reasoning behind that decision?
I ask, because 23.98 is going to much more difficult for you to deal with than 30p, which has similar a filmic look.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los AngelesPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.
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you need to have all of your sources at the same frame rate.
not doing that will cause trouble.
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Hi David,
I believe initially it was for the look, and also, on the P2 side, because it took up less space on the cards.
I’m not yet in the edit, am talking to the assistant, etc about dealing with this stuff. Is it possible that they did shoot the DVCPRO at 30p and it just got loaded into FCP with the DVCPRO HD 720p24 setting mistakenly?? I’m going to investigate that today.
In addition to figuring out how to best deal with what we already have, that’s why I’m asking questions now – because there will be shoots for upcoming episodes and I’m wondering if we could unify everything at 29.97 in the future and make our lives easier while still getting the same look.
Thanks a lot,
Molly -
The situation has now been further complicated by the fact that the DVCPRO crew mistakenly shot one day’s worth of footage at 1080i/29.97 so now that has to be processed to match the rest of it….
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[Molly McEwan] “I believe initially it was for the look, and also, on the P2 side, because it took up less space on the cards. “
Molly,
This is a very common error in judgement. Producers simply do not understand that post-production typically costs them many times over what the production costs, and that these types of decisions mean that editors will spend much of their time fixing issues rather than doing the creative they are being paid to do.Obviously, shooting at true 24FPS and delivering at 29.97 means work is involved at every step of post, but it’s even worse when the material has to be mixed with stuff at other framerates. Your best bet is to convert the 24p material to 29.97 interlaced at a facility with a Teranex before post begins. Sure there are other cheaper solutions, but none as good and none as fast., and biting the bullet now is just the right thing to do if efficiency and quality mean anything.
As I said before, 30p has the look of film, but without the headaches of 24p, because it’s actually shot at 29.97, so I’d advise you to alert the powers that be before they keep heading down the current road.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los AngelesPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.
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Molly,
I have to agree with David on working with different scan/frame rates. For the work I did on Koppel on Discovery the team chose to shoot on DVCPro at 720p 29.97 which gave them the “film look” but was easier to conform to Discovery’s broadcast standard of 1080i 59.94. I use a HD1700 DVCPro deck to down convert to SD for the offline and the same deck to convert for the online conform. In every case it work flawlessly. I believe the deck can convert frame rates. This will save you from having to dub your DVCPro sources.When we had SD file footage we up converted using a TeraNex XANTUS usually center cutting as apposed to letterbox.
I strongly suggest that all scan and frame rate conversion be done before or during the ingest process.
Guy
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