24P Post Workflow

[John Sharaf]

Liz,

You’re in luck for two reasons; you are editing in FCP on a Mac and you shot 24p. This allows you to use one of the most elegent features of the Varicam workflow, namely firewire import. By bringing in only the discreet 24 frames per second you are effectively using only 40% of the 100 Mb bandwidth resulting in a considerable savings in storage space, while at the same time being able to edit in native high definition, even on a laptop. When you’re done, dump out to DVCPRO100 HD on a 1200/1400 VTR and then dub your SD version from that deck to whatever your SD deliverable format is. Your 1TB drive should hold about 1000 minutes (30+ 30 minute tapes), is that enough space for your project?

JS

[M Brown]

I’m also new to using 24P and we imported, from the camera, via HDSDI, a few minutes of material shot in 24fps/59.94, with a 225 degree shutter, using a Black Magic Decklink Hd card. I put it on a a 720P/60 timeline in FCP 5 and it played just like other material we have shot in 60 fps. We also placed a couple of scenes shot in 60 (59,94) fps and they looked fine too. Of course there was a difference, but nothing more than we would expect.

Is this working right or have we done something really stupid. I tried opening the Frame Rate Converter. but it wouldn’t open on these clips and appeared not to be needed.

thx…Mason

[John Sharaf]

Mason,

I don’t really understand your question, but one common mistake that’s often made with firewire import (and I’m not sure if does not also apply to capture card import via HD-SDI) is to begin the digitizing on color bars; for some reason the Varicam only writes color bars at the 60 fps rate (even if the camera is set for 24 or any other speed) and the FCP gets confussed into thinking that all the subsequent footage is shot at 60, so when you polay it in the 24 timeline it’s slo-motion. Perhaps this is what you’re referring to? In any event, do not begin import on color bars, for that matter, unless you will be transferring to an analog format (which is often done to edit with Avids in a down converted mode) there really is no need to record the color bars at all, as the digital signal is at a nominal level that cannot be controlled such as you would do with an analog signal (level, setup, chroma, etc.)

JS

[M Brown]

We didn’t digitize color bars, just chose a clip from the middle of the tape. What we see in the video is a sequence with more lag than I’d like in moving objects in the 24P sequences, so I’m wondering if we’re not missing something. It almost looks like we’re shooting with no shutter or with a shutter in the 120 to 180 degree position than one at 225 which should make things more crisp with less motion artifiacts??

thx Mason

[Nate Weaver]

Mason, two things:

Since FCP can work with the native codec off the tape, you’re better off digitizing via firewire. There is an “Easy Setup” for 720p24 DVCPRO HD in Final Cut, that’s the one you want. It’s designed to bring in the native data via firewire and drop the redundant frames, making things as easy as and as high quality as humanly possible. HD-SDI in this case is not higher quality, nor is it easier on the hardware.

Second, shooting with a 225 degree shutter makes moving objects LESS crisp, as there is more motion blur. Try 180 and see if it’s not to your liking. Some thing like 135 would have been the direction you would have wanted to go to.

[Liz Smith]

Thanks for the help! I got some other advice from the FinalCutCow page, too. So, let me replay the workflow back to make sure I’ve got a good one:

1. Open a project in FCP with easy setup: DVCPRO HD, 720/24P
2. Log and Capture all the footage into FCP.
3. Open a new project in FCP with easy setup, DVCPRO HD, 720/30 (should this be 29.94? and does it need to be interlaced?)
4. Bring in all the capture scratch footage off of the drive into this new project. (I can add other 720/60p footage from the HVX-200 at this point, yes?)
5. Edit the project as 720/30P DVCPRO HD.
6a.Crunch an mpg out for DVD from this HD timeline in FCP.
6b. Print the final product out via firewire to an HD tape – Use the deck and tape to do an SD downconvert.

Does opening a new project and importing the captured footage off the drive really take care of the 3:2 pulldown? I don’t have to do any special rendering? This seems way too simple.

Also, when I change project timelines/settings, am I still protected if the data disappears off the drive – ie, can I still go back and do a batch capture off the original tapes if I have to because of lost clips?

Thanks again!
Liz

[Basilisk]

On a related issue. I am new to DVCPRO HD. We are having a shoot with a Varicam next week. Sounds like we are trying to do exactly the same thing with firewire into FCP except with a PAL region camera we should be capturing 25fps. Does this make any significant difference? Is the 25P workflow the same?
If we shoot some slo-mo footage, can we capture that over firewire, or is that going to make things complicated?

[Gary Adcock]

The Biggest difference is the current software FRC does not currently work with variable frame rate footage on 25/50p content. The Kona Card does support the offspeed content capture for the 25/50p world.

gary adcock
Studio37
HD & Film Consultation
Post and Production Workflows

[Brent Curran]

I shot footage using an hvx 200 .. I used a 16 gb p2 card. I’m using final cut 6.1.2 .. I import my footage using log and transfer. My problem is I’m editing the footage after importing it on a 59 94 time line.
I want to edit a 23.98 time line so i used my remove dupilcate frames import and my audio is out of sync?
Can anyone suggest anything.. Presently I edit 59.94 then export and using compressor export using dvc pro 24 p to get the frame rate of 23.98 ..