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59.94
I’ve been doing a lot of animation lately, and discovered some months ago that working in 59.94 gets me much better results. I’m doing my first lip sync job. I know there’s software that does it automatically, but it cost thousands. I know I can do it myself quickly ’cause I used to get paid to do it in the early 90s (on 35mm).
So I went into Exel to create a lip sync breakdown chart, and I suddenly realized that I didn’t know how to deal with the one minute drop-frame issue.
Being the good egg that I am, I have always worked in drop frame. I just think it makes sense to be accurate. And FCP gives me the option (in timeline options, although you do have to control click the TC field in the canvas and deselect “View Native Speed”–whatever that means). But it does not drop frames in 59.94. All the frames are there. Why is this?
Like 29.97 DF, shouldn’t it drop frames every minute but the tenth? And should it drop 4 instead of 2? Or is it true that there’s no such thing as 59.94DF, and if that is the case, why?
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6 Replies
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[Hal Dace] “Like 29.97 DF, shouldn’t it drop frames every minute but the tenth? And should it drop 4 instead of 2? Or is it true that there’s no such thing as 59.94DF, and if that is the case, why?”
59.94 is NDF. Don’t ask me why, but it is. That’s something that totally surprised me too when I first started cutting 720 / 59.94 HD.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.comDirector, “The Rough Cut”
https://www.theroughcutmovie.comNow Posting “Good Eats” in HD for the Food Network
“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters
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Maybe I’m mistaken but I was under the impression that 59.94 is not a timecode but a frequency reference or a “frame rate” reference of interlaced fields per second. So even selecting a rate of 59.94 you are still actually running at a timecode of 29.97 which can be NDF or DF.
Also DF timecode does not actually drop frames, it just skips or does not count frame numbers 0 & 1 the first second of every minute, except every tenth minute. -
[Frank Nolan] “So even selecting a rate of 59.94 you are still actually running at a timecode of 29.97 which can be NDF or DF.”
Nope, 59.94 is the frame rate. You’re not editing in 29.97 at all when using the 59.94 frame rate.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.comDirector, “The Rough Cut”
https://www.theroughcutmovie.comNow Posting “Good Eats” in HD for the Food Network
“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters
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Panasonic’s D5 deck does make tapes in 59.94 DF, however FCP will not let you make a timeline in 59.94 DF. So what you have to do is a bunch of crappy math and figure out the offset. To make your video elements land on the right DF timecode on the tape you have to place them at a different timecode in the timeline. Did that make sense?
It’s a real pain in the butt if you are doing something like a graphic element reel with 50 elements that all need to start on the minute. Or say if you are laying down a bunch of tagged versions of 30 sec spots. It’s not really that bad if you are doing a show. Just calculate what the offset end timecode should be and put a marker in your timeline. Then you just have to always think of that marker as being the end.
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Thanks, Sam, for answering my question. That was very clear.
But I get confused easily when trying to do “crappy math” with timecode.
Am I right in thinking that I basically do the same thing with 59.94 as I do with 29.97, but drop 4 frames every minute instead of just 2? And the exception is still on the 10 minutes? Or is it more complicated than that?
Hal Dace
Handmade Productions
Manhattan, Kansas
https://www.handmadeprods.com -
Math for Movies is a handly little article. What you are looking for is about three quarters the way down the page.
My favorite timecode calculator is/was TcTC found here fxguide. But it required Mac Classic. If memory serves, you could open any number of windows and they would update when you change a value in another window.
The Apple developer download site has these two applications but I can’t vouch for their effectiveness. They seems very basic.
Hollywood Calculator – Video
Timecode Calculator – VideoThere is a Timecode Desktop Widget floating around out there that seems very basic, but I’ll let you find that one.
Inquiring minds…
Bryce WhitesideDon’t worry Mr. B. I have a cunning plan…
PowerBook 1.67 Ghz ATI 9700 128 MB 2 GB
Mac OS X 10.4.5 QuickTime Pro 7.0.4
Final Cut Pro HD
DVD Studio Pro 3
Motion
After Effects 6.5
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