720p24 Slow Motion with 1920×1080 29.97FPS timeline?

[Bret Williams]

Wouldn’t slow motion be a HIGHER frame rate than the sequence? 60p for example? The you’d use cinema tools to conform that to 29.97 and you’d then have a 50% speed slomo shot.

[Magee Mcilvaine]

Thanks Bret.

It’s a good point. I am not sure how to get to the raw 60fps clip. I have the raw media from the SD card in the original BPAV file structure. But as far as I can tell, the raw clip is already conformed to 720p24. I could be reading the files wrong though. Any suggestions on how to confirm that? My original plan was to conform down from 60 to 30, but I am not sure how to access the original 60fps file.

Thanks for your help Bret.

[Shane Ross]

Your DP just handed you a bag of hurt. Obviously they have no clue about editing systems or what you are using an how you can deal with it. “Oh, they can mix frame rates easily, right?” No, not in the editing app you are using. FCP doesn’t mix frame rates well at all. Did they even CONSULT post when they decided to do this? I doubt it…camera rarely does. I’m always happily surprised when they do call to ask “Hey, how should I shoot this?”

The easiest answer would be…use Avid. It DOES mix frame rates well. But, if you are going to stick to FCP, then you have some work ahead of you.

23.98 to 29.97 via Compressor:

1. Drop clips you want to convert into Compressor

2. In Compressor, select your video then right click and choose NEW TARGET WITH SETTING > APPLE > FORMATS > QUICKTIME > APPLE PRORES 422 (HQ). Or pick whatever codec you like to work with.

3. Click on that newly created compression setting to open it in the Inspector window. Click the Encoder tab. Click the Video: (Settings…) button. Make the frame rate 29.97. Check the interlaced box. Set it’s drop down menu to Bottom field first. Click OK.

4. Click the Frame Controls tab. Set Frame Controls to On. Set Output Fields to Bottom first. Leave Deinterlace on Fast. Leave Adaptive Details checked. Leave Rate Conversion set to Fast. Leave the Set Duration to: on 100% and make sure it’s radio button is selected and NOT the “so source frames play at 29.97 fps” button.

5. Make changes to the Filters or Geometry sections as needed. Those settings listed above are the ones critical to getting the proper 3:2 pulldown added.

6. Submit the compression, then bring the resulting video back into Final Cut Pro. Place it in a 29.97 timeline and make sure you watch it on an NTSC monitor to verify that it looks good. If you step through it frame-by-frame you should see the familiar pattern of 2 split/interlaced frames followed by 3 whole frames. This is a very important step. I tried many solutions that looked OK playing back on the computer monitor, but looked terrible on the NTSC monitor.

7. Ask your producer to please inform the camera guy that they need to consult with post before they choose any shooting format or frame rate.

Shane
Little Frog Post
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[John Pale]

“Leave Deinterlace on Fast. Leave Adaptive Details checked. Leave Rate Conversion set to Fast. Leave the Set Duration to: on 100% and make sure it’s radio button is selected and NOT the “so source frames play at 29.97 fps” button. ”

Glad you advised to leave everything set to Fast. I have seen so many people robotically advise others to set everything to Best..which in this scenario is absolutely the wrong thing to do. In addition to adding huge amounts of time to the encode, it may actually CAUSE artifacts by engaging Optical Flow in a scenario it is not suited for.

[Magee Mcilvaine]

Hey Shane,
Thanks for these detailed notes. I am going to try this. Another strike against FCP.
Much appreciated.
-Magee