Adding 3:2 pulldown to 30P footage for 20% slow motion

[Chris Smith]

Change the speed of the layer to 80% instead of 100% whithin a 30fps comp. It may not follow a perfect 3:2 pulldown cadence, but does it matter? You’re just going for a speed change, yes?

Or if you are NOT going for a speed change but just wanting to see less frames a second, use the time posterize effect and set it to 24. But in this case, you will still have the motion blur of 30fps since that’s what you shot it at. But really there is almost no perceptible difference. That’s why for TV we roll our film cameras at 30fps and not 24fps and transfer at 30 as well.

Chris Smith
https://www.sugarfilmproduction.com

[Chris Freilich]

Hi Chris,

Thanks for the response.

I want the slowdown to be done via the normal 3:2 pulldown cadence and not through full frame repetition so that the effect is as elegant and imperceptible as possible as an actual effect. It is extremely important to me that the effect is smooth, and since the camera is offering up 30 progressive frames just like a film camera, I want to utilize those frames in the same exact way I would with film frames.

I’m sure that this is easy to do with the right settings in comps, render, and output settings. I just am not sure what those are!

Best,

Chris

Chris Freilich
Cinematographer
Virtuoso Films
https://www.virtuosofilms.com

[Chris Smith]

well 3:2 pulldown uses the fields then fails to be progressive anymore (on 2 frames at least). So often it’s 3 real frames with 2 half frames as another frame is shared between 2 others by splitting time in the fields. Which creates interlacing which I hate personally. You can try a speed effect and go frame by frame and see what it is doing. But in Avid when ever I use speed changes I always set it to frame render instead of field render. It’s less “Smooth” but more film like. Normal video motion is often not wanted because it’s “too” smooth by showing 60 changes a second. So I shoot and transfer 30 because I find 3:2 to be the devil (unless trying to conserve budget on film stock and I have nothing to do with post i.e. not having to remove pulldown all the time myself).

Chris Smith
https://www.sugarfilmproduction.com

[Chris Smith]

As an additional note you may be wanting pullup and not pulldown. Pulldown is trying to fit 24 inside of 30. Whereas you are trying to convert 30 to 24, no?

Chris Smith
https://www.sugarfilmproduction.com

[Chris Freilich]

I appreciate the replies to this question, but I’m not sure people understand what I’m getting at. It’s very simple, and relates to film very easily.

In film:

Shoot 24 fps and transfer via telecine at 24 fps to 30 fps video (60i). (Ignoring the .1% slowdown) To do this, you add an extra field every two frames, so you have five fields for every two frames of film.

Shot 30 fps film and transfer via telecine at 24 fps to 30 fps video. As far as the telecine is concerned, it has no idea what frame rate the film was shot at, so a 24 fps transfer of this footage will still add that extra field every two frames, in effect slowing down motion by 20%

On video:

24P Standard Def video cameras add the 3:2 pulldown for you (no telecine needed!) to get to 30fps (60i) video.

30P Standard Def gives you 30 progressive frames that are displayed interlaced in 60i. If you add that one field per two progressive frames, you’ll have exactly the same look you would with film shot at 30 fps and transferred at 24 fps in telecine. Hence, 20% slow motion.

All that said, I know there’s an easy way to do this in After Effects. I just need to know what it is!

Thanks again,

Chris

Chris Freilich
Cinematographer
Virtuoso Films
https://www.virtuosofilms.com