Does interpreting footage affect it negatively?

[Ivan Myles]

[Nina Sargsyan] “I want to know does interpreting my footage from 23.976 to 24fps affect it negatively in any way shape or form?”

One out of every 1000 frames will be dropped, which should not be noticeable unless it is high motion footage.

[Nina Sargsyan] “Now I shot 24fps on all cameras, but as we all know when we bring DSLR footage shot 24fps into premiere it displays it at 23.976.”

Premiere supports 24fps. Are you using custom settings or presets?

[Tim Kolb]

[Ivan Myles] “One out of every 1000 frames will be dropped, which should not be noticeable unless it is high motion footage”

…true only if the footage is interpreted to a framerate that isn’t identical to the sequence framerate.

When you interpret the footage, it simply runs all the frames at the new frame rate. If you have a 24 fps clip that is 1000 frames long, it will include all the same frames if interpreted to 48 fps, it will just run twice as fast and appear on the timeline as half as long.

The key is understanding the relationship to the sequence settings. If you take a 24 fps clip, interpret it to 48 fps, and then place it in a 24 fps sequence…yes, you’ll only see half the frames.

This is where so many of us have the luxury of shooting 720p59.94, and simply interpreting it to 23.976 in Premiere Pro for effortless 40% smooth slow motion in our 23.976 1080p projects (scale the 720p up of course)

With the 23.976 footage mentioned, Premiere Pro doesn’t “auto-interpret” anything, so if the footage comes in as 23.976 fps, that’s the flag that’s on the media. If you take 23.976 fps footage and place it on a 24 fps sequence, or vice-versa, you will see a frame dropped like you mention. If it’s 24 fps footage on a 24 fps sequence, or if they’re both 23.976…even if the clip is interpreted to the frame rate in question…no frames will be dropped at all…they just run at the new speed.

All that said, there was a timecode utility of some type that FCP users used to use a lot with DSLR footage that actually rounded 23.976 to 23.98 timebase…and that has occasionally created some timecode mismatches in Premiere Pro as unlike FCP7, Premiere Pro doesn’t round to 23.98 when you specify 23.976 fps .

TimK,
Director, Consultant
Kolb Productions,

Adobe Certified Instructor

[Gina Sarentino]

Hey Tim,
Thanks for the reply. I shoot 24fps on the dslr and when I come to premiere it shows 23.976. But that doesnt worry me. And I did a little comparison test between the original 23.976 footage and the same interpreted as 24, no frames were dropped. I understand everything youve said its just I want to be extra careful cause this will be on cinema and I dont want to have any playback issues.

[Tim Kolb]

The older Canon DSLRs did shoot frame rates that were even numbers before software upgrades came out for those cameras, but now many DSLRs including Canon may quote frame rates in whole numbers, but actually use the technically correct frame rate. (59.94, 29.97, 23.976 as opposed to 60, 30, and 24)

TimK,
Director, Consultant
Kolb Productions,

Adobe Certified Instructor

[Gina Sarentino]

Thanks Tim thats a bit of info I did not know, its very helpful. I just have one more question, im gonna render this film as 24fps, does it matter if my sequence is 23.976. So far every render I have done I see zero issues, but some clarity would be3 helpful. Thanks in advance.

[Tim Kolb]

Is there a reason not to export 23.976?

TimK,
Director, Consultant
Kolb Productions,

Adobe Certified Instructor

[Gina Sarentino]

Well we are outputting for cinema and from what I know outputting to 24fps is the correct way. Would it be an issue for cinema if it were 23.976?

[Tim Kolb]

Hmmm…good question.

The last time I had to deliver to National CineMedia standard, they specified 59.94 for some reason…it made for an unnecessarily huge file.

Each venue has a delivery spec and if you haven’t been furnished with that. I’d ask for one before you make any decisions of framerate, codec, etc…

TimK,
Director, Consultant
Kolb Productions,

Adobe Certified Instructor

[Gina Sarentino]

Thanks for the insight Tim, now we know that the standard for film is 24fps. So im gonna experiment and see what will happen if I were to Render 23.976.

[Tim Kolb]

Depending on how long it is…you could render it to a master format like CineForm or ProRes at 23.976 and then bring it into Premiere Pro as a clip and interpret it to 24.0 and output it if you feel that is necessary after your tests…

TimK,
Director, Consultant
Kolb Productions,

Adobe Certified Instructor