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EDL issues for film-out in FCP
Hello;
I was wondering if someone might have some advice for our process on a feature I’m editing using FCP 6.0. Our source footage is coming from DVCPro 59.94 tapes that were dubbed from 23.98 masters of 16mm and 35mm film. I’m running it through an AJA Kona LHe into a G5 3.0 Ghz machine. There are no flagged frames on the tapes, so everything must be ingested at 59.94 in order for it to play back in real time. In order to complete our process I’ll eventually need to deliver an EDL from a 23.98 timeline. The challenge has been converting the 59.94 footage to a 23.98 timeline without losing important data (Keycode to timecode relations) that will facilitate the DI process and make the EDL frame accurate. The AJA Kona LHe isn’t able to pull frames because none of them are flagged on these tapes. Cinema Tools is unable to do a Reverse Telecine because the footage runs at 59.94 and not 29.97. The Reverse Pulldown tool doesn’t work in FCP because, well I’m not sure why? I believe it’s because it’s coming from 59.94 source material without any flagged frames. I’ve tried a variety of settings in Log and Capture, 23.98, and 29.97 frame rates, but neither seem to work. I’ve tried bypassing the Kona card and ingesting at a variety of frame rates via firewire and none of that works. Only DVCPro HD 59.94 seems to work. 23.98 makes for slo-motion movies, and the 29.97 setting ingests it as 59.94.
If anyone has any advice, we’d greatly appreciate it.
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1 Reply
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Few things to try.
1. Try the DVCProHD framerate converter tool. I know you’re missing flags, but maybe it could work (probably not).
2. Throw the footage on a 23.98 timeline in Final Cut. You’ll have to re-render, so I suggest working in Uncompressed or ProRes. If Final Cut guesses the correct cadence, then you’re set. If not, you may have to play around with it. Perhaps try trimming the in-point by 1 frame and dropping it in – repeat until it gets it right. I don’t know how FCP determines cadence, so this may or may not work.
3. Throw the footage on a 60i sequence (29.97 timebase in sequence settings), export a self-contained movie, and then use Cinema Tools to reverse telecine. I’m quite sure this method will work without a doubt, but it will take longer to do.
You’ll probably lose embedded timecode using any of these methods. But you can manually re-create embedded TC using “Modify -> Timecode” in Final Cut. Maybe just write down what the TC of the first frame of each clip is. And know that you can still store 30fps timecode within 23.98 video and vice-versa.
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