Frame rate

[Ben G unguren]

If ALL (or nearly all) of your footage is 24fps, then the best thing to do is edit at 24fps, then add “3:2 pulldown” when you export. This assumes you’re working in NTSC or PAL instead of HD. Can you give more information regarding workflow (types of files coming in, where they’re headed, etc)?

[Sam Houpe]

Thanks for the reply. Using Canon 7D footage. Shot at 24fps in 1920×1080 and the final output has to be a QuickTime file in NTSC at 30fps at 720×480. I’ve made sequence in 30fps 720×480 and imported the 24fps onto it and exported a couple shots with QuickTime DV25 NTSC settings and the output looks and seems fine. Thanks for your help.

[Ben G unguren]

Sounds to me like this might be going to DVD, in which case you can still export at 24fps (dvd players will convert the video to 30fps on the fly).

If everything looks good, then press on. But make sure you’re looking at it on your final delivery format. For instance, if you’re going to be watching this on a TV, make sure you try it on the TV before you decide all is well. If it were me, and all my footage was at 24, I’d definitely be editing at 24, and doing any converting to 30fps further downstream. This gives me a lot more options later on.

[Jeff Brown]

… and make sure you know the difference between 30 FPS, and 29.97 FPS (which is NTSC). Also know that this does not mean “drop frame” vs. “non-drop” timecode. Timecode is a numbering schema, frame rates are playback schema.

-Jeff

[Ben G unguren]

Good point, Jeff. A lot of the time we say 30 and 24 when we should be saying 29.97 and 23.976. Shorthand can be a problem when we forget it’s shorthand….

[Sam Houpe]

Thanks Ben. It was for a festival. It will be run from a computer through a projector onto screen. Festival rules said product has to be a file (no burned DVD) and the submitted file had to be in 30 (29.97) self contained QuickTime file (there would be no DVD machine playback involved).

I tested converting 24 to 30 in Media Encoder and also editing the original 24 footage in a timeline sequence set at 24 but exported at 30 and both results were bad (lines during movement, frame freezing, etc.).

Best results I found were keeping everything the same (24p timeline exported at 24) and laying the 24 footage on a 29.97 timeline exported at 29.97. Both of which came out looking flawless. The exported 30 timeline almost looked as good as the 24. Only thing that seemed different is the aspect ratio.

Kicker was it was a 48hr contest (scripting, shoot & edit). Not enough time to deal with unexpected problems. Was expected it shot in 29.97 since the rules said the submitted file had to be in 29. Then I couldn’t seem to fully remember what my teacher told me about shooting at 24 and editing in 30 (that was years ago). For me, I always want to shoot at whichever the output is going to be unless it’s for artistic expression. Like shooting at 60 editing at 30. But thank you to everyone for your replies. Everything seemed to work out well enough.

[Jeff Brown]

Glad it worked out. I was involved in a “48 hour” project several years ago. It’s crazy, but fun. Once!

-Jeff