Remove 3:2 pulldown after import

[Alan Okey]

The proper time to remove pulldown is prior to editing, so that you can edit in true 24p. There is no way you can fix this now short of starting over, removing the pulldown from your master clips and replicating your edit in a 24p project. The reason for this is because the 3:2 cadence of the clips in your 29.97 project will change on every cut point, so it\’s impossible to remove the pulldown on the finished edit in a single operation. You\’ve learned a tough and valuable lesson.

[Charles House]

I shot the entire thing in 24p. Never touched 24pa.

I’m finding it hard to believe that Final Cut can’t do a single thing about this once it’s happened, and that there’s absolutely no way to fix it at all, but Premiere has a toggle for it.

[Charles House]

I’m sorry, but why are you so condescending? There’s no call for it, I’m simply trying to get information and solve a problem which can’t be a first-time issue considering how easy of a mistake it was to make. I really find your attitude uncalled for and rude, and if you feel it’s necessary to get that way when you speak to people who you feel know less than you (which, in the case of answering people’s software questions, is always going to be the case), then I feel very sorry for you. If you feel the need to continue doing so, please don’t bother responding. I’m sorry for stepping out of line, but every post you’ve made to me in this thread has been down your nose, and I don’t appreciate it. We’re adults here, and we should act like them, please.

I’m reading about Cinema Tools and Compressor potentially being able to solve this issue. I’ve tried JES Deinterlacer, and it seems to help, but also add some blur. I am also not aware of how do alter the settings as per my footage, if that’s something I’d need to do to get the best results. Are any of these options for me?

[Alan Okey]

[Charles House] “I’m reading about Cinema Tools and Compressor potentially being able to solve this issue. I’ve tried JES Deinterlacer, and it seems to help, but also add some blur. I am also not aware of how do alter the settings as per my footage, if that’s something I’d need to do to get the best results. Are any of these options for me?”

The problem is that your footage, as it is currently edited together, is a hybrid of both interlaced and progressive footage – it is neither purely interlaced nor progressive. If you attempt to deinterlace it, you will degrade the progressive frames.

Cinema Tools can remove pulldown on individual 24p clips shot with with 3:2 pulldown, but it requires some manual guidance. You will need to specify an A frame first before the shot can be conformed to 24p – read the manual for a complete explanation. Conforming must be done on a per-clip basis, not on a completed edit.

You can’t remove the pulldown on the entire edit all at once because the pulldown cadence (a repeating pattern of three progressive frames followed by two split, interlaced frames) will not necessarily remain constant through an edit. For example, the cadence of progressive whole frames (W) and interlaced split frames (S) may be W/W/W/S/S on one shot and W/S/S/W/W on the next, followed by W/W/S/S/W on the next. If you attempt to remove pulldown on a single file containing cadence changes, you will butcher the footage and end up with a bizarre mix of 24p segments followed by interlaced segments with no consistent pattern or pulldown present. There is no way that Cinema Tools can automatically determine the cadence as it changes. This is why it’s critical to remove the pulldown prior to editing.

Compressor also has the ability to remove pulldown, but I don’t believe it can automatically detect and remove pulldown on a file that contains a changing cadence. I’m not positive about that, however.

I am highly skeptical that there is an automatic toggle function that can legitimately fix this in Premiere.

In the future, the correct workflow for working with a DVX100 would be to shoot 24pA and let Final Cut Pro automatically remove the Advanced pulldown upon capturing the footage, then edit in a native 24p sequence.

If you have to go back and try to fix what you have already shot, the necessary workflow would be to first go back and individually conform all of your captured clips to 24p using Cinema Tools or Compressor. You would first need to ensure that each captured clip had an unbroken cadence. If they did not, you’d have to either recapture the footage by logging and capturing individual clips or manually cut up the captured clips into separate clips with unbroken cadence. Once you conformed all of the original clips to 24p, you would then have to manually recreate your original edit in a 24p sequence.

It’s a staggering amount of work, which is why I said that it’s a tough lesson to learn. It’s also a great reason to shoot 24pA and not regular 24p, because FCP can automatically remove Advanced Pulldown on capture, whereas normal 3:2 pulldown must be removed on a per-clip basis using Cinema Tools or Compressor.

At this point, you should probably just author the DVD as-is and live with the fact that it’s 24p over 29.97i with 3:2 pulldown. It will look fine when played back on DVD players. You see movies on TV all the time that are 24p with 3:2 pulldown played back in a 29.97 interlaced signal and you don’t even notice it.

[Charles House]

So, you’re suggesting that if I shot 24p and edited in 30fps timeline, on a DVD, it won’t be noticeable, or at least won’t be terrible? I notice occasional interlace-looking issues in the footage, and after doing some research, I thought maybe this was why. But if you’re suggesting it’s not something that’s going to be all that drastic or overbearing, then that’s probably not the issue, which is relieving.

[Charles House]

You’ve asked me this before. I don’t have a video monitor. When I really notice these issues is after export of a scene to view dailies or show the DP in order to match lighting, etc.

[Charles House]

As I said, I see them mainly after export, especially on DVD. But as I also said, this could be a different issue and have nothing to do with the pulldown.

[David Taylor]

Yep.

[Charles House]

Yes, watching it on a DVD player on a television in the living room.

I looked through the few samples from this project I’ve posted online and can’t find anything that shows the issue.

[Walter Soyka]

Hi Charles,

I think I made a couple suggestions on this issue a couple weeks ago. The only way to truly solve this problem is to do what I suggested then, and what Alan is suggesting now: you need to remove the pulldown from all your source clips, and conform your edit to the new clips.

I’ll outline the process I would use, and provide links to the relevant sections of the manuals. It’s not a simple process, and there’s a lot to understand. If this is too technical, it might be worthwhile to hire someone to help you.

I would use FCP’s Media Manager to make a copy of this project. I would set it to delete unused media from the duplicated items (with 1 second handles).

I would open the new project, consolidate all the video on a single track, and export an EDL.

In Cinema Tools, I would remove the 2:3 pulldown from each of the source media files from the media managed project. Then, with the EDL we created earlier, I would convert the NTSC EDL to a 24 fps.

Back in FCP, I would import the 24fps EDL, then reconnect the clips to the true 24p files we created with Cinema Tools.

Note that EDLs have some serious limitations. If any of these apply to you, you’ll need to work around them, manually copying effects and transitions from your 30 fps sequence to your 24 fps sequence.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
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