Sony EX3 shot at 24p- finish 29.97

[Shane Ross]

[Lisa Olshanski] “1. What setup do I use for my sequence?”

XDCAM 23.98, If your footage is actually 23.98, and not 24p over 29.97. FCP will set up the sequence for you. Use that.

[Lisa Olshanski] “2. How should I export the final cut? “

What does it need to be exported to? Tape? DVD? Digital file? That determines everything.

[Lisa Olshanski] “3. Any things people familar with this workflow think I should know? “

Well, we need to know the workflow. Just telling us the format and two frame rates doesn’t say anything. We need to know exactly what you will be delivering on. That, as I said, is everything.

Shane

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[Lisa Olshanski]

Actually, I’m not really sure what I’m delivering on yet. I’d say probably a Quicktime in an HD format.

I apologize for not being more technically savy. I’m learning.

[Shane Ross]

Then you’d better be shooting 24p over 29.97. Converting 23.98 to 29.97 via software is tricky and time consuming. If you are delivering 29.97, shooting 23.98 makes little sense.

Shane

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
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[Lisa Olshanski]

Hi Shane- I appreciate your help on this. I think they want to shoot 24p to get the film look. I know they’ve shot this way a bunch before. I’ve never worked with them before though. What exactly does “24p over 29.97” mean? Does that give a film look?

[Shane Ross]

24p over 29.96 means 24 frames recorded at 28.97, with pulldown. Film telecined to tape has the same thing, 24fps on 29.97 tape. Still get the film look, but runs at the speed you need.

If you need to deliver a 29.97 HD file, best to shoot and edit 29.97. If you had a capture card and the deliverable is tape, the card could do the conversion for you

Shane

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
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[Lisa Olshanski]

Just found out that I’m going to be delivering my FCP project for finishing and my timeline has to be 29.97. It’s for network broadcast. Thanks for your explanation Shane.

[Mark Spano]

[Shane Ross] “If you are delivering 29.97, shooting 23.98 makes little sense.”

Actually this is one of the increasingly common production methods being used these days, at least in my neck of the woods. A 23.976 master can be a universal master, and it’s far easier to convert to 29.97 by adding pulldown. With most of my suites being Symphony suites, the universal mastering feature allows for real-time high quality pulldown insertion. In the FCP world, the KONA line makes this easy too. If the OP needs to output a file, Compressor can handle the conversion pretty painlessly as well. It doesn’t take much time, since optical flow isn’t necessary – we aren’t interpolating and creating frames, we’re just duplicating to create fields. Here’s an easy workflow to go from a 23.976p file to a 29.97i file in Compressor, from Jeremy Garchow:

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OK, ready? here you go:

Export a ref movie from FCP and open that up in Compressor.

Make a new QT setting and in the Encoder tab hit the video settings button.

Choose the codec of your dreams and the set the frame rate to 29.97, then click OK.

Back in the encoder tab, set the audio drop down menu to Pass Through.

Go to the frame controls tab on turn on frame controls.

Resize, Deinterlace, and Rate Conversions should all be set to Fast, and then turn the Output Fields to Upper Field First (for HD). Duration should be 100%

Leave the filters tab alone unless you want to tweak something there.

In the Geometry tab set the frame size to 100% of source if your movie is full raster HD, if not choose the closest equivalent of full raster (1920 or 1280).

Hit Submit. Wait. Then you have a 29.97 Upper Field first movie with correct 3:2 pulldown. You can now dance the marimba.

Jeremy

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[Lisa Olshanski]

Thanks for the info to change a file but my Timeline in my project has to be at 29.97 for others to finish it.

[Shane Ross]

[Mark Spano] “Actually this is one of the increasingly common production methods being used these days, at least in my neck of the woods”

I’m talking about taking 23.98 to 29.97 via FILE, not tape. Editing 23.98 and then converting to 29.97 HD file, that is convoluted. I edit 23.98 and output to either 23.98 PSF or 29.97 all the time…but that’s to TAPE. Where the card does the conversion.

And yes, I use Jeremy’s formula, and it works great. Just let it go overnight. But if you know you will be delivering 29.97 digital master, why not make your life easier and shoot 29.97, but 24p?

Shane

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Alan Okey]

[Shane Ross] “But if you know you will be delivering 29.97 digital master, why not make your life easier and shoot 29.97, but 24p? “

The EX-3 can only shoot 24p over 29.97 using the lowest quality recording setting, which is 1440×1080 29.97i @ 25Mpbs (essentially HDV). The high quality XDCAM EX recording mode is full-raster 24pN @ 35Mbps. It seems a shame to not shoot at the highest quality setting simply for the sake of timeline compatibility.

In this case, if the highest quality is desired, a software transcode from 24p to 29.97 with 3:2 pulldown added (using Compressor) will be a necessary step.

Alternately, an outboard recorder (i.e. nanoflash or Ki-PRO) could be connected to the HD-SDI output of the camera, bypassing the SxS cards entirely. The outboard recorder can then record 24p over 29.97, as the EX-3 can pass a 24psf signal over SDI.