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Timebase and 24 over 60 conversion
For reasons that I would rather not go into (such as my own incompetence, although also due to how this project evolved over a five year period), I have a mess that I need to extricate myself from. I have been editing a project that has been mostly shot on DVCPRO HD, at 23.98 over 59.94, and was captured into FCP with the repetitive frames. Almost all of that material (about 30 hours) consists of fairly static interviews. In addition, I have a few static interview pieces shot on DCVPRO HD at 29.97. There’s also a small bit of material shot at SD at 29.97. All of the material has so far been edited on a timeline with a timebase of 29.97, cut in with stills.
The post production house has requested that I deliver material to them in 23.98. I first thought of using DVCPRO HD Frame Rate Converter to lose the redundant frames from the 59.94 stuff, but a test resulted in only a new video track and it didn’t carry over the timecode. And I am not sure where that would lead me with the timeline issues I already have. I tried cutting and pasting all the pieces in a sequence cut on the 29.97 timeline into a 23.98 timeline, but that resulted in the audio cues going haywire and I am suspicious of the sync. The image itself looked good, but I am not sure I can trust that.
The worst case scenario (I think) is that I can recut the entire show onto a 23.98 timeline, but I’d rather not, as it is 90 minutes long. Any advice as to what I could do now (as opposed to what I should have done before, because I have learned that lesson), would be appreciated.
Thanks!
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Relevant software: FCP 7.0.3, After Effects 7.01, Photoshop 9.0.2, Illustrator 12.0.1Don Sellers
https://stourwater.com -
3 Replies
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Hey Don,
I don’t have much experience with DVCPro HD material with repeated frames, but I have been in your situation with telecine’d material. I was brought on a project to conform the 29.97 edit (done using material with 3:2:2:3 pulldown) to a “proper” 23.976 timeline.
Not the answer you probably want, but I did it all by eye. There may be a way to automate this easily, but I haven’t heard of it.
That being said, your edit is probably filled with cuts that are made on “non-whole” frames. When switching your material to to 23.976, you will need to make some decision about where to place that edit, on the first “real” frame before OR after the “fake” frame. At the end of the day, this is a decision that needs to be made by a person, not an automated software routine.
My recommendation is to media manage your timeline, with handles. You can batch remove the extra frames on your managed-media. This way you avoid reprocessing ALL the source footage. Then you rebuild your timeline in native 23.976. You can put a nested clip of the OLD timeline as a layer below your footage, for reference.
IIRC, I was able to crank through about 1-2 reels a days, so you should be able to do 90 minutes in under a week.
Hope this helps,
Matt Lyon
Editor
Toronto -
Matt,
I appreciate your helpful response. How would you batch remove the extra frames on the managed media?
Thanks,
Don Sellers
https://stourwater.com -
Hey Don,
In my case, I used Cinema Tools. It requires (last I checked), that every clip in the batch start at the same frame of the pulldown cadence order. It sounds like Cinema Tools isn’t appropriate for your situation, but I don’t want to speak beyond my direct experience.
Any reason you can’t use the DVCPRO HD frame rate converter on the media managed clips? You say you’ll lose the timecode, but does that matter any more? (Since you are basically finishing the show).
The other option might be Compressor (again, I’m not sure how it meshes w/ your DVCProHD footage). In any case, I’d do a test with a small batch of clips.
Hope this helps,
Matt Lyon
Editor
Toronto
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