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Varicam in PAL workflow
Hi,
We’re planning a Varicam shoot, and I’m just trying to get my head around the various post options. On our last shoot, we just used the FRC to downconvert and spit out SD-SDI into our edit suite as there was no requirement for an HD master. This time around, we’re planning on using native DVCPRO HD (via firewire) for cuts-only editing. I’m aware of the quality issues with filters and other post effects, and our RAID array isn’t up to the job of uncompressed HD.
SInce we’re in PAL-land, we’ll be dealing with 25fps timeline. Can we shoot at 25 without any issues or do we need to shoot at 24 and re-conform to a 25 fps timeline afterwards?
Any other hints/tips/pitfalls to avoid would be greatly appreciated.
Best,
Tom
Split Image
http://www.split-image.co.uk -
7 Replies
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HI,
You’ll have no choice but to work in a 23.98 timeline I’m afraid. There isn’t any support for 25FPS as yet. I have just finished a music video using the firewire ingest and had no issues other than how to easily get the file back to 25FPS again. I couldn’t find an easy option but the best seemd to be outputting as a 23.98 image sequence and then importing as a 25FPS image sequence in After Effects. I’m not entirely up with every nook and cranny of FCP but had trouble getting it to output at 25FPS from 24.
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[Dale McCready] “‘m not entirely up with every nook and cranny of FCP but had trouble getting it to output at 25FPS from 24.”
under the tools menu there is a process for conforming 24-25fps frame rates inside of FCP. then you will not be getting the RGB -YUV con version issues with Quicktime trashing your color and gamma settings.
gary adcock
Studio37
HD and Film Consultation -
Unfortuanately under the tools menu is a plugin to help process the file into 24FPS from 25 and not the other way around. This was what I used in my initial conversion.
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Just had a read through of the latest Blackmagic Decklink setups. There is now a 25FPS Varicam Easy setup. Apparently this recognises the flagged frames. But it might be worth looking into for easier 25FPS editing despite the cost. RAID’s and a simpler HD card aren’t too pricey these days. BUt it’s hard to know when firewire support for 25FPS will come out. Could be the day after buying a card, but then they are useful even just to downconvert to 10bit PAL live from DVCproHD with the new drivers.
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[Dale McCready] “Unfortuanately under the tools menu is a plugin to help process the file into 24FPS from 25 and not the other way around. This was what I used in my initial conversion.”
24 > 25fps is in Cinema Tools. build you project as a 24p then use the conform functions in CT to convert it back to 25fps. I know this is A**backwards for everyone in the PAL universe. I have been doing the 24-25 nad back conversions for years and have never liked them, but I have found them to work when you plan the process accordingly.
Note: the audio is always trashed in this process so handle it as a separate item!
gary adcock
Studio37
HD and Film Consultation -
Ah, thank you. That makes sense for it to be in there. I’m going to do more music videos with the Varicam and that should make it all work as long as my soundtrack is conformed to 24FPS before shooting.
Then conform back to 25FPS in CT and resync the original 25FPS track. Great. -
Thank you both for your help on this. Very much appreciated.
But very irritating that us PAL users have to work this way. I think we might just bite the bullet and go for a fully uncompressed solution.
Best wishes from sunny (really!) London,
Tom
Split Image
http://www.split-image.co.uk
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