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Working with 12fps Varicam footage in FCP
Hi there,
I just entered the world of HD and Varicam 3 days ago and I’m still wrapping my head around it, so I want to apologize in advance for my wordiness.
I have some questions about working with footage that was shot with a Varicam at 12fps. I’ve read several posts about this that have helped, but there is still some confusion on my part…and I guess I just want to know if I’ve been doing things correctly. Or at least “kind of” correctly.
I understand that the camera always records at 59.94 (for NTSC) but can be set to record at lower frame rates – via something to do with the shutter? And I’m told that if it’s set to 12fps for example, that those frames are “flagged” and identified in the user bit. Here’s what I’ve done, with questions to follow:
I’ve captured all of my footage with the “Kona2: 720p 23.98 DVCPro HD” capture preset in FCP and via SDI, as I’m told the camera was set to 24p to record everything, with the exception of a few shots that were done at 12 and 8fps in order to get that streaky-type visual effect. I hadn’t yet realized the frame rates for those clips had been changed because they were mixed in with the 24p stuff on the same tape, so obviously they were sped up after capturing them at 23.98. So I re-logged those clips separately, and brought them in at 59.94 with the “DVCPro HD – 720p60 48kHz” capture preset. This seemed to work and they look fine. I used this preset with the DVCPro HD Firewire device control because of that black video/subclip problem that occurs when capturing logged clips via SDI that’s been mentioned in previous posts. I hadn’t read the posts yet at that point and couldn’t figure it out so changing the preset and device control was my fix.
Questions:
1. Will the quality of my footage be affected greatly by using that preset and bringing it in via firewire instead of using the 9-pin remote and capturing via the Kona card?
2. Since I’m working in a 23.98 timeline, I’ll of course have to render the 12fps stuff that I brought in at 59.94. Is that all I’ll have to do to use it? I don’t need to use the Frame Rate Converter to get it down to 23.98 because that speeds it up and I don’t want that. Somebody mentioned that the video will only play as smoothly as it should after I apply a “pull-down,” but it looks quite fine to me…is there another step I’ve missed? I know very little about pull-downs. I have a little experience with Telecine pull-downs and film, but none as related to video.
3. I read somewhere (after I had captured everything at 23.98) that even though the camera was set to 24p, I should still bring all the footage in at 59.94 as opposed to 23.98. It looks and plays fine to me. I know you need to capture at 59.94 if you plan to use the Frame Rate Converter, but I don’t plan to. Are there benefits to capturing at 59.94 otherwise?
4. I’ve only had that black video/subclip problem that occurs when capturing logged clips via SDI when trying to capture at 59.94. I have no problem capturing with the Kona card via SDI at 23.98. Does that seem odd?
5. I guess pretty much any advice that anybody has would be great. After 3 days-worth of research and trial and error, I think hearing from a human will help. I’ve been having variable frame rate dreams.
Thanks a lot for any help.
Joni Church
Winnipeg, Manitoba -
2 Replies
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Joni,
Congrats on you choice of Varicam. The fact that you have so many questions tells me your mind is expanding on all the possibilities the system offers!
The 12fps thing is simple; you don’t need to correct the speed to get the blurry look you’re after; only if you want to compress the action to “speed it up”. I don’t really know why anyone would do that.
Just remember, for simplicity, when you do plan to apply FRC effects, keep all the shots at the same off-speed on seperate roles. This will make the importing easier.
Good luck,
JS
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Hi John,
Thanks so much for replying so quickly…it’s good to know that I’m at least somewhat on the right track. Now to get the production crew to shoot all the off-speed stuff on a separate tape!
Thanks again,
Joni
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