[Paddy Uglow]

The visually perfect way to do this would be to simply play back every frame at a faster speed (a conversion using Cinema Tools would do this), but motion would be too fast, and the songs would sound like The Chipmunks!
I’ve done successful frame rate conversions from NTSC down to PAL and to 24fps using After Effects – if you have that, you can set up a 29.97fps composition and import the 25fps footage. There are a number of different “blending mode” options in the Layer menu which will deal with adding in the extra fields/frames from the PAL to the NTSC standard. It’s worth trying it with an extract first to see how well your settings work.
Though I’ve sometimes just used QuickTime Pro 7 to export to DV at the new frame rate and got away with it. Though you’d expect obvious jumps in any smooth motion this way, particularly with scrolling credits.
“Standards Conversion” is the thing to look for online.
Good luck.

Paddy, CreativeMedia.org.uk

[Paddy Uglow]

> Does 1080/24p mean 1080 progressive (resolution) at 24 progressive frames (rate)?
Unless someone corrects me, the 24p means 24fps, progressive.

Confusingly, even though interlaced video is not computer or cinema-friendly, for slow pans, shooting at 60i and deinterlacing to 30p will be lots smoother than shooting it progressive. Deinterlacing isn’t a particularly big chore; you can either transcode to deinterlaced before editing, or edit interlaced and export to progressive.

Choice of camera depends a lot on what you’re shooting for. 24p is standard for cinema, or for “the film look” for Vimeo, though the slow frame rate won’t be as good for capturing fast motion.
I use a JVC hm150 that’ll shoot 24,25,50 and 60 frames per second. The latter two rates are great for slowing down to 25fps (I’m in the UK) for slow motion shots without any frame drops.
The variety of frame rates mean I can use it to shoot footage to match the rate of footage shot by other people, or to avoid flicker from lights when shooting in different countries (not that I’ve done that yet!).
The JVC isn’t particularly great in low light, but a really handy camera to use.

Data rate is an important factor, as long as you get a good picture to start with. So a really good lens is important, as well as a camera that you’re able to operate in the circumstances you’re filming in.

The now-cheap top end cameras of yesteryear will have really good lenses, but the tape-based workflow is getting harder as firewire threatens to disappear from computers, and that slow real-time transfer is hard to bear…!

I hope that’s helped your decision-making a bit.

Paddy, CreativeMedia.org.uk

[Paddy Uglow]

WTF!!! I just had a look at the apple site. What a bizarre looking thing, compared to the old mac pro I’ve been sitting next to for all these years.
At the risk of red-ragging, is the new one the same super-powered beast that the old metal mac pro had the potential to be? I seem to remember the maxxed out version of the current one went into 5 figures even in our British pounds. Is it part of Apple’s drive to sell more units at lower prices? Will the superfast boxes be more likely to be “PC”s running windows or linux in future?

[Paddy Uglow]

In fact, it reminds me of an advert I saw the other day. Some guys were asking for someone to do unpaid editing on their film…. shot on a Red Epic! Round here that’s at least £300 a day to hire.
And the poor unpaid editor will probably be waiting hours for all that video data to transfer off the Red drives and to transcode, and render all those millions of pixels….!

Makes me mad!!

Speaking of Red, I’m thinking of getting one of those red-bodied Panasonic GH1s and telling clients I shoot everything on a red camera! 😉

[Paddy Uglow]

(I posted this on your screengrab by mistake!)
Would it make sense just to nest the whole sequence in a new sequence and make it a multicam one?
I’ve just set up a test sequence in CS6 with 23 angles, and you could see them all at once in the multi camera monitor – you could even record angle switches live as you play through the track (iv our computer can keep up with showing that many in real time!)
I hope that helps

Paddy, CreativeMedia.org.uk

[Paddy Uglow]

Ignore this if you already know all about nesting sequences
I may have misunderstood, but can’t you just drag the completed multicam sequences from the project panel into a new sequence? They’ll look like a single clips that you can put together with other sequences, add chapter markings, etc.

[Paddy Uglow]

An interesting and sad tale – and haven’t various films got into trouble recently for using unpaid interns too?
There’s only so much money – if someone’s getting a massive salary, then someone or something else is getting squeezed; usually safety or salaries.
If you’re working for more than you think the job’s worth, or hiring in expensive gear that’s way beyond requirements, maybe there’s a story like this going on behind the scenes to pay for it?

[Paddy Uglow]

Note that Quicktime can display different shaped pixels. PAL & NTSC 4×3 and windescreen both have the same NUMBER of pixels, but the playback device stretches each pixel horizontally for the widescreen version.
If you’re using QuickTime 7, you can go into Properties ->Presentation and alter the “conform aperture” box. If it’s an anamorphic movie file, the width will change as you alter the settings. You can also see it in the Movie inspector – sometimes that’ll give you three different pixel sizes – very confusing!
If you’re using QuickTime X, you can show the movie inspector and see how many pixels it really has.
Many pro cameras shoot 16×9 1080 hd as 1440×1080, and you have to set the right pixel width in your editor sequence setup
I hope that’s helpful.

Paddy, CreativeMedia.org.uk

[Paddy Uglow]

Thanks David!
Yes, I’ve got AFX, and also the curse of wanting to do everything as perfectly as possible! 😉
I did it in after effects – first time I accidentally used Pixel Motion, which looked very odd, particularly on the cuts! But the Frame Mix looks good and, presumably, is better than exporting a 29.97 seq to 25fps from Premiere or from QuickTime Pro.
Pixel Motion blending worked really well a while for turning a 30fps animation to 24 – it had continuous sideways motion, but fortunately no cuts.
Interestingly, for pixel motion frame blends in AFX, can I just cut up the sequence somehow at scene changes to prevent it trying to blend them? Or put each scene on a new layer?
Thanks again!
– Paddy

[Paddy Uglow]

Hi Tero,
Thanks for the suggestion. Exporting non-25fps sequences to 25fps is an option, but I suspect there will be visual problems, even if I don’t see them on my screen. I’m something of a perfectionist, and I figure that keeping every frame is worth doing when it’s only 24 to 25fps, because the audio pitch change won’t be particularly large. I did try exporting the 29.97fps one at 25fps (with frame blending turned on in AME) and it looked OK, but it’s hard to tell on my computer and screen whether it’ll appear jumpy on a massive outdoor screen (which is where it’s ending up)
Thanks again.

Paddy, CreativeMedia.org.uk