[Simon Webb]

I’ve just been overcome with nostalgia for the old Lightworks controller. I still miss that old girl.

[Simon Webb]

Well, I’m going to assume that your ghost character doesn’t overlap the space that your non-ghosts take up. If that is the case, then using a garbage matte around your ghost should do the trick. If it isn’t the case, then hours of rotoscoping in After Effects is one possible answer.

[Simon Webb]

Actually, Twixtor does, in fact, work with FCP. I’ve used it many times with impressive results. The learning curve is pretty steep, mind you.

One of the best ways of creating good slowmos from 30i footage is to use Twixtor in conjunction with RE:Vision’s other excellent plugin called Fields Kit. First, use Fields Kit to create full frames out of each 30i field, thus making the original footage both 50% slower and progressive, then using Twixtor to mess with the speed even more. Works like a charm.

Rendering is a bitch, but the result is worth it in my book.

[Simon Webb]

Try this:

Add the smooth cam filter to the entire shot, export it as a Quicktime movie, then import the new shot and make your speed changes on it.

[Simon Webb]

Basically, it’s done by cutting around the subject on every frame. It’s a long and painful process.

[Simon Webb]

Hmmmm… it looks like he did a split-screen for the run up, then when the freeze happens he rotoscoped around the body in the air. You can tell that there’s a slight shift in the background on that side of the frame at the moment the freeze happens.

[Simon Webb]

You’ll be wanting to lock the camera and shoot the father. Then, keeping the camera locked, put up a green screen and shoot the daughter. Then, key out the green, and voilà!

Unless, of course, you can afford some rotoscoping. Personally, I prefer spending my money on new cars rather than on 10 seconds of rotoscoping.

Cheers!

[Simon Webb]

That’s exactly it. In fact, I believe that your original problem of the ripped video sections of your edit looking “jumpy” on your TV is a field dominance issue. The solution may be as simple as reversing the field order on those clips in your timeline.

Cheers, and stuff!

[Simon Webb]

Well, with regards to your first question, it all depends on which frame you start counting from, that’s all.

Now, on to the issue at hand… As long as the video on the DVD comes from a 24 fps source that was transfered to 30 fps with a 3:2 pulldown, then that’s what Streamclip will see, I’m afraid.

I’ve used Streamclip quite a bit and I’ve found that it works pretty well, but I also use a program called Cinematize to rip DVDs. Cinematize is a little more sophisticated, but it’s not free.

[Simon Webb]

Actually, what you encountered was indeed the 3:2 pulldown. I’ll take the risk of making myself look like an egghead and try to explain it:

We start with four individual frames shot at 24 fps… frame A, frame B, frame C and frame D. Now, we need to make those frames stretch across five video frames (10 fields). So… the sequence goes like this:

FRAME 1: AA
FRAME 2: BB
FRAME 3: BC
FRAME 4: CD
FRAME 5: DD

Each letter representing the original frame as it relates to the 30 fps field.

Make sense? To be honest, I just reread it and I think I even confused myself.

Whatever the case, if you deinterlace the original material, you will wind up with a duplicated frame because you’re still trying to fit four 24 fps frames into five 30 fps frames.

Cheers!