HDX filmout question

[Guest Lance Edmands]

Hello,

 

This is my first post, so I am sorry if this question has been answered before. I could not quite figure out how to get good results from the search option.

 

I am researching a film-out for a film that may be shot on the Panasonic HDX200 camera in the 1080 interlaced mode. What are the advantages/disadvantages to shooting interlaced video when your final product will be transferred to film for theatrical release? Is it more advantagous to shoot progressive 24 frame video, even if its only in the 720 mode? What are some problems that may occur during an interlaced video film-out? Is there a DI solution that will solve or lessen these problems?

 

Thanks a lot for any help you could give me!

 

-L

[David Mullen ASC]

If you are shooting in 24P mode and only recording to 60i/1080, then as long as you remove the pulldown, cut 24P, and add back a consistent pulldown for a 60i/1080 master (or make a 24P/1080 master with no pulldown) then the video-to-film transfer house will just transfer the true 24P frames to film.

 

If you are actually capturing motion at 60i, then the transfer issues are the same as with standard NTSC transferred to film. You would get a smoother conversion if you could shoot at 50i instead of 60i at least, since 50i converts easily to 25P, which can be transferred 1:1 to 35mm and projected at 24 fps. With 60i, it has to be converted to 24P, which will probably cause some interlaced-scan artifacts to appear, and some motion artifacts, although the conversions are fairly smooth these days.

 

But really would capture at 24P if I were you, even if you record it as 60i/1080.

[Guest Lance E]

Hmmm...

 

I was under the impression that the HDX doesn't shoot 1080 at 24p, even if it is recorded to disk as interlaced 60i (DVCPro) with a pulldown.

 

Aside from this camera factor, which confuses me- What you're saying sounds like you just shoot at 24p, record to digital file as 60i and reverse the pulldown in Final Cut Pro, cut at 24 frames...

 

But then what is the best way to output? Since the HDX records as digital files, how do you go from your final FCP timeline to film? Does the footage have to pass through a tape-based format or can you go directly from the digital "dailies"?

 

Is there anything out there that really breaks down an HDX workflow?

[David Mullen ASC]

But then what is the best way to output?

 

I'm not an editor nor do I use FCP, so I can't tell you step-by-step how to extract 24P from 60i recordings, etc.

 

But in terms of outputting, what do you want to output? If you've edited with the true 24P frames, you can output to HD tape in many ways: 720/60P (with excess frames to turn 24 to 60), 1080/60i (with a 3:2 pulldown to convert 24 to 60) -- those are the two common HDTV broadcasting formats, with 1080i being a little more common -- or you can output 24PsF/1080.

 

The camera does not have 1080P CCD's, so it internally uprezs to record that.

[Keith Mottram]

The current build of FCP will not allow you to edit 24p 1080 from your camera, however there is no advantage to shooting 1080 rather than 720p (which you can edit in FCP). This is due to the fact that the chips are not native to 1080 and so your camera is doing an upres and you would do better to conform your project at 720p then convert it to 1080p in Shake prior to output.

 

Keith

[Chris_Burket]

Talk to your DI facility BEFORE you shoot a single frame. I can't stress that enough. They will work out the best workflow for you. My guess is that they will tell you to shoot 720p at 24fps. Then edit at that resolution and frame rate, then output a D5 and give it to them. Then they'll upres it to 2k or 4k or whatever they need for their film output. But again, talk to your post facility. It would take a couple minutes to do and could save you thousands of dollars in the end.