Importing 24fps 16mm from MiniDV to Final Cut Pro

[Jason Hinkle RIP]

Does anyone here get their film transferred to MiniDV and then import into Final Cut Pro to edit?

 

I'm struggling with some technical glitches regarding the frame rate and the image size. For one thing, the image ratio is 3:4 (640x480) however Final Cut refuses to believe that it is anything other than NTSC 720 x 480. It looks normal when I'm editing but when I go to render it, Final Cut will always stretch or crop as if the footage was 720x480. I think I'm confusing raw footage settings vs the sequence settings or something, but I can't figure out the trick.

 

The other issue I have is the interlacing looks terrible when there is motion and even using the "de-interlace" option when exporting doesn't do a perfect job of getting rid of those lines.

 

I have been getting my footage processed at Spectra and MiniDV is the format that they send me. I know MiniDV is a compressed format. They do offer the option of putting the footage directly on a hard drive instead or they will make any other adjustment that I request, the problem is that I just don't know what the optimal format to request would be.

 

Any advice about your process, what settings you use or the digital format you prefer from the lab would be greatly appreciated.

[Allen Achterberg]

I've done a Pulldown removal and reframed the aspect in After Effects in the Past.

 

I'd drop the 640x480 footage into a 720x480 project and resize. not the most practical but thats what I did. Im not a post guy so hopefully someone else can help you.

[Rafael Rivera]

In Final Cut Studio 2:

 

1. In a new project use an Easy Setup

- Format: NTSC

- Rate: 23.98 fps

- Use: DV-NTSC 24p (23.98)

 

2. Capture from your miniDV deck.

 

If the above doesn't work you'll have to use Cinema Tools to remove the 3:2 pulldown, but at this stage the workflow can get extremely complex.

[Chance Shirley]

To answer your questions in reverse order...

 

 

2. Your footage is interlaced because it was transferred from 24 progressive frames per second to 29.97 interlaced frames per second using a 2:3 pulldown insertion process. Before editing the video, you need to remove those extra frames using Cinema Tools. You should be able to find documentation to explain how Cinema Tools works -- it's pretty simple.

 

You might also read about true 24p vs. 23.976p. 23.976p is more compatible with NTSC, DVD, Blu-ray, etc. 24p is good for film out or digital cinema projection. If you're transferring to MiniDV, I expect you'll want 23.976p.

 

 

1. MiniDV NTSC 4:3 video is 720 x 480 pixels. I know the math doesn't make any sense. The thing is, NTSC televisions display non-square pixels, so the aspect ratio, as viewed, is 4:3.

 

So, your MiniDV footage is not 640 x 480. You'll want to import it into a Final Cut Pro timeline as 720 x 480. Final Cut Pro will display it properly. If/when you export it for the web (or another non-NTSC system), you'll want to change the picture size to 640 x 480. Export to DVD should stay at 720 x 480.

[Will Montgomery]

Anything that's recorded onto a DVCAM or MiniDV deck at your telecine house will almost certainly be 720x480 @ 29.97 fps. That's why it's coming in that way.

 

If you want progressive video captured during your telecine session you should have it go to a file/hard drive at the codec of your choosing.