Telecine 24FPS/29.97fps Issue

Zachariah Shanahan · June 8, 2013

Hi

I recently got back my telecine Single8 footage from Retro8. They do a great deal Australian$8/1 minute for HD ProRes 422, which is a bargain for viewing footage cheaply.

I requested playback/capture at 24FPS.

Anyway, running it through Sony Vegas Pro 12 I match the project settings to that of the video files and for some reason it is recognizing as 29.970FPS no matter what I do. Though it's apparently not an error on Retro8's part, I'm the first customer to inquire how this has happened. They capture with 5DMk2 and transfer via Ninja, apparently at the only available option 60i (NTSC).

Tak from Retro says that his company is not digital minded but suggested me slowing the footage down. Then I have the issue of the interlacing, which defeats the purpose of shooting on film in the first place.

The actual Video details are listed as 1920x1080x24, which is so strange, but it has definitely been sped up in the process. I highly doubt it's an error within Vegas Pro 12, so it must have happened in the creation of the file.

I need to find a solution as I plan to shoot S8mm narrative in a month. Can anyone break down my possible options for this batch of footage if I want to edit in 24FPS. The destination for my project is a festival run.

I'm the Director/2nd Unit DP, not an editor, but I can already foresee problems with this batch, and will likely need to find another company for the final cut's transfer.

Who out of Cinelicious, FrameDiscreet etc. have the most reasonable deal $ per/min for a 1080p strict 24FPS transfer with no fuss? People who know what they are doing? Would it be cheeky to simply splice together the stuff I want done?

Sorry for the long thread....

Regards

Simon Lucas · June 12, 2013

Sometimes footage is misinterpreted by the editing s/w. I don't use Sony Vegas Pro 12 so I don't know how it works.

So, if you open it in Quicktime and get info it says 24 fps? . They captured it on a 5D? Sounds like they converted from 24fps to 60i and then back to 24 and something went wrong .

As far as I understand telecine is no longer an acceptable way of doing this and converting from 24 to 60i to 24 is a potential source of problems.

And I don't think want or should be getting interlaced footage either.

I'd get it scanned frame by frame by another company and then you'd have proper progressive HD frames which you can interpret at at 24fps. Have it done as Pro Res or single TIFFS. Plenty of people can do this now. Good luck!

Simon Lucas · June 12, 2013

Sorry, I didn't really answer your last question. It sounds like you know already what needs to be done. I'm in UK/Europe so can't answer your real question which is simply about pricing.