FCP help...on a deadline....help needed.

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Orchidthief

Active member
Hey guys...have some footage, but there's a major problem.....There are lights that pulsate or flicker when there's camera movement. Any of you have suggestions as to how to fix this? Searched all over but couldn't find any answers....Advice anyone? I'm on a tight deadline to get this piece cut.
 
rcbrown23 said:
I don't get it. What exactly is going on??
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The footage is from a wedding. The church had christmas trees with lights in the sanctuary. Whenever I zoomed in or out, the lights on the tree would flicker or pulsate.
 
Ah, yes, the evil side of xmas lights. Cause they're tiny and bright and pinpoint. What format did you shoot? Interlaced or Progressive? And what frame rate?

Off the top of my head, in FCP, I'd just throw on a Deinterlace filter, even on progressive footage. Occationally it helps.
 
it's probably the a moire issue with the needles on the tree and the lights. Sorry kid, there is nothing you can do about it except not use the zooms. Why are you using zooms in the final edit anyway? That's really unprofessional. But it's neither here nor there. Moire is always something you should look out for when filming.

P.S. - Have you tried watching it on a TV? Sometimes moire doesn't show up as bad due to the way TVs throw around information.
 
BenB said:
Ah, yes, the evil side of xmas lights. Cause they're tiny and bright and pinpoint. What format did you shoot? Interlaced or Progressive? And what frame rate?

Off the top of my head, in FCP, I'd just throw on a Deinterlace filter, even on progressive footage. Occationally it helps.
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Shot it in Progressive..."Occasional" is right...I tried using the deinterlace filter and no luck......:crybaby:
 
ChrisLyon said:
it's probably the a moire issue with the needles on the tree and the lights. Sorry kid, there is nothing you can do about it except not use the zooms. Why are you using zooms in the final edit anyway? That's really unprofessional. But it's neither here nor there. Moire is always something you should look out for when filming.

P.S. - Have you tried watching it on a TV? Sometimes moire doesn't show up as bad due to the way TVs throw around information.
Click to expand...

Still have a lot to learn, so I'll keep the zooms in mind from now on. Tried watching it through FCP onto a monitor and the flicker does show up...:( Someone in the technical forum mentions using virtual dub and a plugin...Anyone have any other ideas.....:(
 
Ah, zooms and pans have their place. There's not set in concrete rule to never use zooms. They're acutally artistic when done well.

Um, hmmm..., progressive, that's the trick there. You probably zoomed out to fast. You can't move the camera as much or as fast in progressive (especially 24fps) as you can in interlaced (60i). There's simply less information per second.

As for fixing it, one thing that comes to mind, not sure of your user level, but I'd place a duplicate on the video track above it. Matte out the xmas tree light section quickly. Then add just enough motion blur in that top video with the lights to smooth out the motion.

It's a trick I've done more than I care to admit, but in some situations it works with better quality and faster workflow than anything else. Once you get used to Mattes and keyframes, it's a snap to slap something like this together in the blink of an eye.
 
Doesnt FCP have a flicker filter? under Video below deinterlace. Is this not what I think it is? Never used it myself.
 
Yeah, that flicker filter does next to nothing. At least in my experience. I like the deinterlace better.
 
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