Frame Rate Question

DHLOGAN

DHLOGAN

Active member
I own an A1 and I have a few questions about which frame rates to use for different purposes. From what I have read people say to use 60i frame rate for fast moving scenes like sports etc and to use 24F for the "film" look.

I will be filming a web commercial for a small business coming up that will mainly consist of interviews and a "training" piece. I wanted to make sure I got the best picture out of my A1. I am not necessarily looking for the "film" look (24F) and there will not necessarily be alot of fast motion(60i). Should I use 24F or 60i? Also, what are examples of situations that 30p would be best used for?

Thank in advance.
 
It sounds like what you're shooting is pretty standard, so I'd shoot either 24F or 30F. When people say 24F is the "film" look, what they really mean is that the movement of subjects within the frame most closely resembles the way subjects move within the frame of a film camera. It doesn't have much to do with color and/or lighting, or detail.

24F is used almost ubiquitously for narrative film pieces. 30F tends to be a videographer setting - projects that involve live performances, interviews, or weddings. 60i (which is not to be confused with 60 fps) is still 30 frames a second (the same as 30F) but it's interlaced and not progressive, so it gives a smoother feel - it's usually used for a project where the clip will be slowed down dramatically in post-production.

Hope that helps out a little bit.
 
to make it simple...

24F looks like most movies in a theatre, but movement is choppy and can be somewhat blurry

30F looks like most TV shows, and most big name commercials; a nice blend and a nice look.

60i looks just like your folks' 8mm home movies; the action is too 'live' and too smoothe and it is noticeable.

i shoot most ads at 30F, and only shoot 60i if i know its going to be very fast motion, ie at the track or a race.
 
Or, to look at it another way:

24p has film-like motion, and therefore film-like limitations: you need to be very careful in how you move the camera to keep from looking really bad. In particular, zooming during a shot tends to look really bad in 24p. I'd say 24p takes more skill, and a more controlled situation, to look good in anything but a locked-down shot.

60i is a standard TV "reality" look (think talk shows, soap operas, sports vs. primetime dramas). It has smoother motion, but a sense of less resolution (on shots with motion) than progressive. It's great for best capturing fast motion of sports, etc.

30p has most of the look of 24p (high-res, filmic motion) with a lot more leeway for camera motion. It's hard to tell now with so many display technologies around, but in the past and still now on many TVs and devices 24p is not "native" and requires addition of pulldown to fit into a 60i stream, which brings interlacing artifacts back into the picture; 30p does not have this problem, and thus in some ways provides a more filmlike (due to lack of judder) result on many devices.

Keep in mind for any projects with MIXED footage, some combinations work better than others. Interchange between 30p and 24p is the worst case; so I'd certainly avoid 30p for anything destined to end up on actual film!
 
Awesome. Thanks for the advice. The breakdowns are just what I was looking for. I'm thinking I should shoot in 30F since there won't be alot of fast movement. And maybe switch to 60i for fast moving action if necessary.

What are the precautions I should take using different frame rates in the same project/timeline? Is it a no-no to mix different frame rates in a single timeline in FCP? Is it necessary to use the different capture settings for capturing different frame rates?
 
Mixing frame rates deliberately would only be done if you're aesthetically trying to create different looks (say, for flashbacks, or the real world vs. Oz, etc). So just play around with the different modes before doing anything critical and then it should become pretty obvious which mode you want to use.

I'd guess that for what you're doing you'd wanna stick to 30f all the way through.

Hmmm... I've not worked with the Canon cams... you MAY have to select a different capture preset for the different frame rates; but once things are captured, you can certainly mix them on the timeline. There'll be no issue mixing 60i and 30f; there may be slowdowns/more need to render mixing 24f and 30 or 60.
 
I shot motocross racing at 60i and was not happy with the outcome. The interlacing is very obvious and jagged. Slow motion is a bit fuzzy and you can't hardly read the numbers on the bikes and other details. I went to a faster shutter, 1/120, and things looked a bit better. Should I have gone with 30p? Is it common to de-interlace after the fact? I went ahead and de-interlaced in post using Premiere Pro. Jaggged lines went away, but picture is jittery. I am hoping that is not a normal trade-off.
 
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