Interpreting footage from 29.97 fps to 24 fps is creating duplicates frames.

[Al Yonder]

Help!

Working on a feature documentary with archive footage of different frame rates. The project is 24fps.

In the last few days I've noticed that when interpreting 29.97fps material as a 24fps it's adding duplicate frames which gives it a stuttered look. This is also happening when interpreting other frame rates as 24fps.

I feel like I'm going crazy, because I'm pretty certain that when I've done this in the past it's simply slowed the clip down by the requisite amount - to include every frame from the 29.97 footage in the 24fps timeline.

I'm doing this via the 'modify clip/intepret footage.' And for 25/29.97/50/60 fps footage...

I updated to 24.6.3 not so long ago and wondering if this is a bug in this version?

Pulling my hair out on this and can't see a releavant post on here addressing it - which makes me feel even more crazy.

Any help really appreciated.

[Averdahl]

Don´t interpret the footage from 29,97 to 24 fps, just drop the native 29,97 footage directly into the 24 fps timeline. This is often the best way to go.

[Al Yonder]

Thanks Averdahl,

Many thanks for responding to this.

But - from my understanding - if I just drag 29.97 onto a 24fps timeline, won't it drop some frames from the original source footage?  I understand that if you had two cameras for an interview and one was 29.7 fps and one 24 fps that just dropping on a timeline would work to keep both in synch with audio.

But since this is BRoll and archive without audio - to go over V.O - slowing it down isn't an issue. 

I'm sure in the past this has worked fine. It simply included all the frames from the source clip to the timeline - so a 29.97 was slightly slow mo.

What I don't understand is why it is creating duplicate frames, rather than just including all the frames on the 24fps timeline?

I just can't figure it out, and wondering if it's because I updated to a more recent version of Premiere and interpreting footage is done differently than the previous version.

In short, I'm just trying to figure out how I retain all the frames from a 29.7fps clip in a 24fps timeline without dropping or duplicating any.

Thanks again!

[Averdahl]

I just did a small test in Pr 25..5.0 and had no issues there when interpretting 29,97 > 24 fps for use in a 24 fps timeline or using 29,97 footage in a 24 fps timeline. No duplicated frames.

How does the original footage look? Load the 29,97 clip in the Sourcce panel and step forward one frame at a time to find any duplicated frames. The duplicated frames you see may already be baked in into the original 29,97 footage. This has happened to me and it took some time to find that they were already there from the start.

If you see duplicated frames in a timeline, go to Sequence > Sequence Settings and make sure that the Timebase and Display Format is both set to 24 fps.

What I don't understand is why it is creating duplicate frames, rather than just including all the frames on the 24fps timeline?

I just can't figure it out, and wondering if it's because I updated to a more recent version of Premiere and interpreting footage is done differently than the previous version.

In short, I'm just trying to figure out how I retain all the frames from a 29.7fps clip in a 24fps timeline without dropping or duplicating any.

By @Al Yonder

[Al Yonder]

Huge thanks Averdahl,

That makes me feel less crazy.  

It's really strange as I was pretty certain I'd never had any problems before. I just went back into my project and interpreted the footage back to 29.97, and then back to 24 again. And, after doing this a couple of times the duplicated frames werent there. I'm going to go back over all the clips that threw up this problem later and see if I can get to the bottom of this.

I'm guessing it might be a bug of some kind...maybe...

The main thing is that I'm now incredibly reassured to know that this is the right way to go about this in order to pull all the frames into the sequence.

Thanks again and have a great afternoon!

🙂

[R Neil Haugen]

What is the destination use for this project?

So what deliverables will you need to create at the end?

[Al Yonder]

Hi Neil,

Limited theatrical release, SVOD, potentially broadcast - pending distribution conversations. I'm cutting but a post house will be providing final delievrables.

[R Neil Haugen]

Ahh, yes, theatrical would want a 24p ... but most broadcast is still 29.97i in the US, hence my query.

So at this point, one can justify about any of several working scenarios. In general, though, for 29.97 to 24, I'd do what the b-cast folks I know tell me to ... just drop the 29.97 on the 24p timeline, let Premiere do it's thing.

[Al Yonder]

Thanks Neil.

The vast majority of it's been shot in 24 , it's only really archive material that's coming in at different frame rates.

I'd usually have just interpreted everything that isn't 24fps into 24fps by right clicking with the modify drop down - I don't mind the slight slow mo. look on many of the clips considering the nature of the project. 

For clips that required audio I'd just change the speed of that clip in the timeline. So a 120% increase on a 29.97 clip interpreted to 24. So the audio wouldn't sound slowed down.

This always seemed to have worked in the past - or so I thought. But when I was pulling in the archive and interpreting it to 24fps over the weekend, I noticed it was stuttering and creating some duplicate frames. I just couldnt figure out what was going on and it started to make me question my sanity - I still need to find out what's been going on with those clips.

Anyway, my main reason for posting this was to get reassurance that by interpreting 29.97 footage to 24 and dropping it in the timeline, there shouldn't be any reason for duplicate frames to occur? I.e if every frame on a 29.97fps clip had a number on it (say from 1-10) all those frames would be brought onto the timeline and you could see all the numbers sequentially. No missing frames and no duplications, it would just be about 20% slower.

Whereas if you drop a 29.97 onto the 24fps time line and let Premier 'do it's thing' without interpreting it, my assumption is that it would ditch some intermittent frames. i.e 1,2,3,5,6,7,9,10,11...so that it plays in 'real time.'

Apologies for the ramble, but is that right?

Thanks

[Averdahl]

Do you have one of those clips, a short one, that you can send to me via PM? Upload the file to any cloud service and send it if you will. It would be interseting to see if it happens here as well.

I still need to find out what's been going on with those clips.

By @Al Yonder

[Al Yonder]

Thanks Averdahl,

Very much appreciated.

I'll try and dig one out when I have a spare moment.

🙂