Conforming to 24p in 10.1

Update... I thought I could just copy and past my frames into a 30 or 29.97 fps project and then export it that way. But when I do so, my project turns to 59.94fps. Is there a way I can get the same frames into a 30fps project? There was a lot of editing work that I'd rather not repeat by starting completely over.

Hey Steve, those shots look great. I don't know anyone who has been that close to shares before.

Update... I thought I could just copy and past my frames into a 30 or 29.97 fps project

This is happening because the default setting is to change the project to match the first clip added. When you create a new project, select "Custom" instead of "Set based on first video clip." From there you can choose 23.98 or 29.97.

Next time, I would shoot a mix of 60fps for things you know you want slowmo and the rest shoot 30fps(29.97 not 30) if it will playback at normal speed. You may also consider 24fps (23.98) for the "film look." Most people think 30fps looks too much like video, but 24fps plays back like film.

With the Hero 3 Black, you could also shoot 720p 120fps and get 5x slower footage in a 24fps timeline, or 4x slower at 30fps.

@Ronny:

I disagree with your statement. I just tried to drop af 50 fps clip onto a 25 fps timeline. Did a manual retime to 50%. All frames are still being used - just like when you use Automatic speed and FCPX calculates the speed for you. So I see Automatic speed as a quick calculator function embedded in FCPX.

To follow your example:

When you drop 60fps footage onto a 30fps Timeline FCPX automatically removes half of the frames to make your video play at 100% on your timeline. This means the clip on your timeline now only has 30fps and not 60fps anymore.

- When you apply a normal 50% slow-motion to this clip you will start with 30fps and FCPX will create 30 extra duplicate frames from the 30fps clip to accommodate for the slow-motion. This may result in jerky movement because you are just duplicating existing frames.

- But when you apply Automatic Speed to that same clip FCPX will take every frame from the original 60fps clip and spread it over your 30fps timeline. This means your 60fps clip will play at 50% with no duplicate frames being created. This will result in a perfect slow-motion without any jerkiness.

- When you apply a normal 50% slow-motion to this clip you will start with 30fps and FCPX will create 30 extra duplicate frames from the 30fps clip to accommodate for the slow-motion. This may result in jerky movement because you are just duplicating existing frames.

This is true if you drop a 30fps clip into a 30fps timeline and slow the clip to 50%. You will see all the original frames separated by new "blended" frames. You could select the quality to be optical flow instead of frame blending.

If the clip was 60fps, it was shot to include enough frames for 50% speed mathematically. And you're right, automatic speed in this case is just a mathematic helper to get to 50%. Although a 120fps clip in the same 30fps timeline with automatic speed would be reduced to 25%.

Hi Anders,

I have just tested this as well (with 50fps video on a 25fps timeline), and you are correct. FCPX indeed preserves every frame of your original footage when applying a regular 50% slow-motion to a 50fps clip on a 25fps timeline. So Automatic Speed will not give any better results with this, I agree

While I was at it I also tried this with FCP7 and it did not work: FCP7 only uses the 25 frames that are on the timeline and it creates duplicates from these frames to create the slow-mo. Another plus for FCPX.

- Ronny

That also appears to be the case for me. I see no difference in using "Automatic Speed" than just slowing a 60fps clip down to 50%. Thanks for confirming.

Moondogie wrote: You got me confused again (or perhaps on the road to understanding). FCP gives me the option of doing my project in 30fps, but it sounds like I should really using 29.97. Is that right? What negative effect do I get if I make the project a straight 30fps?

I'm still getting more confused on this aspect. What are the pros/cons of doing my timeline in 30fps vs 29.97? And now you have mentioned doing 24fps for the "film" look as opposed to "video". I'm still at the level where I use those words interchangeably. What is the difference?

I'm looking to do two things. 1) share my videos on vimeo and 2) have the best possible video available at home to display on my HD TV. What fps configurations do you recommend for these applications and why?

Here is my latest cut at the same video using some of the things I've learned so far. It is all 1080p 60fps footage, from an H3 black, done in a 60fps timeline, and exported in 1080p at what seems to be 59.67 fps. I did not use "automatic speed anywhere". I just slowed down certain parts and then used optical flow. I also used the crumplepop HDR plugin to post process the protune aspect, and then used the "color match" function to get a consistent color theme across frames.

vimeo.com/86800226

Next time, I would shoot a mix of 60fps for things you know you want slowmo and the rest shoot 30fps(29.97 not 30) if it will playback at normal speed. You may also consider 24fps (23.98) for the "film look." Most people think 30fps looks too much like video, but 24fps plays back like film.

With the Hero 3 Black, you could also shoot 720p 120fps and get 5x slower footage in a 24fps timeline, or 4x slower at 30fps.

The problem I face, is that I do not know in advance what the slow motion shots will be. My filming process is as follows: Sometimes I can see the subject from the surface, sometimes I have no idea what is down there. I press the record button on the gopro, take a deep breath and then dive 30-80ft down. It is only then that I see what is available to film/video. I do not have the time to switch between 30fps and 60fps at this point. So I defaulted to just shooting everything at 60fps, knowing that 90% of the footage would be cut before even editing (time spent diving down, up, etc). Then that 10% that I do use, will end up with only another 10% or so being slowed down.

So I'm shooting in 60fps, when I expect to have only ~1% of that footage be slowed down. I do this because there is no way to switch to 60fps for just that magic 1% of the time. This is definitely wasteful of battery life and disk space. Perhaps it's also dragging on processing power and end result.

I think I'm going to start filmping on 1080p at 30fps. I know I'll get better battery, lower file sizes, and am hoping to get better low light peformance. I will not have as much to work with in slow motion, but it seems I can get a lot of that effect now with software just by using optical flow.

If you are in the US, only use 23.98 or 29.97 for your project settings. The other settings (24p and 30p) are for prepping for film out, which you won't be doing.

If you want to keep shooing 60fps on your GoPro, that's fine. You will just be shooting more frames that will get thrown away in a 29.97 timeline (30fps).