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Can a movie switch frame rates, for this purpose?

H

harmonica44

I am planning on shooting a project at at 24fps. But for some scenes I want to make the point of view look like it's coming from a media broadcast camera. Kind of like how in District 9, you see through the lens of the media camera for some scenes, but the rest of the movie is pretty traditional and you just see it from a third person point of view.

Can I format and edit a movie so that it's 24fps, but then when the point of view cuts to broadcast camera, it switches to 60 fps, to simulate the look of such a camera?
 
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Yes.
Yes.

Just shoot your dog running around the yard @ 24fps and again @ 60fps, put 'em both in your NLE, slap 'em together alternating between the two several times, then watch it yourself.

It's a simple test.
 
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Can I format and edit a movie so that it's 24fps, but then when the point of view cuts to broadcast camera, it switches to 60 fps, to simulate the look of such a camera?
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If you're asking what I think you're asking, I don't think it's currently technically possible on any platform that I'm aware of. Well at least I haven't heard of it being available, and with the software that I'm aware of, I don't think there is a way to change the frame rate of your output half way through the video (eg. to project in 24fps and at a mark project at 60fps and then back to 24fps again).
 
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Yes, but it depends on how your editing software is configured to interpret this footage. For example, in Sony Vegas you should disable the resample function and turn off the option "allow source to adjust frame rate" on the render settings.

Don't know how your software is setted, but most softwares have, by default, the ability to transform any different framerates into the project settings. In this case, your different footage will looks like the others - but with a worse performance, as ghost motion, etc.
 
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rayw said:
Yes.
Yes.

Just shoot your dog running around the yard @ 24fps and again @ 60fps, put 'em both in your NLE, slap 'em together alternating between the two several times, then watch it yourself.

It's a simple test.
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do this ^^^

even when you render the final project at 24fps, the 60fps material will LOOK markedly different, its magical..
 
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harmonica44 said:
Okay thanks, but I know from doing that that the 60 fps just looks like slow motion if the whole NLE is set to 24.
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Not if the software is configured to interpret this and remove frames (or blend it) to make it look as near as possible of the project properties. Any pro software has a lot of complex functions behind what you see in the screen, and you need to know how it works if you want to interact with.
 
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There is currently no support in the DCP spec for exhibition of multiple frame rates in one video. IE: the DCP spec doesn't support, say having the first half of the Hobbit at 24fps and the second half at 48fps, just as an example. You can certainly shoot in multiple frame rates, but your NLE will conform when you drop it in anyway.
 
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The folks who have answered 'yes' are correct.

You may shoot at 24p, but when you watch the footage on a TV, it has been reinterpreted to 30 frames, which is standard for video. The missing fields are interpolated, otherwise it would play back 20% faster than real time. Since 60i and 30p are essentially the same frame structure, just captured differently, you should have no problem mixing the two, assuming your editing software is worth a damn.

Final Cut Pro has no problem whatsoever. I cut together a documentary that mixed 24p HD, 60i HD, NTSC standard def, and cell phone footage. Just dragged each to the timeline, rendered, and voila! And each retained its own look.
 
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harmonica44 said:
Okay thanks. What setting is your FCP pro on to do that? I use premiere pro, and it slows down the 60p footage.
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No it doesn't? Which version are you using? It only slows it down if you tell it to. If I put footage that is 120fps into Premiere when I play it back at 25fps (without changing any settings) it will simply delete 95 of those frames and play it back in 'normal motion'. If you then change the speed/duration, then it will be slow motion.
 
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harmonica44 said:
Okay thanks. What setting is your FCP pro on to do that? I use premiere pro, and it slows down the 60p footage.
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Do you mean 60i? I don't know of a prosumer level camera that shoots 60p ('course, I haven't looked at new cameras for a while, so anything is possible). Do you understand the difference between the 'p' and the 'i' designations?

As for FCP settings, I'm not sure which settings you're talking about. Do you mean the timeline settings or the import settings?
 
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I mean the timeline I think. Basically I just want the movie to switch framerates, when we go to the point of view of the media broadcast camera, to give the effect, that it's a news camera.
 
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May as well set the timeline for whatever the predominant frame rate is. Sounds like mostly 24p with occasional 60i, yes? It doesn't really matter because FCP will render any non-compliant clip so that it matches. But if you set the timeline for the rate you're using most, you'll minimize the amount of rendering you need to do.
 
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