Conforming 25fps video to 24fps – Apple Final Cut Pro 6 User Manual
Page 1654
Chapter 12
Working with Film and Cinema Tools
171
II
Note: Many of these video camcorders also have a traditional 3:2 pull-down mode. If
your goal is to edit at 23.98 fps, there is no value in using this mode because you can’t
take advantage of advanced pull-down removal in Final Cut Pro. If you accidentally
shoot in this mode and you want to remove the pull-down, you will have to use the
Cinema Tools Reverse Telecine feature.
For more information, see Appendix C, “
Conforming 25 fps Video to 24 fps
In countries that use PAL video, film is sped up by 4 percent (from 24 to 25 fps) and
then transferred to PAL video. You can capture and edit the PAL footage and then
deliver a 25 fps EDL (instead of a traditional cut list) to the negative cutter, who
matches the 25 fps timecode back to the original film edge codes.
However, one of the problems with the method described above is that the original
audio is 4 percent slower than the PAL video containing the sped-up film footage, so
you can’t match the audio to your video in Final Cut Pro. To avoid this problem, you can
use the Conform 25 to 24 command to slow your PAL video footage back to 24 fps.
Unlike reverse telecine, which must actually remove fields or frames of video, the
Conform 25 to 24 command simply slows the duration of each frame by 4 percent
so that the footage plays back more slowly at the film’s original 24 fps rate.
To conform a 25 fps clip to 24 fps in Final Cut Pro:
1
In the Browser, select one or more clips you want to conform from 25 fps to 24 fps.
2
Choose Tools > Conform 25 to 24.
The clips are conformed to 24 fps.
If any of the selected clips are not 25 fps, a warning appears stating that one or more
clips will not be processed.
Important:
Conforming a clip modifies the original media file. If you need to undo the
conform process, you must use the Conform feature in Cinema Tools. Additionally, you
must have read-and-write privileges for the media files you want to conform.