October 24, 2016 at 3:17PM, Edited October 24, 3:18PM
Choosing the right project frame rate for showreel?
Hey guys!
I think I might already "know" the answers I'll receive to this question but I thought I'd ask since I believe maybe someone out there could have a creative solution to this.
I'm beginning to build my showreel right now, and as expected, my projects have varying frame rates. Now I've read somewhere that it's best to pick the lowest common denominator and go with that frame rate since it's easier to remove frames than to interpolate non-existent ones; which makes sense but I'm wondering if there is something anyone has done out there that has faced this and gotten good results. Sorry if it seems like I'm answering my own question, but like I said, I just want to see if maybe theres a good solution to this besides what I've read.
I've seen plenty of showreels online and to be honest, I've never noticed any frame rate flaws in them (I figure it's very likely that these showreels have varying framerates), so I'm not sure if this is even a big enough deal to worry about. I just don't want to be done with the edit and have an "oh f**k" moment after realizing something went terribly wrong because of the framerate.
3 Comments
Every show reel I've seen has its own (music) soundtrack, not the original audio from the clips. Which means that conforming everything to your slowest common denominator can be extra easy because the audio won't tell on you. And who knows, your 29.97fps footage might even look cool when shown at 23.98, in the showreel context.
October 24, 2016 at 6:42PM
Hm so the only real issue with varying framerates is the audio not matching up? I was hoping to have moments where the music cuts and you hear dialogue & sound from the original content and then return to the music, but come to think of it, my projects with dialogue and sfx are all in 24fps so I think I'll be alright. Thanks!
October 25, 2016 at 2:20AM
Ehab, when you have differing frame rates, the fundamental question you have to ask yourself is: what approximations am I willing to live with, and what approximations can I not tolerate. If you have to preserve audio, then telecine or reverse telecine are well-known approaches to preserving audio quality and pitch and sync (with some motion artifacts). If you are doing a juggling highlights reel and all the 24p stuff tells you "this is the speed of gravity" it would look wrong to just retime 29.97 to 24p as it's subtly slower and jugglers would see that. However, if you are really trying to draw attention to the images, the quality of your lighting, how you manage contrast, dynamic range, and colors, then your playback speed may something that's relatively arbitrary.
But as you say, if you want the audio and sfx to speak, then you force a decision for those clips, and you make your approximations elsewhere.
October 25, 2016 at 10:20AM
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