Appendix 1

When Shooting on Film
NOT sync in telecine. This pulls the audio down. Do not reverse to 24 and edit at 23.98, or reverse
to 23.98 and edit at 24. This speed change should be made after the fact with the proper hardware.
In fact, the world would be a better place if 24 FPS retired. When fi lm is shot at 24 FPS it is almost
always immediately telecined at 23.98, so the resulting video plays at 29.97. This slows down the
picture, so now the audio also must be slowed down. After all the postproduction work is fi nished,
the audio must be sped back up to match the original 24 FPS. But if the fi lm was shot at 23.98 in
the fi rst place, it would never be sped up or slowed down. The fi lm is shot at 23.98, edited at 23.98,
and projected at 23.98. This is why the new “24P” cameras really shoot at 23.98 and why most HD
projects and some fi lm projects are being shot at 23.98.
Again, if you are not going back to the fi lm to fi nish on fi lm, or fi nishing at 23.98 FPS on a format
such as HD Cam, or planning to do a “fi lm out” (shooting the video onto fi lm) there is no reason to
reverse telecine.
Reversing Telecine in Cinema Tools
After linking your media in Cinema Tools, select: File > Batch Reverse Telecine. Chose your frame
rate, 23.98 or 24. If your telecine or down convert from High Defi nition was done to the 3 : 2 system
covered here, then accept the defaults for the rest of the settings and click “OK.” Then fi x lunch; this
will take a while.
You can also reverse one clip at a time with the Reverse Telecine button. Use this to fi x problems
or add in new shots. As this function forces a reverse starting on the frame where the play head is
parked, make sure you are parked on a 0 or 5 frame. If the time code does not match the window
burn, believe the window burn.
Check the Files
After the reverse process is fi nished, verify the accuracy by clicking on Open Clip just as you did
after linking. Click on the Identify button. Now as you scroll up and down the key code numbers
should advance with each frame and match the window burn, and the time code should also advance
with each frame; however, the 2 and 7 frames should be missing.
You will now fi nd that all of your original clips that were batched have been moved into a folder
called Originals. The new, reversed clips are in a new folder called Reversed. There is also a reverse
telecine log and there is a new folder called Skipped that holds any clips skipped because they were
audio only, graphics, or had some problem. Check the folder for shots that were skipped because of
problems and try to fi x them. You may need to recapture them from tape. Or you can often fi x these
by opening them and parking on a frame where the A can be clearly seen in the key code burn
window. If you click the reverse button, this will reverse only this clip and it will perform the operation
from the point where the play head is parked. The batch process usually fi nds the A frames by
matching time code; however, if the numbers don’t jive for some reason, this will force the issue and
repair the clip. Make sure to move the original and reversed fi les into the proper folders and out of
the skipped folder. Notice that the reversed clips have the same name as the original with a .rev
extension added. This will allow relinking because the fi le names match and the .rev will help you
manage your fi les knowing which were reversed and which are original. Unless you have some specifi
c reason, never change the names of the clips.
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