Dialogue Editing

Working in a PAL Environment 25
course, fi lmmaking in an NTSC environment is also a snap once you’ve
caught on. Still, it’s very comfortable living in a world in which 25 fps really
is 25 fps, not a slightly slow-witted relative.
Single-System PAL
If you’re editing a single-system-originated project, shot on videotape or HD
with no extra sound recorder, there’s virtually no difference working in PAL
or NTSC aside from the obvious frame rate. Figure 2-5 shows the PAL
workfl ow.
North Americans, remember that you’ll never run into frames 25, 26, 27, 28,
or 29 when working in PAL. Source video and source audio will have the
same timecode, of course, since this is single system.
If your project was shot at 25 fps on HD or SD video for fi lm blow-up, remember
to put your sync pop (beep, plop, etc.) two video frames later than you
usually would, since it must be 48 fi lm frames before the fi rst frame of action.
So, rather than placing the sync pop for reel 1 at 00:59:58:00, for example, place
it at 00:59:58:02. This way, when the video image is scanned to fi lm, there
will indeed be 48 frames between the plop and the beginning of the reel.
Shoot Film (24 fps), Record Sound on Tape,
Edit Picture and Sound in PAL
This is still the most common production workfl ow for low-budget fi lms in
the PAL world. (See Figure 2-6.) Things will change as shooting on fi lm gives
way to electronic cinematography and location mixers choose hard-disk
recorders over tape. For now, though, many fi lms are made this way. Unlike
its NTSC relative, in which the picture department has it pretty easy (except
for policing the telecine transfer for proper A-framing), double-system PAL
is very easy on the sound department but requires a bit of thinking by the
picture editor. The fundamental problem is that fi lm runs at 24 fps and PAL
video runs at 25. Given this reality, there’s no elegant way to maintain proper
speed and sync while transferring from fi lm to PAL videotape.
Unlike the highly regular NTSC 2 : 3 : 2 pulldown, which is jitterless to normal
humans, the PAL 24 → 25 telecine transfer adds one highly visible repeated
fi eld every 12 frames. Films transferred to PAL at 24 fps display a telltale
twice-per-second bump in what should be smooth motion, such as camera
pans or slow car bys.
Timecode on the DAT will be 25 fps, since the project will be edited in a
PAL/EBU environment. The speed of the sound will never change, whereas
the picture will make a brief foray from 24 fps (90 feet/minute) to 25 fps (93