Frame rate information

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Zan
Registered User
I am writing editing analysis of various films in which I am also including durations of individual shots in frames.

Since there are NTSC and PAL standards for DVDs and Blurays, which are not necessarily the original framerates that individual films were shot in, I am wondering whether anyone knows where I could find the information about original framerates for each film?

In technical specifications on IMDB I haven't found the wished information for the films that I have and that I'm about to analyse.

Best regards



Which films? Or are you asking for a comprehensive database of all of them? If it's the latter, and it's not on IMDB, I feel fairly certain it doesn't exist.



Standard film is basically 24 FPS, which differs from DVD or Blue Ray, requiring conversion in order to work with video monitors. If you search for either DVD or Blue Ray frame rate on Google, you can find the tech details on CODECs and Frame Rates.



Zan
Registered User
Thank you for your replies!

The films are:

- Requiem for a Dream
- The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
- The Aviator

I have all of the DVDs and they are 25fps since they are in PAL standard. I'm assuming all of the original film frame rates were 24fps, but one can never be sure without confirmation.



Movie Forums Squirrel Jumper
I don't see a reason to convert 24 fps to 23.976 for DVDs and blu rays, because when I make a DVD or blue ray, and I want the framerate to be 24 fps, I just make it 24 fps. What's the point of converting it to 23.976?



Zan
Registered User
I believe it's because all commercial DVDs comply with either PAL or NTSC standard, thus always being one of the two. I could be wrong though! When I'm making DVDs I also tend to preserve the original framerate, which is usually not an issue since many films (especially for tv) are shot in 25 fps in Europe.

I checked the files on DVDs and Blurays that I own with MediaInfo and they always show same result: 25fps, since I bought them here in Europe, where PAL is the standard. And I highly doubt they were actually shot in 25fps, since they're the movies from the USA.



Full disclosure: I know nothing about this, just used IMDB & Google to try and help....

TGTBATU was filmed using a ARRIFLEX 35CT/B Techniscope (according to IMDb) which according to Google/Wiki looks like it means it would have been 24fps.
The Aviator and Requiem For A Dream were filmed with various cameras (according to IMDb) that don't have fixed frame rates so sadly that doesn't help with those two.



Movie Forums Squirrel Jumper
Oh okay. I went to film school and we used digital cameras that shoot in 23.976, but when we learned to make DCP files for theater format, we had to convert 23.976 to 24, because theater projectors are formatted to play in 24.

We didn't learn to make DVDs so I didn't know that if you have your final movie for theater format in 24 fps, that it can be converted back to 23.976 for DVD and blu ray. So if you want to shoot a movie with today's digital cameras, you have to shoot in 23.976, then convert it to 24 fps for theater showings for the master copy, then take that master copy, and convert it back to 23.976 for DVDs and blu rays after.

Is that right?



Zan
Registered User
Chypmunk thank you for your effort! I came to similar conclusions, so I wanted to check whether anyone else has some information that I have missed.

Ironpony I am also currently attending film school. I believe many cameras have options of shooting in various frame rates. We shot most of our film students in 25 fps, since that is the PAL standard (used in Europe), but we also shot some of the films in clean 24 fps. We always preserve the frame rate when creating archive files as well as DCPs since many projectors have an option to play various frame rates.



Sorry I can't be of more help - mebbe try cheekily contacting the offices of the two production companies and/or directors and asking if that information is available?



Movie Forums Squirrel Jumper
Chypmunk thank you for your effort! I came to similar conclusions, so I wanted to check whether anyone else has some information that I have missed.

Ironpony I am also currently attending film school. I believe many cameras have options of shooting in various frame rates. We shot most of our film students in 25 fps, since that is the PAL standard (used in Europe), but we also shot some of the films in clean 24 fps. We always preserve the frame rate when creating archive files as well as DCPs since many projectors have an option to play various frame rates.
Oh okay, where I live in Canada, it seems many cameras have 23.976 but not 24.