When I started planning my feature film, Livelihood, back in 2003, cameras that recorded 24p natively simply weren’t available on a prosumer level. At the time the Canon GL2 and the Sony VX2000 were the big contenders in this area, and they both shot in 60i (although the GL2 featured a fake progressive setting that wasn’t half bad). I had an ultra-low budget for the film, but I really wanted it to look as good as possible, and in my opinion that meant giving it a filmlook (filmizing). After researching this issue, I found that attaining this mythical “filmlook” from a camera like the VX2000 meant lighting and framing properly during shooting, and then changing the exposure curves and converting to 24p in post-production.
To determine which software to buy for the conversion, I did two sets of tests using demos of all available filmic-look packages both during pre-production (just to make sure it would work) and again before I started post-production (to see which looked best on my footage). There were, and still are, plenty of packages to choose from, including Red Giant Software’s Magic Bullet, DVFilm Maker, Nattress, FilmFX, CineMotion, Twixtor, and various homebrew methods. After tons of rendering and comparing footage, I found that for pure 24p output Magic Bullet had the other programs beat. It just looked more like film to me and fit nicely into my workflow, integrating well with After Effects. Believe me, due to its extremely long render times and high price, I really didn’t want it to be the winner, but it was, so I bought it and used it for my whole film (which ended up looking spectacular, by the way!).
Notice the black lines in this interlaced field of video. Magic Bullet Frames removes those lines by blending two adjacent fields.
It’s now 2008 and even though 24p cameras are all the rage I still shoot in 60i for greater flexibility in post, and because I like my GL2 and don’t want to buy another camera! For people like me, who haven’t upgraded to a 24p capable camera, or who just like shooting in 60i, Red Giant Software is still around to save the day with the release of a new version of its flagship product, which it now calls “Magic Bullet Frames”. Whereas this plug-in used to only be available as part of the larger (and much more expensive) “Magic Bullet Suite”, it is now sold separately for a very reasonable price. Furthermore, this version includes integration with more hosts and a faster de-interlacing option for 24p, with pulldown. In addition, for those who do own 24p cameras, there are additional plugins, such as: Deartifacter, Broadcast Spec, Opticals, and Letterboxer that are useful on any project, regardless of the frame rate.
