Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: software to convert minutes to feet per frame

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Posted by Hordur Valgardsson (Member # 5482) on 10-06-2010, 10:39 AM:

Hi all
we are having a little problem with a movie script that we are having translated
the script that comes from the filmmaker as a word document and is in minutes and seconds but we need to convert it to feet per frame for the film.
any ideas ?

this is what the script looks like
--------------------------------------
01:03:20:16 01:03:22:01
And we’re home.
01:03:22:03 01:03:23:24
I think this looks good.
01:03:26:11 01:03:28:00
-Mick?
-I got it.
01:03:28:16 01:03:30:28

------------------------
the text needs to be like this

62.10 64.06 1.12
Come on!
189.03 193.07 4.04
Well, you realize I know nothing about politics?
193.11 197.04 3.09
-You voted for him, didn't you?
-Adam Lang? Of course I did.
197.08 202.05 4.13
Everyone voted for him. He wasn't a politician, he was a craze.
202.09 204.03 1.10
Well, there you go.

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 10-06-2010, 11:12 AM:

Well, the first problem is that the file is a Word.doc. Unless you want to transcribe all the numbers and do the math by hand, you're going to need to transfer it to some format that you can work with.

Can you export this file to a tab-delimited text file?

You're going to need it in the format:

quote:

01:03:20:16<TAB>01:03:22:01<TAB>"And we’re home."<RETURN>
01:03:22:03<TAB>01:03:23:24<TAB>"I think this looks good."<RETURN>
01:03:26:11<TAB>01:03:28:00<TAB>"-Mick?-I got it."<RETURN>
etc... etc...

If you can export it as a text file in this format, you can then import it into a spreadsheet. Once you have done that, it is a relatively simple matter to insert the formulas to change time to feet and frames.

Don't quote me but I think the formula would be something like changing the time to decimal minutes (multiply by 60 ?? or something ??) then dividing by 24. I'm not sure. It will take a few minutes for me to work out the forumla. I'm just thinking conceptually.

But, regardless, your first problem is that damn M$ Word.doc. Get it out of that format and into something you can operate on and your work is all downhill from there.

Posted by Mitchell Dvoskin (Member # 751) on 10-06-2010, 06:47 PM:

35mm sound motion picture film (in North America) travels at 24 frames per second, 18 frames per foot, 90 feet per minute.

Video is different and varies based upon what part of the world you are in. Some 35mm film that was transferred from European video is 25 frames per second, although no projector here, outside of some special venues, can run anything other than 24 frames/second.

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 10-06-2010, 07:39 PM:

Parse the first 8 characters of the time code and translate them into decimal hours, minutes and seconds. There should be a formula in Excel to do that. If not, write one. It shouldn't be hard.

Next, check to be sure you're not using drop-frame time code. Since there is no semicolon between the seconds and the frames, you can assume that it's NOT drop-frame. (A semicolon typically represents drop-frame.)

After that, parse out the last two digits of the time code and divide them by your frame rate. If your video is 30 fps, then you divide the last two digits by 30. Add that to your decimal hours, minutes and seconds. If your video is 25 fps then divide by 25

You should now have your time code translated to hours, minutes, seconds and decimal seconds. From there I assume you should know how to write a formula to translate that into whatever format you need. Decimal hours? Hours and decimal minutes? Etc... Whatever you need. (For simplicity, I'd probably use decimal minutes.)

Then, like Mitchell says, you need to know the film format you're talking about. USA/North America or European? North America is 24 frames per second. Europe is 25 frames per second. Film is always 16 frames per foot, regardless of the frame rate.

To get your film speed, it is X/16. For USA that is 24/16 or 1.5 feet per second. For Europe that is 25/16 or 1.5625 feet per second. Multiply by 60 if you want feet per minute. For USA that would be 90 feet per min. For Europe that would be 93.75 feet per minute.

Now, you have massaged your time code and your frame rate into like units. It's as simple as dividing the time code by the film speed. Feet=TRUNC(time code / film speed). Frames=MOD(time code / film speed).

That should do it.

I think I got that right? Did I? Somebody check my work to be sure I didn't screw that up.

No matter... That's the concept of what you are going to have to do, even if I didn't get the math right.

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 10-06-2010, 08:37 PM:

Two minor points:

- not all film from Europe is shot at 25fps--I have usually only seen it on some (not all) German and eastern European productions; UK and France (among others) are always 24fps...perhaps someone in PAL-land can clarify exactly where and why some productions choose to shoot at 25fps

- there is no drop-frame timecode for PAL--it's an NTSC-only thing (all film shown on PAL television plays at 25fps; all film shown on NTSC television plays at 23.976fps)

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 10-06-2010, 09:34 PM:

Could he do it in Excel spreadsheet form then he can put formulas in per each cell for computation?

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 10-06-2010, 11:34 PM:

Scott, I was speaking in shorthand again.

You're right. Not all films from Europe are 25 fps.

And, again, you're right. Not all time code can be drop-frame. I don't know if the original video is PAL or NTSC. Because I virtually never work with PAL, I just don't think of that.

Posted by Christian Appelt (Member # 1067) on 10-07-2010, 09:32 AM:

Hordur, what exactly do you need the feet or meters for? You could get frame count values by using Subtitle Workshop, an excellent freeware, if you import your dialogue list into it and switch to frames. Looking at your text examples, I have the strong feeling that is was copied from one of the common subtitle formats and just saved to DOC. You could do a search on subtitling forums to find out which format it resembles and change the file extension.

For time/frame/length conversions, use this online film calculator:

Film Calculator

Subtitle Workshop download is here:

Subtitle Workshop