Three-two pull down

Three-two pull down (3:2 pull down) is a term used in filmmaking and television production for the post-production process of transferring film to video. It converts 24 frames per second into 29.97 interlaced frames per second, converting approximately every four frames into five frames plus a slight slow down in speed. It can also refer to converting 24 frames per second into 59.94 frames per second on modern 60 Hz progressive displays. Film runs at a standard rate of 24 frames per second, whereas NTSC video has a signal frame rate of 29.97 frames per second. Every interlaced video frame has two fields for each frame. The three-two pull down is where the telecine adds a third video field (a half frame) to every second video frame, but the untrained eye cannot see the addition of this extra video field. In the figure, the film frames A–D are the true or original images since they have been photographed as a complete frame. The A, B, and D frames on the right in the NTSC footage are original frames. The third and fourth frames have been created by blending fields from different frames.