Restoring material back to 24 frames per second. The exact opposite of 3:2 pulldown.

The nomenclature varies from manufacturer to manufacturer. You may see terms like “3:2 Contract”, “Remove Pulldown”, “Cine Compress”, etc. The effect is the same.

Any material that originated in 24 frames per second (film) or 23.98 frames per second (HD video cameras) has 3:2 pulldown applied to it when transferred to video tape that runs at 29.97fps.

If you want to edit the material in 24p (film workflow) or 23.98p (HD workflow) you need to restore the original progressive frames cadence by removing the 3:2 pulldown. This is the goal of inverse telecine.

In most cases the process takes place during the capture into the NLE but can also take place after the material is already captured.

Fig. 1. Inverse Telecine