Hello:

I'm new to this forum and could use some help with some due-process questions as well as some workflow questions for Vegas.

Let me start off by saying that I understand that achieving a film look in video is subjective. Using a myriad of video effects and colour corrections and such, one can creatively make a video that looks like film.

However, for the purposes of these questions, I am strictly concerned with emulating the cadence of film.

I shoot on a Canon XH-A1 and it only shoots in 60i, 50i, 24F, 25F and 30F. I'd like my final product to be burned to a regular DVD that can be played on a video projector in a theater or played on a widescreen HDTV (LCD or Plasma)

After searching through many posts, I have learned there are 3 ways I can emulate the cadence of film with video.

1.) Shoot in 50i, with a shutter speed of 1/50, deinterlace to 25P and then slow down the footage 4% to get a 24P cadence. My Question is:
a.) To do this, what do my Project Settings have to be?
b.) How do I deinterlace to 25P?
c.) If I deinterlace to 25P (PAL) but slow my footage down to 24P (NTSC)
What do my "Render As" Settings have to be? 24P NTSC or 25P PAL
c.) What is the step by step workflow with HDV to follow this method?

2.) Shoot in 60i, with a shutter speed of 1/60, deinterlace to 30P,
downconvert the 30P footage to 24P with some kind of pulldown or
pulldown removal (I'm confused which is which) and then output to DVD
a.) Again, what do my Project settings have to be? How do I deinterlace
to 30P?
b.) What is the step by step workflow with HDV to follow this method?
c.) What are my Render settings supposed to be?

3.) OR just Shoot in 24F. However, I understand that 24F takes a resolution hit.

Can anyone describe for me how I can best reproduce the cadence of film with footage shot in 60i or 50i with the least loss of video quality, without messing with the aspect ratio and the order of my clips?

I've read Douglas Spotted Eagle's "How to get a Film Look" but I found his step by step instructions too vague. When I tried following his guide, I found that my clips rearranged themselves in a different order and any adjustments I made to frame sizes with Pan/Crop got all messed up and my Aspect Ratio was off.

Here's another question, while I'm at it.

If anyone can help me with this problem, I would greatly appreciate it. I'm losing hair trying to find these answers!

Thanks!

-Maximum Ice