Lip-Synch for Slo-Mo music videos?

Tom Lowe

Tom Lowe

Well-known member
Hope this isn't too "on topic."

I'm making a music video and I'd like to use that trick where you shoot overcranked -- say, 48fps on my HVX -- and have the artist (he's a rapper) rap at double speed so his singing in slo-mo video will match the track when dropped into a 24p timeline.

The only problem is, when I speed his song up to double speed, it's incredibly fast! No human on earth could rap that fast!

So I was thinking I would shoot 36fps instead. If my math is correct, I have to speed up the song to 150% speed for playback. Is that right?

Do you guys have experience with this?
 
TWixtor baby!

Buy it, download it, remap the time. It will work out perfect.

But yes your 150% idea is right
 
yeah, its hard man. and u will find that people go out of syc pretty easy, even on slower songs. ive done 40fps shoots before and it was a bit odd...i wish i had shot it at 24 as a backup. its also hard for people to emote at those speeds...so it kinda looks wierd.

as a back up you should maybe shoot 24fps versions of it if u can. i kinda learned the hard way.
 
Yeah, I am going to focus on 24p and just shoot the 36fps with my fingers crossed. If it works, cool. If not, that's ok.
 
i just did a music video and they wanted slow mo for the singing.

lucky for me it's a slow rock song, and the singing is really drawn out.

for rap? that's really tough!
 
make them sing faster is a tech we've used in rap videos, just make the song go faster and then sync it. it worked quite well.
 
Tom Lowe said:
so you like sped up the song digitally then played it back on a boom box while shooting?
Click to expand...


yeah i sped up the song in vegas, burned it to a CD, and took it to the location.

since I have the DVX, not HVX, my methods were a little different.

I had the song shortened to 60% of the original - then I shot 60i, with 1/120 shutter.
We played it back on the club's PA system, but a little boombox would do the job too.

now when i bring the footage into post, i set the velocity envelope to 60%, that's it!

if I had an HVX, i wouldn't have to shoot interlaced, and i would probably shoot 60p but you gotta rock with what you got.

and I would definitely recommend shooting 24p as well!

here's a test of just the singer from that video - http://www.t-mun-e.com/movies/GBTslowmotest.mov.

you can see if you go frame by frame it's not crystal-clear slow motion, but when played back at 24fps, i think it works out nicely.
 
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