Tim Joy
Veteran
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- Thread starter Tim Joy
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Tim Joy
Veteran
A lot of people have been asking about the technique. Here's how we did it:
It was shot on the Nikon D90, but instead of using the quirky video mode, we used the fast motor drive and took a series of 2k jpeg stills. The quality and color of those jpegs is outstanding, and such a joy to work with.
The camera takes about 4 frames per second, and holding the shutter down it will shoot for 25 seconds before it has to rest and clear the buffers.
We took about 25,000 pictures total for this movie. YIKES! It was a lot to manage, especially since the frame numbering restarts after 10,000 so there are duplicate names of different pictures. The shutter life is rated at 150,000 clicks, so this technique could potentially wear out the camera quick.
The final movie uses probably less than 1,000 photos, and the missing in-between frames (approx. 3,500 @ 24fps) were created using the plugin Twixtor. Every single shot in the movie uses Twixtor. Some more than others. The push in at the office, for example has only 4 "real" frames and the rest is morphed from those. (Special thanks to dvxuser Matthew Bennett for the idea)
Depending on what settings in twixtor I used it produces some artifacts as you push it way beyond the limits it was meant to go. (when you slow something down to 2%)
The shower scene was shot at a 1/4000 shutter, the highest the camera goes. To get an exposure we almost lit Kevin on fire blasting so much light in there. The high shutter freezes the water in time and then once you add twixtor it makes the really cool morphing/ moulding water effect.
The vertical Portrait frame was probably not the best idea, but it was experimental. Twixtor needs to be viewed at 100% when editing, posing a significant problem for viewing a frame that is 1400w X 2100h on my small monitor. So I decided to bite the bullet and did a batch resize in photoshop to 584x880, the frame you see now. It was heartbreaking to loose the resolution, but my computer couldn't handle much more anyway.
The "flying through the painting" shot was accomplished by attaching the painting frame to a grip arm that was attached to the rails of the camera. The rails and camera were mounted sideways on the tripod head and mounted on the crane. We craned over Kevin and tilted the camera (frame moving with the camera) and went down around him. We also moved the light overhead. In post I blew out the background so it looks like he moves instead of the camera. I'll have a BTS video up soon so you can see.
This technique of making a movie from a series of stills is not new, ( I thought it was, but others have done it way before me) and the others I've seen put a disclaimer at the beginning, letting the audience know that the stuttering effect is supposed to be there. I didn't say anything to see what people thought, so my question is: do you think this film needs a disclaimer at the beginning that says it was created from still images?
Thanks for watching and commenting. I love these festivals and I always learn so much.
It was shot on the Nikon D90, but instead of using the quirky video mode, we used the fast motor drive and took a series of 2k jpeg stills. The quality and color of those jpegs is outstanding, and such a joy to work with.
The camera takes about 4 frames per second, and holding the shutter down it will shoot for 25 seconds before it has to rest and clear the buffers.
We took about 25,000 pictures total for this movie. YIKES! It was a lot to manage, especially since the frame numbering restarts after 10,000 so there are duplicate names of different pictures. The shutter life is rated at 150,000 clicks, so this technique could potentially wear out the camera quick.
The final movie uses probably less than 1,000 photos, and the missing in-between frames (approx. 3,500 @ 24fps) were created using the plugin Twixtor. Every single shot in the movie uses Twixtor. Some more than others. The push in at the office, for example has only 4 "real" frames and the rest is morphed from those. (Special thanks to dvxuser Matthew Bennett for the idea)
Depending on what settings in twixtor I used it produces some artifacts as you push it way beyond the limits it was meant to go. (when you slow something down to 2%)
The shower scene was shot at a 1/4000 shutter, the highest the camera goes. To get an exposure we almost lit Kevin on fire blasting so much light in there. The high shutter freezes the water in time and then once you add twixtor it makes the really cool morphing/ moulding water effect.
The vertical Portrait frame was probably not the best idea, but it was experimental. Twixtor needs to be viewed at 100% when editing, posing a significant problem for viewing a frame that is 1400w X 2100h on my small monitor. So I decided to bite the bullet and did a batch resize in photoshop to 584x880, the frame you see now. It was heartbreaking to loose the resolution, but my computer couldn't handle much more anyway.
The "flying through the painting" shot was accomplished by attaching the painting frame to a grip arm that was attached to the rails of the camera. The rails and camera were mounted sideways on the tripod head and mounted on the crane. We craned over Kevin and tilted the camera (frame moving with the camera) and went down around him. We also moved the light overhead. In post I blew out the background so it looks like he moves instead of the camera. I'll have a BTS video up soon so you can see.
This technique of making a movie from a series of stills is not new, ( I thought it was, but others have done it way before me) and the others I've seen put a disclaimer at the beginning, letting the audience know that the stuttering effect is supposed to be there. I didn't say anything to see what people thought, so my question is: do you think this film needs a disclaimer at the beginning that says it was created from still images?
Thanks for watching and commenting. I love these festivals and I always learn so much.
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Rodney V. Smith
DVXFest Promo Guru
DUDE!!!! You're back! Cool!
Mark Harris
Pain in the ass
Really liked your TwilightFest film, looking forward to this.
Brandon Rice
Distributed Producer
Wow. Unique. Original. Different.
Postmaster
Dark Side of the Camera
Surprising, unusual, different.
But in my book, it would be better without 80% of the effects.
I dig the thing with the shower thou.
Frank
But in my book, it would be better without 80% of the effects.
I dig the thing with the shower thou.
Frank
Michael Anthony Horrigan
More Cowbell Pictures
Very creative, that's for sure. Interesting aspect ratio. 
The effects seemed to distract from the story though. At least I caught myself paying more attention to them as they really stood out.
Interesting film though. Alex gets around this Fest.
MAH
The effects seemed to distract from the story though. At least I caught myself paying more attention to them as they really stood out.
Interesting film though. Alex gets around this Fest.
MAH
i liked the creativity and that kept me watching but the story didn't really pull me in though.
vnguyen972
Well-known member
wow... like others said... i thought my quick time acts up on me when I see the leader was playing vertically
Beautiful shot and I really like the VFX when he moves... the water in the shower looks awesome... how did you do that? the whole thing looks like a whole bunch of pictures and with little of movements! It looks more like a music video than a film but I love it!
Beautiful shot and I really like the VFX when he moves... the water in the shower looks awesome... how did you do that? the whole thing looks like a whole bunch of pictures and with little of movements! It looks more like a music video than a film but I love it!
Chris Messineo
Veteran
This was so creative and original. I loved it.
The look which was so unique and totally drew me in and it fit perfectly with Alex's story, which I found equally compelling. It all had this wonderful dream like quality. I especially loved the music.
I don' think I saw this mentioned yet, but I'm dying to know how this was shot. Also, whose idea was it to play with the aspect ratio - it was brilliant.
In any case, I thought this was all very well done.
The look which was so unique and totally drew me in and it fit perfectly with Alex's story, which I found equally compelling. It all had this wonderful dream like quality. I especially loved the music.
I don' think I saw this mentioned yet, but I'm dying to know how this was shot. Also, whose idea was it to play with the aspect ratio - it was brilliant.
In any case, I thought this was all very well done.
Richard J. Johnson
Joystick Member
You never fail to disappoint. Totally bizarre, right up my alley. It looked fantastic and totally had me from the second I saw the aspect ratio. Great effing job.