300 fast to slow

New_Zealand

New_Zealand

Veteran
I have one more scene that I need to film for my project and now trying to make a decision about camera setting or having to switch to another camera? It is a fight scene and I would like to do something like they did on the film 300. Going fast into slow mode back to fast.

I'm shooting the scene with the canon 5d mk3. Would that work and then use some software like twister to slow down the shots then speed them up or would I be better off trying to rent the FS700 for just those shots since it can record slow mode?

I would like to be able to use the Canon it would save $$$ from renting and the hassle of having extra camera gear out on the set. Has anyone shot something like that with their 5d?

Thanks
 
To get the "300" look you need a very high framerate. The 5D only has 720p60. Twixtor can do some amazing things though. For a lower budget I would download a trial of Twixtor and shoot a test.
 
Your best bet would be to hit the lens rentals sites. Try the Gh4 which gives you something like 190 fps at 1080 I believe.

There are a lot of cameras now with 60p @ 1080 - I rented a D5300 for a music video and was really pleased. With a great lens and insurance & shipping it was like $170 for close to a week.

After Effect's TimeWarp plugin is included with AE and is twixtor-ish for "free" (Twixtor's on the pricey side for a plugin). Twixtor gives you more options for masking and controlling what the plugin affects. Most folks report that Twixtor works great for some shots, Timewarp for others. Test test test. But the #1 make-orbreak? As high and FPS as you can get at as large a frame size as possible. 60p 1080 minimum to do much at all.

Retiming fails easily and can add strange artifacts. A foot walking along a gravel road? The gravel can go all to hell next to the foot. Shooting with low DOF and blurred, simple backgrounds is recommended. Or keying your footage. You need to do test shots and plan your real shots based on what you learn.

For keying, I'm interested in how the GH4 does at 4K. You can do 60fps with it at 4K, and when keying a 4K image GH4 may preserve more detail than, say 1080 prores from a BMC (which will only be 30p).

2.5k raw from the BMC can key wonderfully, but maxes at 30p, and needs fast SSDs and the horsepower and storage to work with the files - and an SDI monitor or HDMI converter as well. Inexpensive to rent.

The RED Epic can give you the best of all worlds here, much higher frame rates at over 2K size and raw files. It's another class of rental though (body, batteries, lens mount, EVF, SSD attachment and SSDs) and you may be better off to rent a package with an operator and have him offload you prores from the redcode files. So your shoot day better be planned down to the minute! Online rentals don't just send the Epic out the door like it's a MkIII, they wan to talk to you first - it's $40-some thousand worth of gear all told.

For a tight budget, lensrentals is a great resource though, well thought-out service and a lot of gear. Choose your weapon carefully.
 
Bassman2003 said:
Michael, the GH4 can do 96fps in 1080p and maxes out at 30fps in 4k.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the clarification - I've never shot any variant of GH camera. I'll likely rent the GH4 this summer if I can find an artsy gig like a music vid that'll pony up the cost. On paper it sounds like it should be in my "I own it" stable, but I'd like to put it through some hell and see.
 
I'd get a D5300 or a6000 for 1080p60, a GH4 for 1080p96, or an A7s for 720p120 (not sure how good this one is yet, but 1080p96 on the GH4 is not stellar either and people are putting it to good use anyway). Beyond that, it's FS700 territory.
 
People are advocating new cameras that do 60, the exact same speed what the posters camera already does, what the hell? Your 5d III is enough for a simple "300 style" scene that slows down 2,5x. Use 720p, plan the fights around it, do a couple of tests. Changing to a d5300 would be a complete waste of money (or any cam that does only 60p, next best idea is renting the fs700 for those shots).

I played around with the 720p on 5d, twixtor and slowmotions here a bit, though more for comedic effect. Some errors from speed interpolation but you can get "ok" slowmotion with 60p too without any interpolation. Atleast an FS700 is required for actual 300 style scenes though. Fortunately those are pretty cheap to rent for a day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pfxr7Du8gqk
 
Maarek... that was awesome mate... great work!! love it!! :)

Remember, if you want to use twixtor, shooting at high shutter speeds also helps by reducing the motion blur. Rendering a cleaner and more useable image.
 
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