A Scene from a New Short Film (Slow Motion)

ponder8n

ponder8n

Active member
My son and I started working on a family short film project this summer. We've got two more scenes to shoot, but we're excited about how it's coming along. My son is the lead actor.

I wanted to share this one scene with you, because I'm amazed at how well the slow motion turned out. I was reading through a post on Apple's site trying to find a way to do slow motion in Motion, but there was none. Then, I stumbled across this technique where you can use Compressor to interprolate lines of 60i. I tried it, and wow, was it amazing! The crispness and quality is just incredible. I add some Magic Bullet stuff and I think it turned out so filmic!

Check out this one scene that I just finished. (Setup: It's about boy imagining what he wants to be when he grows up, and starts realizing that it's not always as easy as he would imagine.)

It was shot on a DVX-100A, setting F1, but with Cine settings turned on, 60i (adjusted to 30p), all natural (gym) lights, MB color correction.

If you've got Quicktime 7, definitely watch the H.264 version. The compression quality is amazing.

http://www.toppup.com/growingup/scenes

Cheers,
Russell
 
Hey pretty cool look to it, and the editing is quite nifty too around the bit where it zooms in on his shoes.

Also, the slow motion looks smooth enough to me. Good luck with finishing the project.
 
Wow, wow, wow....... I love the looks you captured..... PLEASE please please share the technique where you can use Compressor to interprolate lines of 60i with us... I have to try this!!!!!

thanks man
 
yeah mostly trial and error but it's nice if you know of somebody who did it as well. They can provide guidence.... I really need some help lol
 
ok i've got it working perfectly in Vegas....but once I try to render it, i can't get it to look as good. there's so many damn settings, i have no idea which to use. I tried using the H.264 but it always seems to have an error once it starts rendering. :undecided
 
Not sure how it works in Vegas, but here's what I did in Compressor and Final Cut:

1. Shoot your footage in 60i. Make sure your shutter speed is at least 1/120 or faster. Helps with the motion blur.

2. Capture the footage as normal (interlaced, 29.97fps). Then, bring it into Compressor.

3. The Compressor settings are important. You can use any codec you want, probably should be whatever you are edting in--DV or Apple Intermediate, etc, but set it for 59.94 fps. Then, go to Frame Controls in the Compressor Inspector and select "Custom". Then, for De-interlace, select "Best (Motion Compensated)". Select "Progressive." Check mark the on "Advanced" setting. I left Anti-Alias and Details at zero.

Note: I had 62 clips about 10 seconds a piece, and my dual 2.5Ghz G5 took 23 hours to render the new footage.

The result will be new footage that plays at the same speed, but at 59.94 fps and progressive. It'll look a lot crisper.

4. Then, I created a new sequence (timeline) in Final Cut, but set the base timecode to 59.94. I edited the footage as normal, but when I wanted slow motion, I would set the speed to 50%. The default is to have frame blending on, but you must turn it off. The resulting slow motion is great!

5. When I'm done, I render out a typical 29.97 fps movie.

That's it!

Let me know if you have any questions.

Russell
 
I thought about going all the way down to 24p. That'll give you even slower motion. But, I didn't have too much time to experiment with the various work flows. I wasn't sure how to create 24p from a 59.97fps sequence. I'm sure it can be done, but I just wasn't sure.

If I find a way, I'll post the results.

Russell
 
Oh man I have a total newbie question on this one..... What exactly do you mean when you say "bring it into Compressor"? Is Compressor a different program? I use FCP but not sure if "Compressor" is part of it...

thanks man
 
ok i've been working on getting this look, and i think its working...

http://www.t-mun-e.com/movies/slomotest.mov

I shot 60i ( i forgot to change shutter speed to 120, oh well)
then captured into vegas, put on a 24p timeline, slowed down to 40% (according to Barry Green's book, once again :happy: )
and then rendered as quicktime, used sorenson 3, 70% quality, no audio, changed to 14.985 frame rate
 
ponder8n said:
I thought about going all the way down to 24p. That'll give you even slower motion. But, I didn't have too much time to experiment with the various work flows. I wasn't sure how to create 24p from a 59.97fps sequence. I'm sure it can be done, but I just wasn't sure.

If I find a way, I'll post the results.

Russell
Click to expand...

So is the entire short shot in 60i? Or was it just that sequence that required slow-mo?
 
Coffee: Compressor is a separate program to FCP. It's used to compress video for web delivery, DVD encoding, down rezing, and now with Compressor 2, up rezing. Some of the new features in Compressor include this motion compensated deinterlaced, when massaged right, can give you cool slow motion. I captured the clips in FCP, then imported them into Compressor that spit out new 60fps clips using the technique described previously. There's a pretty cool article here.

tjohara99: It's looking pretty good! I did notice a duplicate frame about every 5th frame. It's causing just a slightly noticeable jerkiness. It's only because I'm looking for it, though.

John, the entire short will be 24p played 29.97 using the DVX100 in camera capture capability. This basketball sequence was to have a slightly different look, which is what I used this fps adjustment technique.
 
yes i see what you mean about the duplicate frames... we're using different editing platforms, but do you know of how i could get rid of these duplicate frames??
 
ponder8n said:
I thought about going all the way down to 24p. That'll give you even slower motion. But, I didn't have too much time to experiment with the various work flows. I wasn't sure how to create 24p from a 59.97fps sequence. I'm sure it can be done, but I just wasn't sure.

If I find a way, I'll post the results.

Russell
Click to expand...
if your in a regular 29.97 timeline -- try Graeme Natresses G-Film effetcs.
http://www.nattress.com/
It's only $100 and will convert the 60i to 24p in a 29.97 timeline (2 frames stay interlaced like Telecine). Although might not work because you've deinterlaced and G-Film uses interlaced frames to "work it's magic". The motion is comparable to DVX 24p and XL2 24p and way better than Sony 24p. I love magic bullet but this renders faster and has the frame rate conversion. I find I toggle back and forth between the two. Plus Graeme is a member of this forum and when you email costumer supprt you get an email back from Grame usually within the day. He also sells a product called G-Film converter (I think that's the name). It's simillarly priced, and does any frame rate to any frame rate. I still use G film frame rate conversion sometimes for tsuff like this and iyt was a godsend before I had a 24p camera.
 
tjohara99: Are you using Compressor to create the 60fps footage first? Then, are you using a 60fps timeline to edit the footage?
 
how do I do this with a euro PAL DVX in premiere pro?

super slick slowmotion is my holy grail, Ive tried loads of stuff but still seem to get jitter at times........
 
You need some software that will actually interprolate the missing field information. Twixtor is one app. Compressor can do it. I think there are some others as well. Premiere Pro can only edit and slow down the footage, but typically the in-software deinterlace is not sufficient for smooth motion.
 
ponder8n said:
tjohara99: Are you using Compressor to create the 60fps footage first? Then, are you using a 60fps timeline to edit the footage?
Click to expand...

no, I don't have Compressor, i am only using Vegas 5 on a 24p timeline to edit.
 
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