Frame rate settings

B

Brian_Broz

Active member
Hi,

With the anticipated arrival of the HVX200 I am hoping to create a list of suggested looks with various framerates...at least a general starting point. I've always shot video but never motion picture film. I can guess at what the framerates would be (15-18fps for action sequences) etc.
ie for shooting:

Action fight sequences
A carchase scene (to make everything seem faster)
Music Videos shot in slomo (with talent doing fast lipsync)
Timelapse of cityscape with sun moving in background
Timelapse at night with cars blurring by
etc.

Of course this would be a guideline, but a starting point for testing when the camera comes out.

Anyone and everyone please share your experiences if you've shot with a Varicam or film....

Thanks and hopefully this will be valueable to everyone.

Brian Broz
 
With a carchase, you can only really undercrank by a few frames most of the time. I have doubled cars' speed in post before (removed every second frame) but it will really show on certain shots.

If there is dust or leaves blowing around, or the car suspension is moving, you can notice the change in speed easily. Obviously if their are people moving in shot or other things that does help either. However, if it is just a car moving in a straight flat line, you can get away with quite a bit.

Also remember the camera movement (and shake if handheld) will be sped up.

I once did a 48 fps, reversed crane shot in a music video, with backards double speed lip sync = nightmare....argh!!!
 
Hi everyone...thought I'd resurrect this post as the HVX is getting closer.
Basically hoping for peoples experiences for different effects with variable framerates.
(I know the HVX won't do them all...)
Cheers,

Brian
 
Like mmm said, undercranking as much as you're talking about for action sequences (15-18FPS) will probably show really poorly, and look obviously sped up.

I'd hang in the 20-22 range myself. Also keep in mind there are many tricks you can pull out of your bag to make things look more violent & faster than they really are. Take BATMAN BEGINS for example ... much of the fighting is extremely up close & personal which puts you right in the action, yet doesn't have to be choreographed as much because the framing is so tight, the audience wouldn't see it anyway.

The brain is also tricked by sound as well, so you take a moderately fast looking scene, ad some even faster sounding SFX, and the scene will seem faster than it really is. Much more than just what we see goes into a good film.
 
I'm gonna use max of progressive framerates for a smooth slow-motion underwater (e.g. manta-rays passing by looking even more elegant than they already do, or sharks eating) but that's only theory so far - I never filmed more fps than 50i (PAL) until now.... but Liquid Edition could do already a pretty nice slo-mo of 50i...

so: 60p should be best for smoothest slo-mo.... am I wrong? (don't know about PAL performance yet...)
 
No, you're right in every way. 60P will give you incredible slo-mo, when you've slowed it down by 60% to fit accurately within a 24P timeline.

I know Vegas does a really nice job being able to slow down 60i, but there will be no comparison in quality when you're comparing 60i to 60P, especially when slowing down. But what am I talking about? My pocket book won't be able to afford the HVX for some time to come, as I'm still building my other arenal (mics, booms, dolly, etc.).
 
Don't undercrank car chases too much otherwise you might get the knight-rider / street-hawk effect. i.e. it looks laughably rubbish!

Much better to block your sequences really well, shoot exteriors tight, use low angles and dutch angles, dynamic movements and use good actors whose expressions show the adrenalin of the "speed" they're driving. Most importantly use good sound-design to hear some revving engines and squealing tyres.
 
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