Slow and Fast Motion 24p footage in 60i Timeline

[GHamm]

I'm shooting a feature film in 24p on the DVX100b, editing in Premiere Pro 2, and not going out to film. I will be using Lightwave, Partical Illusion and AfterEffects. In addition, I wish to incorporate some 60i footage from my GL2 into the same project. After reading numerous posts and Barry's Book, I've tentatively decided to edit in a 60i timeline. This is based on my understanding that I will obtain the smoothest motion and minimal artifacting for playback on NTSC TVs and/or DVD as my playback medium.

If anyone can confirm or challenge my decision on this approach, I'd appreciate it.

If the above approach is optimal, then I have a specific question on shooting slow and fast motion within this project. I intended to rely on the information from Barry's book (page 39) to shoot slow and fast motion sequences, but all the examples he provides are in terms of editing on a 24p timeline.

Can anyone provide a comparable table for obtaining the smoothest and best quality slow/fast motion when editing 24p footage in a 60i timeline? I am having trouble understanding the impact of various shutter speeds on the rates of playback that provide smoothest motion, best quality, and no artifacting.

Preferably, I'd like to see the formula from which these numbers are derived so that I can calculate faster playback speeds correctly. I will be using some hyper-fast motion (like 6,000% playback for cloud scenes). If anyone can help me understand the relationship of the variables in the formula, it would be greatly appreciated.

Gary

 

[David Jimerson]

I'm shooting a feature film in 24p on the DVX100b, editing in Premiere Pro 2, and not going out to film. I will be using Lightwave, Partical Illusion and AfterEffects. In addition, I wish to incorporate some 60i footage from my GL2 into the same project. After reading numerous posts and Barry's Book, I've tentatively decided to edit in a 60i timeline. This is based on my understanding that I will obtain the smoothest motion and minimal artifacting for playback on NTSC TVs and/or DVD as my playback medium.

If anyone can confirm or challenge my decision on this approach, I'd appreciate it.

No. Edit in 24p. You still have all of your NTSC output options available. And you'll want to make a 24p DVD, so you need to edit in 24p.

It's especially important if you want to use the 60i footage and slow it down for slo-mo. If you edit in 60i, you're going to get a very video feel to your slo-mo footage, and you don't want that, right?

For smooth motion, you need to make sure you're handling the camera properly when you're shooting. Slow camera movements -- slow pans, slow tilts, slow zooms -- are vitally important. It may seem ridiculously slow coming from an environment shooting 60i, but it's what you need to do, and it's what experienced film cinematographers do.

As for shutter speeds between different frame rates, the best way to remember it is to keep in mind how long the shutter is "open." For example, if you're shooting 24p, a standard 1/48 shutter means that shutter is "open" half the time -- 1/48th of a second, 24 times per second. If you're shooting 60i, then, you want the same, having the shutter open half the time. So, you want 1/120.

And so on.

 

[Joshua Provost]

I'm shooting a feature film in 24p on the DVX100b, editing in Premiere Pro 2, and not going out to film. I will be using Lightwave, Partical Illusion and AfterEffects. In addition, I wish to incorporate some 60i footage from my GL2 into the same project.

If the film is mostly 24p, with a little 60i, then I think the 24p should win out, and you can spend a little time converting your 60i to 24p. It'll be a much better editing process in a 24p timeline, and a better end result.