Slow-Mo scene?

S

Shauno

Active member
Being a theatre director, all this film is new to me, I've always wanted to move to video and after a decent stint in the theatre, I now have moved to film.

I have one scene which I am shooting which is 7 minutes in length, shot in Black and White, with some reverse photography, but the whole scene is shot in 50fps, slowed down to 24.

I wondered if any members here had shot in Slow-Mo before, (specificially for slow-mo), and what (if any) techniques they employed with regards to blocking and movement within the scene.
 
So it's roughly 3.5 minutes of footage to be played back at around half speed? It better be some stunning footage or the audience will get bored.

I presume there's no or little dialog (as that would be fairly unrecognisable at half-speed), so you need to think about sound. The slo-mo visuals give a good opportunity to do something interesting with the sound, e.g. echoes or reverb or adjusting the pitch.
 
Yes mate, the film is a mystery noir, there will be some extrusion of elements of the plot in the scene and there is a lot of ground to cover in that scene.

I like the idea of using a lot of sound FX in the scene... Hmmmm
 
Ok, presuming there is 7 minutes worth of info to give the viewer, i.e. the audience won't ask "why was that scene shown in slo-mo?", some other things to think about:
- motion blur and frame rate - some shots may suit motion blur, but others may suit crystal clear blur-less frames, and some may even suit a staccato low frame rate (i.e. only showing every second or third frame of what was actually shot but repeating each frame). This will partially depend on the frame rate capabilities of your cameras, of course. Don't be afraid to vary from the 24fps, speeding or slowing individual shots or even varying during a shot.
- you asked about blocking and movement - the audience has twice as much time as normal to 'understand' each new shot (due to the low fps), so I think you should be shooting with more rapid movement than usual, i.e. planning for the slower playback rate. And the slower playback rate will also let you have fun with some cutaway shots, close-ups of some small (but dramatically important) details which wouldn't be noticed at normal speed.
 
Watch the opening to Tarsem Singh's THE FALL for some inspiration. Also, look to the right sidebar for other clips from the movie and from Tarsem's commercial spots. Tarsem loves him some slo-mo.

Good luck. Sounds like a tantalizing experiment -- how to hold their interest. Watch how TS builds suspense in the opener. It raises all kinds of questions in the mind of the audience.
 
Thanks, Popcorn, that is a good example of how to use slo-mo - it actually benefits from being slo-mo, and the unusual content keeps the audience interested.
 
These are some great tips guys, thanks for the headsup, brilliant, will let you know how it goes.
 
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