Shooting for slow motion

[Chris Westerstrom]

I have a question about shooting in 50 or 60fps.

Say you want to shoot for the slow motion shot as this is the money shot ( in this case, action sports like surfing or skateboarding). And you want to have that option of slow motion in high quality. Is there a way to adjust the frame rate to 25 fps and yet discard every other frame so it plays back at normal speed and looks better than the playback at 50 or 60fps?

I am just considering for my next shoot. Wondering if I should just shoot it all in 25 fps at 1920 and then use software to slow it down, there seem to be some good, albeit expensive plugins that can make regular footage look great slowed down.

It's just so much fun to shoot for the slow mo classic style.

thanks for any help or discussion

[Norman Pogson]

I shoot 60fps at 1/120th shutter speed, then in my editing software Premier Pro, I change the speed to 50% and get great slow motion. In a PAL country I guess you would shoot 50fps at 1/100th shutter speed then slow by 50%.

[Chris Westerstrom]

thanks Norman!

This is what I usually do, but my question was primarily towards the scenario where you might want the clip not at slow motion, but you don't want that 50 or 60 fps look ( looks far too weird) if ya get me.

Like say, I am shooting for the slo mo shot so my whole shoot was conducted in 50 or 60 fps, but then slowed down in cinema tools to 25, but then I actually might want to keep it at regular speed and not slo motion and without that video look.

Is it better to just shoot it all at a normal frame rate, or is it better to somehow discard all the intermediate frames that were shot at 50/60 fps to make it look more normal at a regular playback speed (25 fps) in other word, not slow motion

[Norman Pogson]

I have a Panasonic TM700 and shoot 60p with that all the time at 1/60th shutter and render the output as 29.97 and it looks good.

[Chris Westerstrom]

I still don't think you are getting me.

I understand what you mean. I shoot 50 or 60 fps for the purpose of slowing it down to 25 fps.

I am talking about the option, to use the footage at a real time playback rate from 50-60 fps without it being slow motion.

If I shoot for the slow motion, but decide that I want to keep one shot at regular speed. I can use it at 50 or 60fps, but I am wondering whether or not there is a plugin that lets you drop every other frame, because it usually looks pretty lousy to play back that many frames per second.



EDIT: maybe you are understanding me, because you did slow your shutter down to 60 as well, but when you play back at 29.97, isn't it slow motion then?

[Simon Spear]

I understand your question Chris(!), but unfortunately I don't know the answer. I'd be interested if anyone does...

[Ted Ramasola]

Originally Posted by Chris Westerstrom

I still don't think you are getting me.

I understand what you mean. I shoot 50 or 60 fps for the purpose of slowing it down to 25 fps.

I am talking about the option, to use the footage at a real time playback rate from 50-60 fps without it being slow motion.

If I shoot for the slow motion, but decide that I want to keep one shot at regular speed. I can use it at 50 or 60fps, but I am wondering whether or not there is a plugin that lets you drop every other frame, because it usually looks pretty lousy to play back that many frames per second.



EDIT: maybe you are understanding me, because you did slow your shutter down to 60 as well, but when you play back at 29.97, isn't it slow motion then?

Chris,

There is magic bullet that was used a lot before to convert 60i footage to 24P, havent tried it with 60P though, BUT i often use 60P footage on a 24P timeline. Seems to be ok to me. Try to see if you like it.
Use a 24P timeline project and just drop your 60P footage on it.