Slow motion tests at DVinfo.net

Paul Joy · July 27th, 2007, 01:22 PM

I was messing around with some slow motion stuff today, I shot some footage using 50i with a high shutter speed (1/3200) and then messed around with it in FCP. The clip below shows each clip as captured, then with the interlace lines split into frames to produce 25fps footage at half speed, and finally that half speed footage at 50% speed with frame blending.

http://www.olikai.com/archery/xh-slowmo.html

I was quite pleased with the results, although I don't like the flashing line at the top of the frame - I've seen that mentioned before. It also does a great job of highlighting my incredibly bad archery form, although I think that's mainly due to concentrating on the camera more then what I was doing... that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

Paul.

Luke Ross · July 27th, 2007, 01:32 PM

I am not seeing video but can hear the audio. Is it just me? Windows, with Quicktime Pro 7.16. Tryed downloading the mov file as well and playing in stand-alone player and still didnt see video.

Paul Joy · July 27th, 2007, 01:35 PM

Hmm, hard to say as I'm on a mac. I'm using quicktime 7.2, although I'm not sure if that makes any difference.

The clip is encoded as H264 video and Apple AAC audio.

Paul.

James Klatt · July 27th, 2007, 01:41 PM

I'm on a mac too. It's just white. I also tried downloading as well.Neither works.

Paul Joy · July 27th, 2007, 01:44 PM

Weird - works fine for me. I'll look into it and upload another file.

Thanks

Paul.

Paul Joy · July 27th, 2007, 01:54 PM

I've just re-encoded and uploaded a new file, I cut back a little on the complexity of the compression settings - that's the only thing I can think that I've changed recently.

Let me know if it makes any difference.

Paul.

Luke Ross · July 27th, 2007, 02:12 PM

There we go.. Now it's working and it looks good. :)

Was that a bee or something flying by after the first shot?

Paul Joy · July 27th, 2007, 02:33 PM

Yes it's a bee, not even 1/3200 will freeze that flying past though :)

I'd be interested to try the experiment again but with a less drastic shutter speed that's aimed at smooth motion. This time round I really just wanted to see if I could capture an arrow leaving the bow so went as fast as I could whilst trying to maintain a correct exposure.

Henrik Reach · July 27th, 2007, 11:16 PM

Out of curiosity, at what speed are you playing the slowdowns?

Paul Joy · July 28th, 2007, 02:44 AM

The timeline is 50i and footage is being deinterlaced when encoded.

Each shot is shown three times as follows:

Part 1: 50i footage (25fps // 100%)
Part 2: 50i footage is separated (fields to frames) so it's still 25fps but running at 50% of the original speed.
Part 3: The same clip as created for part 2 but with the NLE running a slowdown of 50% and generating frame blends for the additional frames, so the final part of each shot is 25% of the original speed but only having to blend every other frame.

Paul.

Evan Donn · July 28th, 2007, 11:06 AM

Are you doing everything in FCP? I've experimented with this in the past and found that After Effects tends to produce less of the flickering line effect - you have to use the 'preserve edges' option in the interpret footage dialogue. I haven't tried it yet with the A1 but if I get some time in the next week I'll try to post a sample.

Kyle Prohaska · July 29th, 2007, 07:56 AM

People miss the idea of shooting interlaced footage for slowmo. The trick is to deinterlace to 60p (or in your case 50p) so you can have double the frames to play with. After Effects for instance will allow you to do that.

- Kyle

Paul Joy · July 29th, 2007, 12:35 PM

That's exactly what I did here, although I did it the time consuming way! I don't have after effects, if anyone knows of a plugin for FCP or motion that will do the same job I'd be interested in hearing about it.

Thanks

Paul.

Evan Donn · August 6th, 2007, 12:16 AM

Nattress has smart-deinterlacing in his film effects package:

http://www.nattress.com/Products/fil...ilmeffects.htm

It may help with the flickering lines, I believe you can download a demo to give it a try.

Shiv Kumar · August 7th, 2007, 04:18 AM

Paul,

This is one of the sharpest videos I've seen! I just love the clarity. I don't get this kind of clarity with my camera :(.

Care to share the light conditions, expsure etc.?

July 27th, 2007, 01:22 PM	#1
Paul Joy Major Player Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Norfolk, UK Posts: 627	Slow motion tests I was messing around with some slow motion stuff today, I shot some footage using 50i with a high shutter speed (1/3200) and then messed around with it in FCP. The clip below shows each clip as captured, then with the interlace lines split into frames to produce 25fps footage at half speed, and finally that half speed footage at 50% speed with frame blending. http://www.olikai.com/archery/xh-slowmo.html I was quite pleased with the results, although I don't like the flashing line at the top of the frame - I've seen that mentioned before. It also does a great job of highlighting my incredibly bad archery form, although I think that's mainly due to concentrating on the camera more then what I was doing... that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it! Paul. __________________ Blog: www.pauljoy.com Company: www.videotrader.co.uk Last edited by Paul Joy; July 27th, 2007 at 04:12 PM.

July 27th, 2007, 01:32 PM	#2
Luke Ross Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Portland, OR Posts: 64	I am not seeing video but can hear the audio. Is it just me? Windows, with Quicktime Pro 7.16. Tryed downloading the mov file as well and playing in stand-alone player and still didnt see video. __________________ Canon XH-A1 \| Rode NTG-2 \| Intel QuadCore \| 3.0TB RAID5 + 2xRaptor 150's RAID 0 \| Adobe Production CS3

July 27th, 2007, 01:35 PM	#3
Paul Joy Major Player Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Norfolk, UK Posts: 627	Hmm, hard to say as I'm on a mac. I'm using quicktime 7.2, although I'm not sure if that makes any difference. The clip is encoded as H264 video and Apple AAC audio. Paul. __________________ Blog: www.pauljoy.com Company: www.videotrader.co.uk

July 27th, 2007, 01:44 PM	#5
Paul Joy Major Player Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Norfolk, UK Posts: 627	Weird - works fine for me. I'll look into it and upload another file. Thanks Paul. __________________ Blog: www.pauljoy.com Company: www.videotrader.co.uk

July 27th, 2007, 01:54 PM	#6
Paul Joy Major Player Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Norfolk, UK Posts: 627	I've just re-encoded and uploaded a new file, I cut back a little on the complexity of the compression settings - that's the only thing I can think that I've changed recently. Let me know if it makes any difference. Paul. __________________ Blog: www.pauljoy.com Company: www.videotrader.co.uk

July 27th, 2007, 01:41 PM	#4
James Klatt Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Portland OR Posts: 132	I'm on a mac too. It's just white. I also tried downloading as well.Neither works.

July 27th, 2007, 02:12 PM	#7
Luke Ross Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Portland, OR Posts: 64	There we go.. Now it's working and it looks good. :) Was that a bee or something flying by after the first shot? __________________ Canon XH-A1 \| Rode NTG-2 \| Intel QuadCore \| 3.0TB RAID5 + 2xRaptor 150's RAID 0 \| Adobe Production CS3

July 27th, 2007, 02:33 PM	#8
Paul Joy Major Player Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Norfolk, UK Posts: 627	Yes it's a bee, not even 1/3200 will freeze that flying past though :) I'd be interested to try the experiment again but with a less drastic shutter speed that's aimed at smooth motion. This time round I really just wanted to see if I could capture an arrow leaving the bow so went as fast as I could whilst trying to maintain a correct exposure. __________________ Blog: www.pauljoy.com Company: www.videotrader.co.uk Last edited by Paul Joy; July 27th, 2007 at 03:48 PM.

July 27th, 2007, 11:16 PM	#9
Henrik Reach Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Halden Posts: 106	Out of curiosity, at what speed are you playing the slowdowns?

July 28th, 2007, 02:44 AM	#10
Paul Joy Major Player Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Norfolk, UK Posts: 627	The timeline is 50i and footage is being deinterlaced when encoded. Each shot is shown three times as follows: Part 1: 50i footage (25fps // 100%) Part 2: 50i footage is separated (fields to frames) so it's still 25fps but running at 50% of the original speed. Part 3: The same clip as created for part 2 but with the NLE running a slowdown of 50% and generating frame blends for the additional frames, so the final part of each shot is 25% of the original speed but only having to blend every other frame. Paul. __________________ Blog: www.pauljoy.com Company: www.videotrader.co.uk

July 28th, 2007, 11:06 AM	#11
Evan Donn Major Player Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Philadelphia Posts: 795	Are you doing everything in FCP? I've experimented with this in the past and found that After Effects tends to produce less of the flickering line effect - you have to use the 'preserve edges' option in the interpret footage dialogue. I haven't tried it yet with the A1 but if I get some time in the next week I'll try to post a sample.

July 29th, 2007, 07:56 AM	#12
Kyle Prohaska Major Player Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Ransomville NY Posts: 239	People miss the idea of shooting interlaced footage for slowmo. The trick is to deinterlace to 60p (or in your case 50p) so you can have double the frames to play with. After Effects for instance will allow you to do that. - Kyle __________________ Online Portfolio \| Feature Film on XHA1

July 29th, 2007, 12:35 PM	#13
Paul Joy Major Player Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Norfolk, UK Posts: 627	That's exactly what I did here, although I did it the time consuming way! I don't have after effects, if anyone knows of a plugin for FCP or motion that will do the same job I'd be interested in hearing about it. Thanks Paul. __________________ Blog: www.pauljoy.com Company: www.videotrader.co.uk

August 6th, 2007, 12:16 AM	#14
Evan Donn Major Player Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Philadelphia Posts: 795	Nattress has smart-deinterlacing in his film effects package: http://www.nattress.com/Products/fil...ilmeffects.htm It may help with the flickering lines, I believe you can download a demo to give it a try.

August 7th, 2007, 04:18 AM	#15
Shiv Kumar Major Player Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Gainesville, VA, USA Posts: 327	Paul, This is one of the sharpest videos I've seen! I just love the clarity. I don't get this kind of clarity with my camera :(. Care to share the light conditions, expsure etc.?