Canon XL2 shutter settings
 

Hi everyone. I've been playing around and need some help. I've still been having problems with shooting video and slowing it down to probably 45-50% (shooting in 60i/16:9 in Manual mode). When I slow it down in post FCPHD it looks very I don't know, gives me a headache looking at it even with de-interlacing the video (more like strobe effect). What I'm trying to achieve is to see what are my settings and to get nice smooth shots w/o little or none post plugins etc.

Thanks everyone!

Not possible... you need plug-ins and After Effects to get video slower than about 50% without it getting jumpy. Many people use AE and the plug-in Twixtor with great results but just reducing the speed? That wont work...




ash =o)

Sorry, Mike... It can't be done. The reason is because any slowing down done in post is achieved by adding copied frames in between the frames you actually recorded. This is what gives it the 'strobing' effect you describe. There are several packages out there that smooth this out, Twixtor being the one that I use.

Unfortunately, unlike with film cameras, there is no video camera (currently anyway) that is able to record at faster than 30fps... Which is what would be needed in order to achieve slow motion without a post-production solution.

Regards,

~J

If you want there are high speed video cameras (very expencive.) Rental comes to mind. ;-)

There is a less expensive alternative to Twixtor and that is Gooder Videos SlowMotion.
At $27 or $99 USD for two additional applications (I bought the package) it is less than Twixtor alone.
I have not used the two side by side however I have been satisfied with SolwMotions results.
http://www.goodervideo.com/

Bill

Actually there are some video cameras that will do 'overcrank' as it is called. The Panasonic HVX200, the Sony PDW-F350 are the first two that come to mind.

With the F350, you can record at 60fps and it will be played back at 24fps which makes a nice slo-motion. Same with the HVX200. All done in camera for you.

-gb-

Didn't know that... cool. Although even 60fps isn't as versitile as the equivelant cameras using film. A little over half-speed is OK for some things, but don't expect to be getting those big glorious explosions filmed at 200fps (or higher) that just envelop the screen in slow-mo via a video camera any time soon... At least without a software solution. :-)

When you also consider that the PDW-F350 retails for $25k, and the HVX retails for $6k, it seems as though the $600 for Twixtor is a bit of a bargain by comparison... Unless you've bought one of those cameras for a reason over and above their over/under cranking capabilities.

Thanks!

~J

Shoot 60i with shutter @ 60. This will yield the best footage for whatever post processing you decide upon. I've seen some pretty nice slo-mo at this setting. Good Luck, Jason.

What about plugins?
 

I purchased come plugins to FCP from CHV. One of which is a timing plugin that, supposedly, can create a slow mo effect. Anyone try this? Can a plugin achieve a quality effect?

David

Hey David,

Im not familar with that plugin u mentioned however I agree with Ash Twixtor is such an AMAZING PLUG IN... I didn't buy but a friend of mine has it and you can do some really really cool stuff with that in terms of slow down the speed.... here's an ex: http://www.revisionfx.com/rstwixtor/YDKM-10M.mpg I believe this is an australian band, point being is, this video is shot all in 1 take and just played with the speed to achieve something that looks very nice.

All the best,
Joey Dee

Twixtor
 

So.. its an FCP plugin? Does it require any other post processing or can you apply it to a clip straightaway?

Thanks,

David

Yes, you can use Twixtor in FCP. I am an AE user, and can apply it to clips immediately upon import, so my natural assumption is that there would also be no additional post processing necessary in FCP.

Regards,

~J

Thanks guys...i'm going to looking into that. I'll let you all know what my findings will be...but that's a very nice demo, very cool!

YES. YES you can do slow motion on most DV cameras although most people dont think about it. Unfortunatly it will involve adding effects in post, but not that much. If you film 60i you can, in post, turn it into 60p then put that into a 24p timeline and it comes out as 40% slow motion. This is somewhere else on this site but I'm not sure where so I will tell you the basic way of doing it in After Effects 7 pro. The idea is that you take each interlaced half frame and turning it into a full 480 frame by interpolating the lines you arnt using. What you do is in after effects creat a 24 (23.976) timeline with whatever resolution you are shooting in. If you use square pixels then it will be 864X480 for widescreen and 648X480 for fullscreen. Add the clip shot in 60i then right click on it and go to "interpret footage" then "main". Under fields and pulldown selects lower field first. Then time strech the clip to 250% and it will come out in slow motion. Even though this might sound like alot it is very very easy to do and will give you better results then shooting 30p and interpolating the frames between it. Enjoy.