Slow motion via DVFilm

[Ainslie Davies]

I am coming into production of a 7min short and a feature length film simultaneously (http://www.inasinglemoment.com) with principal photography starting next Monday. A lot of footage of motifs and montages, rain and sunsets has already been shot and converted with DVFilm maker. However, I was wondering for my 50% slow-mo shots if it would be better to shoot at 1/100th of a second as DVFilm recommends 1/50th for 25p out (I’m using a FX1E at 1080i50). I was also wondering if I should be playing with the image so much on the camera or just saving it for post as I have done a few tests with a modified PP6 with colour at 7+ and cinetone on and though the image looks great (when I open it up a stop more to compensate) it looks less detailed than PictureProfiles off.

That’s a large two part question;
A) Shooting a 1/100th for 50%slow-mo when converted with DVFilm, and,
B) Using the PP's with high saturation creating and inferior quality picture to no PP's/doing it in post.

[Matt Davis]

Originally Posted by Ainslie Davies

B) Using the PP's with high saturation creating an inferior quality picture to no PP's/doing it in post.

I was taught to shoot relatively flat, and do it all in post (I edit my own material), using a codec that can handle a broader range using higher colour resolution than HDV.

Try shooting with the black stretch on, no cine tone (maybe CT1 on special occasions), underexposing by half a stop or so, normal chroma. Pull the mids down in post and you should see chrominance swoop into deep rich levels. Demonstrated this with friends Antarctica footage a coule of days ago: "Oooooh!"

As for 100th at 50i, the theory's bang on if you're using twixtor, retimer, etc. I can't afford it yet, but if I could, that's what was recommended and what I'd do. :)

[Ainslie Davies]

Thanks for that. I would rather do it in post but i've become attached to the PP I created. After thinking about it, I will shoot flat as it's definatly the best way to go. I wouldnt' want my DoP gettting angry that I have re-graded his on camera correction in post! The FX1 does not feature BlackStretch like the Z1, what exactly does it do?

I thought I was correct about the 1/100th thing but if anyone elce has anything to say about it the let me know as it's going throgh DVFilm and will be 25p'd anyway. Any reccomendations on DVFilm 25p before or after the edit as the film will be realease on various formats and thus it would be a shame to limit the resolution before my final film cut....?

__________________
In a Single Moment - everything can change. www.inasinglemoment.com

[Marcus van Bavel]

I would keep the shutter speed at 1/50th.

It's best to get a solid exposure on the camera with and do things in post where you can change your mind if necessary. An especially bad thing to do is shoot underexposed, which some people do as an attempt at film look. It's always better to darken in post if you want it dark, for example.

It is always better quality to process with Maker before editing. If you process after the cut, you will get 1 frame with 1/2 resolution before and after each cut (due to the action of the motion detector) and post-converting slow motion effects is problematic at best. If you pre-process before editing, WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) on film.