filming freeway lights

[Ryan Tate]

how would i go about filming about 2 minutes of cars on a freeway at night so their taillights and headlights are streaming??
would it be a sped up shot? certain shutter speed? please help

[Nate Benson]

I'm assuming you're shooting DV? If so, adjust your shutter and aperature to get the look you want. If you want two minutes of sped up tail/head lights then I would suggest you shoot the free way for about 15-30 minutes. Then in your editing suite speed up accordingly. I shot a highway (unfortunately it wasn't busy enough to get the look exactly right) for about 30 minutes to get a 4 minute time elapse.

Its a trial and error process. I've done some freeway time elapse/ and slow motion with video and 16mm, they're two different processes.

[David W. Jones]

Not sure what camera you are using, but I would hope it has a variable shutter, so you can select a shutter angle of 180º - 210º or better.
You might give Kodak Vision 2 500T a try for night shots.

[Ryan Tate]

thanks a lot
yes im shooting dv
im using a panasonic dvx100a

i dont understand about the 180-210 degrees..could you explain a little what you mean..

thanks again

[David W. Jones]

Originally Posted by Ryan Tate

thanks a lot
yes im shooting dv
im using a panasonic dvx100a

i dont understand about the 180-210 degrees..could you explain a little what you mean..

thanks again

You indicated that you would be filming, so I was giving instruction to shoot film.

In the future if you are really shooting video, you might make that clear up front to avoid confusion!

[Ryan Tate]

Originally Posted by David W. Jones

You indicated that you would be filming, so I was giving instruction to shoot film.

In the future if you are really shooting video, you might make that clear up front to avoid confusion!

sorry. i meant videotaping!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Greg Boston]

Originally Posted by David W. Jones

You indicated that you would be filming, so I was giving instruction to shoot film.

In the future if you are really shooting video, you might make that clear up front to avoid confusion!

Well David, this is Digital Video Information Network after all, so most, including me, assume video. People tend to say 'footage' no matter what media they record on, yet we all know that's a film term carried over. (grin)

@Ryan

You need a slow shutter so that there is lots of motion blur in each frame. Then you'll need to record for at least an hour. After that, load it up in your NLE and speed it up.

-gb-

[Ryan Tate]

Originally Posted by Greg Boston

Well David, this is Digital Video Information Network after all, so most, including me, assume video. People tend to say 'footage' no matter what media they record on, yet we all know that's a film term carried over. (grin)

@Ryan

You need a slow shutter so that there is lots of motion blur in each frame. Then you'll need to record for at least an hour. After that, load it up in your NLE and speed it up.

-gb-

appreciate it thanks alot

david-lighten up, im gonna go FILM with my digital camera

[David W. Jones]

Greg,
Ryan did not say "Footage" he said "Filming"
There are plenty of people here that shoot video,
but are new to shooting film.
I didn't know if that was the case, and he needed advice.

Because in film you want a higher shutter number,
while in video you want a smaller shutter number to get the effect he asked about.

[Greg Boston]

Originally Posted by David W. Jones

Ryan did not say "Footage" he said "Filming"

No he didn't, I did. I used that example to illustrate how some terminology has carried over from the days of when all motion was captured with film.

Anyway, I think Ryan's headed in the right direction now, regardless of terminology.

Also for Ryan:

Shutter angle is a term applied to true film cameras. The standard shutter angle is 180 degrees because each standard 24fps of film is exposed twice using a mechanical shutter that make two complete revolutions for each frame. A 180 degree shutter exposes the film for 180 degrees of each 360 degrees of rotation. Half open, half closed. In video this is equal to an electronic shutter of 1/48 second at 24 frames per second. When the film is projected, it too has a mechanical shutter that shows each frame of film twice. This double flashing has the effect of helping our eyes to perceive smooth motion.

-gb-

[Chris Hurd]

Just a little history lesson about DV Info Net... important for all...

Not long after this forum started, we had a member here once who got a little bent out of shape about the tendency of folks to apply the term "filming" to videotape acquisition. To make a long story short, we acknowledged the fact that definitions and terminology have a tendency to change, and the ruling we handed down was that "filming" was indeed an acceptable way to describe shooting on videotape. The person that raised such an outcry over the use of that word was summarily booted from the community. Anybody harboring a similar hang-up is strongly urged to either reconsider, or seek refuge at some different forum other than DV Info Net.

Besides... in the strictest sense of the term, tape itself *is* a kind of film. Hope this helps,

[Jim Andrada]

You could always do a time lapse sequence with a still camera and generate a video from them, I've seen some of these that look fantastic. Might not be quite the look you're after but they can be really interesting

http://www.granitebaysoftware.com/ga...rcast%20Sunset

[Emre Safak]

Simple: enable motion-blur in your editing application. However, the best way to do this is with an optical-flow retiming plug-in like revisionfx reelsmart motion blur (get a load of the video on their home page).

Best of luck.