Effects from the movie 300.
 

I know some of you guys have seen the hit movie 300. I loved how the effects were set up. Someone made a video implementing the slow-motion and fight effect. Here is the video:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=AAUIrk6RgP4

Here is another video:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=GLuVPfzwREA

The guys haven't made a tutorial. Does anyone know how recreate the style step by step?

By the way, I have Sony Vegas 7, Adobe Premiere Pro 2, and After effects.

Thanks in advance...

These are just speed ramps done in AE. Check out the video tutorial titled "300-like Speed Ramps & More!" at www.videocopilot.net

While you can do it in AE pretty well, I think for the movie they used three cameras strapped together all running at different framerates and focal lengths. They made the cuts invisible with some CG.

I remember reading this somewhere...

I didn't mean to imply that the the effects in the movie were done in AE, just that I think the youtube videos he linked were.

Has anyone done the 300 effects just using vegas? If so, would you mind sharing? I'm working on some highlight vids for football and would love to use the effect. Been toying with it but not having much luck.

i dont use vegas but i would imagine that you could do alot of speed changes such as speeding up and slowing down the speed dynamically and drastically in a very short ammount of time to create this effect.

You will need a compositing program, I'd think, to get reasonable results.
If you slow footage down without a good interpolation algorithm, the results will just be choppy, not smooth like in the film.
AE has a built in algorithm that should do a good job (since v. 7) and there are plugins as well.
Not as easy as just using a slider.

I don't know about Vegas specifically but I don't think it would have such an algorithm. I could be wrong.

Final Cut Pro doesn't. I'd assume Vegas would be the same.

The best you can get with FCP or any program that doesn't have such an algorithm is frame blending which tries to smooth the motion by blending the frames before and after in the right ratio but it just ends up looking jittery/blurred.

Taken from the expanded description of the youtube video (in the box to the right)

'started out in Sony Vegas, set up a velocity envelope and rode it up during punch movements/spins and down during finishes. As you do this, the clip must be extended (since time is changing). Once all the velocities were right I bounced it down and moved to Adobe After Effects.

In AE, I started by setting up that crushed look utilizing several Level and Exposure adjustments (using curves really helps you get this fine tuned). Using a masked layer solid you can keep the edges of the film dark so you focus on the center.

Once the color feel was right, I key framed the camera to zoom in during punch movements and spins. In the movie, the effect alternated in and out for each person getting shanked/shielded/generally owned on. (motion blur makes this pretty too).

Finally, I took a picture of a rusty piece of metal and crushed the blacks so I could alpha blend in the grunge. I also animated how the grunge moves during the zoomed in parts (kinda like how the blood splattered in the movie).

and... I think thats it. Thanks for watchin! =]'

I think what may be going on (just guessing) is recording in 60i, de-interlacing and showing the now 60p frames at 24p (going for a smooth slow-motion)

300 was shot with three cameras (as noted) all running at different focal lengths, and all running at 120fps. From there, they were taken into a time-line, and speed ramped between 24fps and back to 120fps, and morphed between the three cameras for the effect.

AE in CS3 has a new Time-Stretch feature with improved frame blending that's pretty impressive (and long render times. Xeon class duo or quad processor, 4gb of RAM min).

If you've got the time/gear and wanted to do this, I'd shoot with a two (not 3, just two set to different focal lengths) HVX's cranked to 60p, or shoot 60i on other cameras (blend it to 60p in AE), then double that to 120 using the AE feature listed above giving you 120fps. Then on the time-line place one on top of the other, and have the time-line run at 24fps and try speed ramping each video track to see how it looks. Morph blending the two video tracks is a plug-in or technique I am not familiar with. But it looks like in these You Tube clips they simply scaled the frame they have quickly. You could try to do that on your "wide" angle track, and/or cut/fast dissolve on the end of the zoom to the video track with the tele angle track.

I should have mentioned that the Sony V1u can overcrank to 120fps and 240fps (in short bursts, at low-res - near SD quality). If you could get two of these cameras, you could have some fun trying this technique.