Fun with Motion!
 

I shot this with a couple after there wedding. We had some extra time and thought it would be cool to put together a little extra edit.

It was shot on the XH-A1 in 24p. I've been using this slow-mo plugin called Twixor and it has some really cool effects. Check it out and let me know what you think -

http://www.joesimonproductions.com/m...capitolweb.mov

Very nice work! Tell us some production details.

Howdy, Neighbor. That was fantastic. I really enjoyed their wedding trailor as well. They must be thrilled with your work.

Keep posting your stuff -- it's great.

Bit that got me was the camera flash in the back of the car. You can almost see the flash rise and fall. You keep slipping really nice stuff in under the radar. The encoding quality was also seriously nice.

What was the music, please!

Very nice!

really great stuff, and fantastic encoding! oh, and do u mind sharing that song with us at all?

maybe you or someone else could answer something about Twixtor for me, as i've been looking at getting this for some time now (mainly for music video purposes):

- render times, good or bad?
- comparable to Premiere Pro CS3 advanced time-remapping??

cheers

Outstanding Joe! You are a credit to Texas artists.

-gb-

Joe - great stuff! I'm a big fan of your work and have always been impressed with the encoding quality of your samples. Can you share any details?

Art

Where can i get twixor? I can't seem to find a place to get it online...

thanks
jeremiah

The correct spelling is Twixtor - here's the link

http://www.revisionfx.com/products/twixtor/

Excellent work! I love all the speed changes throughout - very smooth.

Thanks for the compliments! I had a great time making this piece.

Like I said it was shot on the XH-A1. I did however shoot the time-lapse's with the HVX-200. The moving shots were done with the Glide-Cam 2000 with some added weights.

I do all my editing in FCP so I'm not sure how Twixtor would compare to CS3's time-remap. But the render time is quite long, usually 2-5 min per clip. But once you get the hang of it you pretty much know what its going to do with the different settings.

The song is called "Edge of the Ocean" by Ivy

For encoding I use Compressor in FCP with the H.264 codec. I usually set my bitrate around 1600 and that does the trick. Nothing else special then that.

Thanks for checking it out!

Joe, are you using the pro version of twixtor, or just the vanilla?

I'm not using the pro version just the normal 4.5 version.

is it twixtor that is giving you those really smooth slow mos with 24p...or is FCP just better at slowing 24p down than my Vegas? If its a setting in twixtor that helps give 24p slowmo that smooth feel....then i'm in!

jeremiah

It's Twixtor. The way Twixtor interprets motion and interpolates frames gives it the better slow motion. Vegas is decent but you go too far and it can't handle it. I like Vegas, it's what I use to edit, but you want this clean of slo-mo Twixtor's the best plugin I've used. I use it in After Effects.

hi joe

Fantastic......

Im quite new to the business and have a sony Z1, just wondering how you get that beutiful soft look to the picture?
Did you use any filters or is it just the way your camera was set up for the day of did you use anything special in post?

Niall I use some blurring filters as well as color correction filters that allow me to customize the look I'm going for. I also shoot in 24p which gives the image a nice "filmic" feel.

Hey Joe - what shutter speed do you typically use on the A1 for shots you plan to slow-mo? Do find that setting shutter to multiples of the frame rate ( i.e. 48 for 24p) works best or if you have plenty of light, set the shutter as high as you can afford?

Art

I mostly shoot at 48 shutter speed. I have shot as high as 120 but more then that the footage get really choppy, like a war movie look. But as far as slow-mo everything is this clip was shot at 48.

Great footage, I like it that its nice and clean.

Have you had any issues with Twixtor doing funny stuff to progressive footage, sort of like weird warping to parts of the image?

I've been using the Avid fluid motion and it does it very nice slowmos with progressive footage but it can do some strange stuff so its not very reliable.

Peter, Twixtor does not work perfectly for slowing down everything. There can be some warping on certain types of shots. From my experience when you have a shot with windows in the background or lots of moving objects like pedals you will have a hard time slowing it down. In these instances it can causes warping.

But for the most part it has been an amazing addition to my editing collection.

Thanks for sharing Joe.

I find a clip like this really needs some good stills from a photographer to really hold your attention all the way through. It doesn't have the same kind of emotional appeal as events on the wedding day so the slower pace paired with a storyline that is all video makes it a little long for my tastes.

Your footage looks really clean and sharp for more of a standard color palette. Doing some secondary grading to the clis would have given it a lot more life, in my opinion, but it certainly will alos eat up a lot more time.

There seemed to be quite the variance between your glidecam shots with some of them being really smooth and others being noticeably shaky. Perhaps some were hand held moves? The vignette you used also seemd very digital as you can see the gradient in it as it fades out. I have been looking for a good vignette that is mac based but it is tough to find one you can use that heavily.

As far as what twixtor can do- looks great! Thanks again for sharing.

Patrick

Time
 

Amazing

Quick Question

From beginning to end how long did it take to shoot this segment?

I have been wanting to expand a bit and push myself to the point of approaching this sort of production value, but I for the life of me have no idea how to go from where i am now to this.

I'm using the same camera and shooting a lot but i clearly have a long way to go.

I will take suggestions from anybody on how to get from this...
(my work)
www.mainstreetav.com then "Demo Reel" then "American Village" or "photo Shoot"
(sorry no direct links)

to something like Joe's

BTW i know yall don't know me from Adam's house cat. First post but I've been reading for quite some time

Thanks
John Deaver
Birmingham, Alabama

Patrick, thanks for the comments. The couple really loved the photo shoot montage so I think it really worked out well. It would have been nice to incorporate some photos in but I wasn't able to get a hold of them in time.

I would liked to have done more grading but I'm still learning that skill which is an art form in itself. It seems you do great color work what program are you using?

The glide cam I'm using is a 2000 pro handheld which isn't really the best for this weight of camera. I do use "steady cam" in FCP to help smooth out some of the shots and also when you do slowmo it helps out a ton. Thats why some are smoother then others. Sometimes the "steady cam" plugin will have to zoom in too much(over 105%) so I can't use it. I really want to get a vest set up like the pilot that would be amazing!

Anyways thanks for checking it out.

-Joe

John, This was shot in 2 hours time. The editing took about a day.

I've been shooting for about 10 years and I still have a lot to learn. The best advice I would give you is practice shooting constantly. Get some books on cinematography and lighting. Also taking some class would be helpful too.

Best of luck to you!

-Joe

I cant imagine a Bride actually giving me 2 hours to let me shoot such a thing.

I'm lucky to get them to turn my way during the photo sessions.

Of course a good looking B&G + a great location goes a long way to making everything look better, I was most impressed with the color saturation your using and the smotheness of the glidecam work.

I have a Glidecam 2000 and the XH-a1 is nearly too heavy to do any kind of long shots with it. In order for it to work you pretty much have to have you fist out right and hold the handle perpendicular to the floor. I'n a guy of average size but this thing gets heavy quick.
I was thinking of using a sling shot style forearm brace but i don't know if that would help without impeding my ability to float

I assume you used existing lighting on all the wide shots in this clip, did you supplement with any lights for close ups?

I'm also new to FCP and the filters it offers.

Do you apply the smooth cam before or after the slow motion effects?

Thanks Joe

Hey Joe,

How are you delivering Bluray? What burner and what application?

BTW, your work is great. I enjoyed this clip as well as the trailer. If I can offer a suggestion though, you may want to study up on typography and graphic design a little as the titling at the end just didn't seem to fit the level of the video. Please don't take offense as I am just trying to offer up something that I believe will help you make a better product. :)

Thanks,
Scott

Hi Joe,

once again, fantastic clip...I was wondering if i could be nosey and ask you about your encoding details

i'm striving to get the best flv settings in time for when i deliver my new web demo, then all of a sudden i see some great .movs - so crisp and stunning!

i suppose it helps that the original footage is HD!

Joe, I love the selective bluring in your flemingtrailerHD demo. Are the blur filters standard AE or some plug-in? I use the Matrox RT for editing and they have some soft focus/blur/glow filters but they apply across the entire image. I love your flemingtrailerHD.mov demo so much that I have it on my desktop to play when I need inspiration.

Steve

John - The glidecam 2000 does get heavy quick, I've been using it for so long that I gotten used to it. Although its not as smooth as I wish it could be. I've haven't tried the forearm brace so I'm not sure how it would do

With the smooth-cam filter I apply it before the slow motion. But doing slow-mo and smooth cam together can make the clip do funny things. I usually do the smooth-cam and then export the clip out in ProRes then bring it back in for the slow-mo.


Scott - I'm using Encore and the FastMac burner to make the Blu-ray disc's.

Graphic design has never been my strong point, I'm always striving to make it better. No offense taken, thats what this forum is for. Its hard to try and master even one type of art let alone 5 or 6 haha. Thanks though I need to try and find some good books on that.


Richard - I export out of Compressor using QuickTime H.264 at 1700kbits. Set it for streaming. That will do the trick!


Steve - Thanks for the compliments. It's and honor to see people inspired by my work. The blur filters I use come from the CGM DVE Vol.2+ series. It is actually a mask filter inverted. You can find it here - www.cgm-online.com

Sorry...double post in error.

"Richard - I export out of Compressor using QuickTime H.264 at 1700kbits. Set it for streaming. That will do the trick!"



Wow, thats a seriously high data rate. What frame size is that at?

Do you not get complaints about slow streaming or, have you got some kind of dedicated hosting/server?

Frame size is 640x360. It streams great. My host is quite fast and I've never had a problem......Even something like this -

http://www.joesimonproductions.com/c...eceremony.html

This is 109 mb and it will play right away. I've never had any complaints. Of course this is not meant for dial-up.

qUESTIONS ABOUT twixtor
 

Joe very very nice well done beautiful quality - HD i take it?
...how did u get to grips with the plug-in - im using it in FCP 6...was it a long learning curve?
Have you seen the demo film with the rock band on there site? Amazing use of the plug-in!

Yes it's HD, Shot with the Canon XHA1

The plug-in is tough at first, but the more you work with it the more you know what its going to do. A little trick you can do is use the speed control in FCP take it to like 40% and see where it takes you then when you have a good speed to fit your section then use the Twixtor one.

I did see the video of the band! It's crazy, must have taken them weeks.

Hey Joe,

Love the quality of the footage in this clip. Keeps me dreaming of the day when I'll get an A1 of my own.

Gorgeous location as well - and cool time remapping.

I agree with Patrick, some colour grading would really take this clip to the next level.

I really enjoyed watching it - thanks for posting!

Cheers,

Matthew.

Very Nice Joe! Question.. do you shoot by yourself and constantly have to remove the camera off the glidecam and put it back on?

Hey Joe great stuff.
Just had a few questions. What transition do you use for the quick burn to white dissolves? I hope you know what I mean. I know there are different transition packs out there. I really liked the one you are using.

Also, in the Marisa and Vince video, did you shoot with super8 film? or was that footage manipulated in post? If you did that in post... WOW. can you share with us how?

Yang - I always shoot with one other person. I have a quick-release set up on the glidecam so I can pull it off quickly and mount it on the mono-pod.

Oscar - The "flash frame" burn comes stock with FCP. I really like the way it looks. In the Marisa & Vince shoot we used super 8 film. I wish I could replicate super 8 that good in post, but as of yet no luck.

Thanks for the comments guys! FYI this piece did go through CC with magic bullet I just probably needed to push it a little harder. I've been working on some new stuff pushing my CC skills, hopefully I will post something soon.