does anybody know how to do slow motion within final cut pro 4?


Torrey C. Harris

Highlight the clip on the timeline and then go to MODIFY> SPEED. The lower percentage, the slower it will go. Play around with the blend frames to see what works best.

Do a search, there has been plenty of discussion and the principles should be the same regardless of software.

I recently did quite a bit and found the following worked best for me:

1. shoot normal 60i so that you get the most temporal data
2. slow down as desired in FCP, enabling frame blending
3. render and export to a new file
4. deinterlace with either a plug in or separate program

Step 4 is optional of course, depending on whether you like that sort of look...

if i shot the majority of my film in canon's frame mode, and then shot the slowmo sequences in 60i, would it have a consistent look - framewise - to leave the slowed footage interlaced (skip step 4) or to deinterlace with something like AE?

Kind of. Remember it is deinterlacing and giving each field a whole frame to display, so it may look a wee bit goofy compared to normal frame mode. I'd suggest this:

Take your XL1 and shoot 10 seconds of footage with something moving or perhaps a camera pan. Shoot the same thing again in 60i and then slow it down. Do you like what you see? Let us know.

Ted, if you use an adaptive deinterlacing program or plug in the results should actually be very good. These programs don't simply discard a field, but construct 30p frames using an algorithm which treats static and moving parts of the image differently to obtain the best resolution. Do a search here on deinterlacing. On the Mac I'd suggest looking at Joe's Filters and DVfilm Maker.

However I do agree with you that it would be wise to do some comparisons and see what you think. Happily, both of these programs have fully functional free demo versions.

thanks for the replies. i appreciate the help. i will try you idea of testing (nerrr....how simple, the things we overlook) and see what i like better. Boyd, would you be a pal and give an example of an "adaptive deinterlacing program"? i am a bit lost there. is the deinterlace filter in FCP4 adaptive? i assume it is not. and what is the downside to simple applying a slowmo effect to interlaced footage? thanks again, all.

Deinterlaced video has a certain look to it. There has been extensive discussion on this topic around here. See some of the following for starters:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16416
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6275
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3997
http://www.dvinfo.net/articles/filmlook/pappas1.php
http://www.100fps.com/
http://www.100fps.com/
http://www.race.com/dc/video/article.htm