Advice on shooting slow motion sequence using XL2

[Paul Kali]

Hi everyone! This is a great forum. I swear, this is just as good as film school.

Here is what i want to accomplish:

I am shooting a video for a class.
There is a sequence that has a girl walking in slow motion down a hallway. To be more specific, the camera is framed
in front of the girl, and it is moving with the girl as she is walking down a hallway. (This is reminiscent of HK director Wong Kar Wai/Cinematogpher Chris Doyle style, for those who are familiar with their style)

This slow motion sequence should last say 15 seconds. (This is for the purposes of a voice over that approx. lasts 15 seconds)


The tools:
XL2 (24p mode), editing in Sony Vegas 5.0

How to (my understanding)-
Now thru reading as much of this forum as i can. I learned that this sequence should:

1.) BE shoot in 60i with a high shutter speed of 1/120 if possible.

2.) Import this footage into Vegas (it appears as AVI video) . Convert it into a 24p (with 2-3-3-2) AVI file. Place this into
a 24p timeline and then use a velocity envelope . The velocity envelope should then be set to 50% (or perhaps 60%). This should minimize the blurring effect, and also retain as much detail as possible. Some loss in resolution will in evitably be affected.

Now i realize that the quality of this footage, depends heavily on composition of the frame, lighting, etc..

Assuming all the extra variables are satisfactory are the
steps that i have outlined at similar to steps that you would also follow?

Also i am so confused with duration.
Since the final product requires 15 seconds of screen time
Does this mean that the footage shot should be 15 seconds also?

Logic tells me that i can shoot just say 6 seconds of her. THen increase duration of her movement to last 15 seconds. I am sorry, if this question seems trivial, but i really have no idea what to do. Also i am not sure if duration of a clip can be increased in Vegas (Sorry this might be in another forum)

Thank you for your time.

[Barry Green]

Shoot in 24p 2:3:3:2 mode.

Start a new 24P project in Vegas. Make sure "allow pulldown removal" is selected in your preferences.

Import the clip. Right-click and go to "properties", set the playback rate to 40% speed.

Place the clip on the timeline. You'll have perfectly smooth, accurate slow motion.

If you want the shot to last 15 seconds, you'd have to shoot 6 seconds of source footage.

[Rob Lohman]

I would not shoot in 24p mode since that produces a much lesser
look when doing slow motion.

1. shoot in 60i

2. put it on the timeline in your 24p project

3. stretch the movie with the CTRL key out to the desired length

You might want to turn "flicker removal' as well.

Instead of the CTRL + drag thing you can also use a velocity
envelope indeed. 24 fps is 2.5 times as slow as 60i, so that is
the number you should use. 15 seconds of output would require
a movie of 6 seconds in length in this case (as input).

The slowdown should automatically do interlaced -> progressive