How would you shoot a music video undercranked "fast motion" at DVinfo.net

Taylor Brush · April 17th, 2008, 04:36 PM

Tim,
I was really interested in your process for shooting and syncing a music video in slo-mo. I was wondering if there was a way to reverse this and shoot something in fast motion that was run at regular speed and synced. Do you think this could be done? Anyone else feel free to chime in, also.

Thanks.

Tim Dashwood · April 18th, 2008, 04:00 PM

Hi Taylor and thanks for the interesting question. I think it might be worth me doing a tutorial on this because someone asked me that exact thing at the FCPUG Supermeet the other night.

The theory and application would be almost exactly the same. You would prep the sound file the same way as in the previous tutorial except instead of speeding it up to 250% of its original speed you would slow it down.
The only thing is that the ProHD cameras can't run at a frame rate slower than 24fps. That's OK though because speeding up your footage and dropping frames is super-easy in any NLE.

Let's for example say you wanted to undercrank at an equivalent of 12fps in a film camera. When you prep the playback file set its speed to 50%. This will give you a half speed playback. Your singer will start sounding like Darth Vader, but you can use the pitch filter to digitally pitch him/her back up.
Export that file to your ipod and you are ready to shoot.

I would recommend shooting at the final frame rate you intend to use for your output master. If it is PAL then use 25P, if it is NTSC 24P then shoot in 24P, NTSC 30P shoot in 30P, etc.

When you import the clips into your NLE you will set their speed to 200% and start editing. Everything should sync up perfectly.

If you want to give the footage an even more authentic undercranked look you should set your shutter speed to half of what you would normally use to extend the motion blur. For example, if you normally shoot on 1/50th shutter at 25P, then switch to 1/25th for the 12fps undercrank look, or 1/12th for the 6fps undercrank look.

I'll go through my archive to find a clip from a music video I did in the 90's using this exact technique. It was shot on a Bolex I think.

April 18th, 2008, 04:00 PM	#2
Tim Dashwood Wrangler Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Toronto, ON, Canada Posts: 3,637	Hi Taylor and thanks for the interesting question. I think it might be worth me doing a tutorial on this because someone asked me that exact thing at the FCPUG Supermeet the other night. The theory and application would be almost exactly the same. You would prep the sound file the same way as in the previous tutorial except instead of speeding it up to 250% of its original speed you would slow it down. The only thing is that the ProHD cameras can't run at a frame rate slower than 24fps. That's OK though because speeding up your footage and dropping frames is super-easy in any NLE. Let's for example say you wanted to undercrank at an equivalent of 12fps in a film camera. When you prep the playback file set its speed to 50%. This will give you a half speed playback. Your singer will start sounding like Darth Vader, but you can use the pitch filter to digitally pitch him/her back up. Export that file to your ipod and you are ready to shoot. I would recommend shooting at the final frame rate you intend to use for your output master. If it is PAL then use 25P, if it is NTSC 24P then shoot in 24P, NTSC 30P shoot in 30P, etc. When you import the clips into your NLE you will set their speed to 200% and start editing. Everything should sync up perfectly. If you want to give the footage an even more authentic undercranked look you should set your shutter speed to half of what you would normally use to extend the motion blur. For example, if you normally shoot on 1/50th shutter at 25P, then switch to 1/25th for the 12fps undercrank look, or 1/12th for the 6fps undercrank look. I'll go through my archive to find a clip from a music video I did in the 90's using this exact technique. It was shot on a Bolex I think. __________________ Tim Dashwood

April 17th, 2008, 04:36 PM	#1
Taylor Brush Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Jurbise, Belgium Posts: 29	Tim, I was really interested in your process for shooting and syncing a music video in slo-mo. I was wondering if there was a way to reverse this and shoot something in fast motion that was run at regular speed and synced. Do you think this could be done? Anyone else feel free to chime in, also. Thanks.