I have the HVX 200 & FCP and Im trying to get that great slo mo look.
Help!

Overcranking while shooting is the absolute best way to get slo-mo. For example if you are shooting at 24fps you can overcrank to 60fps. When you play back the 60fps footage at 24fps your footage will be 2.5 times slower than realtime. If you need more info on how to do this with the HVX, I'd be happy to help.

I direct and shoot a lot of music videos in Los Angeles in my free time from my full-time job. I have tried that with shooting 60i? I just feel I loose that film effect. Maybe not no with the Lens adapter. Also once you get it in post is there a good percentage I can slow it down even more? Maybe 20% more or whatnot?
Thanks
Mikey G

WWW.DIGITALMYND.COM

Okay, set up your HVX to shoot in 720p at 24fps. Now, when you want to shoot a slo-mo scene go to: menu>scene file> operation type and make sure it's in "Film Cam" mode. If it's in "Video Cam" mode, you can't access the variable frame rates. Now move down one in the scene file menu to "Frame Rate" and choose 26,30,32,36,48 or 60; depending on how slow you want your slo-mo. While you are overcranking, the image may look video-like in the monitor, but, after the shot you can go into VCR mode and view your clip in all its 24p slo-mo glory! Have fun. Don't forget to set the cam back to 24fps for regular shooting.

I've found that generally with people 40fps (then played back at 24fps) ads a grace to movements of people. It smooths out camera moves and makes things generally look more beautiful. If possible, set the camera's shutter to 180 degrees (or 1/80th at 40fps)

If there is water, wind or heavy action involved, 60fps (played back at 24fps) is better. It will stop hair blowing in the wind and make it look magical.

Sometimes if things just look too "reality", but I don't want a fairytale effect, I'll choose 30fps (played back at 24fps). It smoothes motion a bit, but the footage isn't deliberately "slow motion" feeling.

If your camera can't do frame rates, you can shoot at 60i (standard HDV or NTSC) then use Apple's Cinema Tools or After Effects to re-conform the footage to 24fps (23.976 in the USA) This many need a deinterlace filter, or perhaps a downsample if you wish to have the best quality, but it works.

I should add that a 180 degree shutter is key to making footage cinematic. This means you set the camera shutter to half frame rate. For example, 24fps gets a 1/48th sec shutter. Don't open the shutter up all the way (or turn it off). This will give the camera more light, but the look of the footage will not look like a good film transfer. It will just look like slow video.

Post edited by: thomasarts, at: 2008/08/24 22:15