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Creating an Interlaced look
Show I will be onlining in FCP in the not-so-distant future feature a show-within-the-show. The in show program is a current affairs show, and with this in mind the director wants to make the footage from that show look interlaced, not the 25p that we are shooting with.
The show will be 1080/25PsF (so 25p over 50i). We’re shooting on Varicam (which does hardware upres for 25fps HD playback).
I don’t want to add scanlines, but instead actually somehow emulate the feel of interlaced video from a progressive source.
On thing I’ve considered, is to shoot at 50fps, take the 50p footage in and speed it up to 25fps with an interpolated motion effect. But this seems likely to cause pain.
Any other ideas on how to squeeze blood from this stone?
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10 Replies
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So your edit sequence will be 1080 50i. If so then why not shoot the current affairs material on HDV @ 50i. I am sure you can pick up a Sony Z1 really cheap these days.
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Production is already shooting with 2 Varicams – they don’t want to learn a new workflow.
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[Sycophant] “Production is already shooting with 2 Varicams – they don’t want to learn a new workflow.
“That’s the wrong answer! They’re dooming you to hours of work trying to establish a look. I’m sure the production manager (if there is one) would be interested in knowing how much time can be saved in post by making a simple change in camera/settings on the set.
You should be more assertive with your production team. May I suggest a whack upside the head? Really!
mark
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[mark Raudonis] “I’m sure the production manager (if there is one) would be interested in knowing how much time can be saved in post by making a simple change in camera/settings on the set.”
I doubt that the production manager cares very much what happens to the footage in post. That’s why they’re the production managed & not the post supervisor. 😉
[mark Raudonis] “You should be more assertive with your production team. May I suggest a whack upside the head?”
I’d be more inclined to bill them by the hour. Hitting their pocket books will hurt them more than hitting their heads!
Arnie
Now in post: Peristroika, a film by Slava Tsukerman
https://www.arniepix.com/blog -
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[Sycophant] “Production is already shooting with 2 Varicams – they don’t want to learn a new workflow.”
Simple politic is to make sure the director thinks its his idea to shoot with an interlaced lower tech camera. Then you tell the producer how much it will cost to try and make a Varicam look like a cheap HDV. They won’t thank you but you might get a good nights sleep out of it.
You can alway capture it in via HD SDI with either the Canon camera or the Sony HDR 1500,so from a workflow point it shouldn’t cause grief either.
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I agree with everybody. Is a nonsense workflow. Shoot progresive and recreate the interlacing after. But if you have to do it, Jeremy pointed the solution.
RafaelPPC G5 2x2Gh 4GbRAM/BlackMagic SD/PMBP 17″Core2Duo 4GbRAM
JVC DTV-17″/FCS2/AE CS3/COMBUSTION/SHAKE -
[rafalaos] “I agree with everybody. Is a nonsense workflow. Shoot progresive and recreate the interlacing after.”
Not too long ago I was watching something on the boob tube. Within that Hd program, obviously shot progressive, was a commercial that was a dream sequence of one of the characters. The commercial looked like an old tv commercial form the late 70s early 80s and had a very interlaced look to it. I thought it was a brilliant decision as it instantly took you out of the program into this characters dream and to a time that has long since passed. You could tell that the interlacing was an after thought and the sequence was shot progressive.
Sychphant, I think your people are making a wise decision. The fields kit plug in is cheap and there’ll be no penalty in giving it a shot. There will be a penalty, however, by shooting something on HDV when you are used to shooting with a Varicam.
It’s much easier to make clean footage look bad than to make bad footage look good. If all else fails, at least you will have nice clean varicam footage at your finger tips and then you can play with the color correction to make the audience feel as if they were in a different environment.
Fields Kit also has a downloadable demo that you can try out for free. It just renders with a watermark.
Jeremy
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It’s much easier to make clean footage look bad than to make bad footage look good. If all else fails, at least you will have nice clean varicam footage at your finger tips and then you can play with the color correction to make the audience feel as if they were in a different environment.
That is exactly my thinking. I am very hesitant to introduce mixed formats when this ‘look’ is still in the director’s head. If we shoot 1080i50 on the Z1 or something similar (or on SD and upconvert as has also been considered) and find we don’t like the look, we’re pretty much stuck. Which is why I need a post solution.
The budget is already stretched and hiring different cameras, or having to reshoot in the event that the outcome isn’t what we hoped would be pretty much impossible.
I’ll take a good look at the reinterlacer next week.
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That’s right. If you are looking for that look can be the best way.
I thought the workflow was not a good idea, but just from my own way to work.I film only real life and I’ve been archiving everything I shoot since 4 years ago. I try to get the best images I can on shooting because as you say “It’s much easier to make clean footage look bad than to make bad footage look good”.
And you know Jeremy that in the middle of the filming somebody will say: “And if instead of that interlaced look we…”:-)
RafaelPPC G5 2x2Gh 4GbRAM/BlackMagic SD/PMBP 17″Core2Duo 4GbRAM
JVC DTV-17″/FCS2/AE CS3/COMBUSTION/SHAKE
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