Shoot in slow shutter speed or reduce frame rate in edit?

[Lloyd Coleman]

It seems you are talking about 3 seperate things.
1. Slower – the action will be real time with any frame rate or shutter speed if played back at the same rate it was shot. If you want it slower you must slow the footage down in edit or shoot it faster and play it at regular speed (not available with most prosumer cams).

2. Blurred – Generally motion blur is produced by reducing the shutter speed at any frame rate. You can be shooting at 24 frames/sec, but if you shutter is 1/1000 each frame will be crisp with no motion blur.

3. The choppy effect can be a result of the frame rate. At slower frame rates the subject has more time to move between frames. If you are shooting at a fast frame rate there is little movement between frames and when viewed as a video the motion looks smooth. If the frame rate is slower, the subject moves more between each frame and there are fewer of them per second. This can look choppy.

The choppy look and the blurred look can work against each other. If you shoot at a higher shutter speed it will increase the choppy look because each frame is frozen and you notice how much movement has taken place between frames, but you will reduce the blurred effect. If you shoot at a slower shutter speed you will increase the motion blur, but because the motion is smeared, each frame will appear to blend together. You will have to play with differnt setting to get the look you want. Of course proper exposure is also part of the equation so depending on the amount of light you have it may limit some of your choices.