Slow motion in fcpx for music video

[Oliver Peters]

Shoot with a camera that can record at 120fps like an Alexa. Edit at 24fps, which means the slomo will be very slow. Speed up if you need to get close to real-time. 5X = “normal” speed. Use Twixtor is you need to go slower than 120fps.

An example:
https://vimeo.com/38198408

– Oliver

Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com

[Jim Kehoe]

Olivia!

Great video! So you’re saying shoot the entire music video at 720 120fps? What would the timeline settings be? 1080 24fps? Since I’d export for 1080p right? Let me know if I understand this correctly. Again I’m going for a cinema look but using some slo-mo in clips. Thank you!

[Oliver Peters]

Thanks.

Shooting specs depend on the camera you have available. This video was shot with an Alexa shooting 1080p/120fps. The camera “timebase” is set to 23.98fps, which means that clips played in FCP X (or QT for that matter) will play in slomo, based on a “normal” speed of 23.98 (24p). If you have a camera that can only operate at 720p at such a high recording rate, then your timeline might be 1280×720. It can be 1920×1080, if you are OK with scaling the image larger to fit the 1080 raster.

The important part is that the camera electronics can set a record rate versus a timebase. If your camera doesn’t do that, you’ll have to conform the video to 23.98 using Cinema Tools or using a slomo speed in FCP X. If you conform in CT, the app is simply changing the file header info to tell apps to play this file at 23.98 instead of the recorded rate of 30, 60 or 120fps. This is a common need when you use an HDSLR like a Canon 7D, which can shoot 720p/60, but you want it to be slomo in a 23.98 sequence.

If you are mixing “normal” (23.98) and “overcranked” (120fps) clips, how you record it will depend on how many things need to have a very fluid slomo look. If you have a lot of slomo shots or do not know which are going to be played in real-time versus slomo, then one option is to shoot everything overcranked and speed up some clips to play normal speed. Part of this choice will be how much lipsync you have. A 5X speed-up of 120fps will maintain lipsync on a 23.98 timeline.

– Oliver

Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com

[Jim Kehoe]

Hey Oliver!

I am using a GoPro 3 Black Edition

[Oliver Peters]

[Jim Kehoe] “I am using a GoPro 3 Black Edition”

Too bad. A good camera for stunts, but not great for standard video, especially if you want a filmic look. Lens choices, intraframe motion blur, highlight handling and compression are all less than ideal. Good luck.

– Oliver

Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com

[Jeff Kirkland]

Unless of course you’re just up for a challenge or specifically want that GoPro look 🙂

Jeff Kirkland | Video Producer | Southern Creative Media | Melbourne Australia
http://www.southerncreative.com.au | G+: https://gplus.to/jeffkirkland | Twitter: @jeffkirkland

[Jim Kehoe]

Hey Jeff, I’d say up for the challenge 🙂 i am still deciding whether to cut in 24fps or 60fps, i really like the cleanliness of 60fps, but still want that minor film look for the slo mo shots..

[Jeff Kirkland]

For me it’s an easy choice – I pretty much always want the film look, and so do my clients. There’s one or two exceptions but not many these days. At the end of the day with the Hero3 you don’t have that much control so you take what you cam get 🙂

If you think you want slow motion but haven’t been able to do enough pre-production/storyboarding to know exactly which shots, I’d shoot it all 60fps or faster and cut it on a 24p timeline. You can conform the 60pp footage after the fact and you’ll always get a better result than using FCPX’s retiming tool/optical flow/whatever on 24p footage.

Jeff Kirkland | Video Producer | Southern Creative Media | Melbourne Australia
http://www.southerncreative.com.au | G+: https://gplus.to/jeffkirkland | Twitter: @jeffkirkland

[Oliver Peters]

[Jim Kehoe] ” i am still deciding whether to cut in 24fps or 60fps,”

If you want it to look filmic, then there is no other option than 24 or 25fps. 60fps will look like video.

– Oliver

Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com

[Jim Kehoe]

Yea.. i hearya Oliver, and not to sound like a broken record (just trying to understand this…) if i want slow motion, i set up a project in FCPX to 1080p 24fps, then shoot the footage at 24fps, and then shoot separete clips for slow motion at 60fps, drag that into the timeline, click “conform” (right?) and then…? Thanks for putting up with my questions 🙂 i guess i wont be able to do slow motion on a part of a clip that is shot at 24fps, i’ll have to plan it out separately with the 60fps footage, right?

Thanks a lot Oliver!