-
Slow Motion Music Video Sync
I know this is probably a very common inquiry that’s been talked about time after time, but I might as well talk about my situation just to get the best specific feedback.
I’m looking to synchronize camera and character movement to the rhythm of a song, but in slow motion (obviously). I’m using the Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro (G1) to record the video with an off screen frame rate of 120 fps with a project frame rate of 23.98 fps. The project frame rate in Final Cut will still be 23.98 fps.
In Final Cut, what percentage should I speed the song up to (to listen to in the live performance) for accurate slow motion rhythm alignment back in post when the song is played back regularly?
– Extra Tech Specs –
Codec: Blackmagic RAW, Constant Quality (Q0) – The only reason I’m shooting this way is because BRAW is the only codec that allows for 120 fps. I later export it through DaVinci Resolve into a format and codec Final Cut can process.
Music Sample Rate: 44.1 Khz
-
3 Replies
-
I’ve not done this before but wouldn’t it depend on how slow you want the slow motion? 5 x 23.976 = 119.88 which is pretty close to 120 fps, but a 5x speedup in the live performance playback seems like it would be pretty extreme. My guess would be to decide on a slow-mo speed then figure out what multiple could work in 120.
The first slow-mo music video I remember was The Police’s Wrapped Around Your Finger directed by Godley and Creme. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svWINSRhQU0
They ran everything at 2x speed so finished video was slowed down to half-speed. https://www.thepolicewiki.org/Police_wiki/index.php?title=Wrapped_Around_Your_Finger_(video)-Terry
Some contents or functionalities here are not available due to your cookie preferences!This happens because the functionality/content marked as “Google Youtube” uses cookies that you choosed to keep disabled. In order to view this content or use this functionality, please enable cookies: click here to open your cookie preferences.
-
Looks like there are some useful tips from people who have done this here: https://cinematography.com/index.php?/topic/68759-slow-motion-syncing-in-music-videos/
Definitely a widely used technique in music videos, but it looks like the formula is 120 divided by 23.976, which works out to just over 5x. That’s probably going to be really challenging for the singer.
-
I really do think 120fps is going to be hard unless this is a very slow song.
One note about playback: in the thread I linked to above, the guy who has done this mentioned that playback changes the pitch but that’s easily avoided. Most DAWs will allow you to change playback speed independent of pitch, and even the free audio editor Audacity has this feature. If you’re playing back from a smartphone rather than a laptop, there are apps that can do this as well; the one I use on iOS is called Anytune Pro+, but I’m sure there are others.
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up