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What are Folks Doing Who Need to Shoot In Very Slow Motion ?
Hi Everyone. I couldn’t find anything about this in my search, so I’m posting. Seems like the only prosumer cameras that shoot 1080p 240fps or higher all only output to H264. My understanding is that heavily compressed video, like Mp4, is no good for production, for editing or for archiving. So what are productions doing? Is there a work-around or do you just have to accept that slow motion is going to not last long and be poor quality unless you shoot with very expensive cameras?
Many thanks!
Tim G
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2 Replies
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For individuals who need to shoot in very slow motion, such as filmmakers or researchers, there are several techniques to follow:
1. Specialized high-speed cameras are designed to capture footage at extremely high frame rates, enabling slow-motion playback. These cameras can record at thousands or even tens of thousands of fps, far exceeding the standard 24-60 fps of regular video cameras.
2. Some consumer-grade cameras, including smartphones and action cameras, offer built-in slow-motion modes.
3. Even if the camera used doesn’t have a dedicated slow-motion mode, it’s often possible to achieve slow-motion effects during the post-processing stage. Video editing software, such as Adobe Premiere Pro or Final Cut Pro, allows users to slow down the playback speed of their footage by reducing the number of frames played per second.
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To it’s most simple core all “Slow Motion” is, is boiled down to this: opposite film speed. It’s cranking the frame rate faster to get slower reactions in 24fps screened but to get that effect you must use frame rates higher than 24 fps such as 120-360+. Picture this, you want a shot with pyrotechnics involved, ok? So you CRANK, whether by hand or digitally, the camera fast to a certain count or rate such as a very high count (extreme slow motion effect) of 1,000 fps. That will give the illusion that the blast looks as though it was T.N.T., huge explosion, ok? But in reality, the actual effect was less than a second to 3 seconds in length only. Now, if the DP didn’t over-crank, that’s what we call the technique in the business, if he didn’t OVER-CRANK the footage, then it would appear fake or toy-like onscreen or given the illusion of UNDER-CRANKING which is the opposite, appearing faster onscreen (example: 28 DAYS LATER, WALKING DEAD, or when DP’s shoot for speeding vehicles effect but vehicle is only going 40mph giving the illusion 3 times faster like 120mph). Now do you understand? I put it in simple terms for you just as I do when I’m consulting people on Proof Of Concept Short Films. I’m also a Special Photographic Effects Consultant in Jersey.
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