Undercranking

[Mike Provence]

I'm currently a student at a university in CA and am planning on shooting my final project in HD. We just recently got two new GY-HD100's and I was wondering how to undercrank a shot so that I can have my main subject in the shot moving normally and everyone on the streets around him moving in fast motion. Now I know that when I shoot it I have to have my subject move slower than the rest of the people but I was wondering what I need to shoot it in and play it. I was thinking of shooting in 24p and playing it in 60p but I'm not sure, any feedbaxk would be great.

[Paolo Ciccone]

I'm currently a student at a university in CA and am planning on shooting my final project in HD. We just recently got two new GY-HD100's and I was wondering how to undercrank a shot so that I can have my main subject in the shot moving normally and everyone on the streets around him moving in fast motion. Now I know that when I shoot it I have to have my subject move slower than the rest of the people but I was wondering what I need to shoot it in and play it. I was thinking of shooting in 24p and playing it in 60p but I'm not sure, any feedbaxk would be great.

Mike, there are two modes in the hd100 that you can use for undercranking: HD-SD60 and HD-SD50. The first one will give you 60fps which will be great for slow-mo. If you add a bit of AfterEffects's TimeWarp to it it's going to look great. The downside of both modes is that they have a vertical resolution equal to SD, although they hare in 16:9 ratio. So HD-SD60 is 480 lines at 60fps progressive scan. It will uprez to 720p acceptably. HD-SD50 gives you 50fps, which basically translates to 50% speed slow-mo, but it has the vertical resolution of SD PAL, which is 576 lines. This is a 20% more resolution than HD-SD60 and it will uprez better. The downside is the slower speed and the fact that it might pick up flickering from fluorescent and tungsten lights which are fed by 60Hz current. If you're shooting outdoor then it doesn't matter and I would go for HD-SD50 since that will give me sharper footage.

Also, adjust the shutter speed if you want to capture high detail, like dust or water droplets. Be aware that this will change your exposure.

 

Hope this helps.

 

--

Paolo

http://www.paolociccone.com

http://www.cruisercast.com

[Tim Dashwood]

I'm currently a student at a university in CA and am planning on shooting my final project in HD. We just recently got two new GY-HD100's and I was wondering how to undercrank a shot so that I can have my main subject in the shot moving normally and everyone on the streets around him moving in fast motion. Now I know that when I shoot it I have to have my subject move slower than the rest of the people but I was wondering what I need to shoot it in and play it. I was thinking of shooting in 24p and playing it in 60p but I'm not sure, any feedbaxk would be great.

Hi Mike.

 

Yes. You have the right idea. 24fps is the slowest frame rate available on this camera so there is no true way to undercrank in-camera the way you would on a film camera. Overcranking is possible at 30, 50 or 60fps (check other posts of mine for an explanation of this process.)

 

I would suggest that you use a slow shutter to emulate the blurriness of undercranked footage. For example, use 1/12th shutter and shoot in 24P, then increase the speed of the clip by 200% in post production. This in essence will give you the look of 12fps undercrank.

You could also try 1/6th shutter speed in 24P and then speed the clip by 400% in post for a 6fps undercrank.

 

If you use a 24P timeline the math will work itself out nicely.

 

Good luck.