Wild Motor?

[Donald Riley]

Would it be a bad idea to shoot a music video with a wild (non-crystal-sync) motor, e.g. on an Eyemo with a standard Eyemo motor?

[Tim Carroll]

Would it be a bad idea to shoot a music video with a wild (non-crystal-sync) motor, e.g. on an Eyemo with a standard Eyemo motor?

 

If any part of the video needs to be in sync with the music, yes it would be a bad idea. The issue with wild motors is that not only do they run faster or slower than 24 fps, but that their speed drifts around as the motor is running, (sometimes faster, sometimes slower, within the same shot) which makes it really difficult and time consuming to sync music, lyrics or speech to the footage.

 

Best,

-Tim

[Hal Smith]

Would it be a bad idea to shoot a music video with a wild (non-crystal-sync) motor, e.g. on an Eyemo with a standard Eyemo motor?

 

There is an old school way of recording sync with wild motors. You record the sound on a Nagra (or a Uher Record Pilot) reel-to-reel tape recorder with a on-camera accessory that generates a sound sync tone. It's called the "Neo-Pilot" system, the sync tone goes to a special track that the recorder was equipped with. I don't think I've ever seen a reference to a sync generator on an Eyemo but I know for a fact that they were an Arri II accessory. In effect Neo-Pilot places electronic sprocket holes on a reel-to-reel tape.

 

On the chance that you go the old school route, make certain your post facility can still handle Neo-Pilot tapes. They would need to have a sync box called a "Resolver" and a sprocketed magnetic film audio recorder to which to transfer the Nagra tape. It wouldn't surprise me to learn there's a lab somewhere that buillt a system to transfer Neo-Pilot audio direct into an non-linear editing system like an AVID but don't plan on finding one.

[Simon Wyss]

There is an antique school way of recording with wild cameras. You record the noise of the camera on a separate track, be it on tape, be it digitally. You will hear the camera whir exactly as long as the picture runs and from that be able to determine beginning and end of the synch section.