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Hi-Speed shots for low budget shoots


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Okay so I've posted a similar question before where I asked how to deal with 5d footage when half of it has been shot at 720p (for the 50fps) and half at 1080p. The best solution I found after all your suggestions was to batch convert to ProRes. There was a slight loss of sharpness in the 720p of course though but it did the trick.

 

So this time around I wanted to know if there's a workaround this issue. I could really do with a few high speed shots in an upcoming shoot but it's a shoestring budget. The cameras we have at our disposal are a 5d mkiii and a GoPro Hero 4. Would it make sense to spring for an Osmo for a day or two? Or get a gimbal for the GoPro Hero 4?

 

I've noticed in a couple of videos that it's extremely obvious when a GoPro has been used, even if it's been scaled and graded. I don't think that will work for the aesthetic we're going for in this shoot which is warm, soft and sunny. But my issue with the 5D is that I really don't want to have this issue of trying to get lower resolution footage to match higher.

 

Also, this is mostly for web use.

 

Do you guys have any suggestions to either smoothly blend 720p footage with 1080p? Does it make sense to spring for an Osmo instead? Because there's a fair bit of movement in the Hi Speed shots as well.

 

Thanks in advance!

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Personally, I would avoid a GoPro. I recently shot a spot with Ninjas for Disney. Main camera was a Red and at the last moment due to tricky rigging, the client threw in a GoPro at 60fps. Honestly, the footage looked terrible compared to the Red. I wish we had rigged an A7s for those shots, since it's at least comparable to the Red.

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Image quality is the weakest aspect of GoPros -- overly compressed, overly edge-enhanced, poor in low-light, too wide an angle. Fine for extreme sports stuff shot in sunlight that doesn't need to be color-corrected... It would be nice if they someday made a "pro" version that could record 10-bit Log with less compression, even if it meant shorter record times.

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I totally agree with you both about the Go Pro. It's extremely hard to seamlessly incorporate Go Pro footage into a film if you're trying to make it blend in. It almost always shows as far as I've seen and is quite irritating.

 

I was thinking of the A7s ii or the GH4 but the people I'm working for have an in-house 5D that they want to use. If I'm renting another camera, might as well go for the BMPCC which is only slightly more expensive than the A7s ii. Although, I'm aware of the issues the BMPCC has with regards to clipping the highlights.

 

So there's really no way to upscale 720p without it going soft on me, is there.

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So there's really no way to upscale 720p without it going soft on me, is there.

 

For the 5D 720 footage have you tried the detail-preserving upscale tool in After Effects? I haven't used it, but maybe it'll be helpful in your case.

 

One (not-ideal) option would be to finish at 720, so everything is at the same resolution. This is assuming it's all shot on the 5D, with no GoPro, which will stand out no matter what. For web delivery this might be fine.

Edited by Ravi Kiran
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