Stunning Slow Motion:
Slow motion and/or extreme slow motion can be a great dynamic to any film. Today it is getting easier and cheaper to produce stunning quality slow motion effects with even entry level cameras. One of the most easily accessible ways to do this is using applications given in the Final Cut Studio Suite. Here’s something I made as an example of what you’ll be able to do after reading the contents of this article.
To achieve the best looking slow motion it is important to shoot at 60 Fps ( Frames Per Second), with high shutter speeds 1/1,000 or higher, and with final output as 24 Fps. None of these are necessary but if you can do all of the above then you will increase your chances drastically for achieving flawless slow motion. After all the goal is to emulate slow motion shot with a camera that is actually shooting 1,000, 2,000, 3,000 Fps or higher. The steps below are meant for those of you shooting at 60FPS and conforming to 24FPS.
Firstly you should be a bit familiar with Apple Motion, Cinema Tools, and Final Cut Pro.
Below is the Slow Motion Frame Conversion Chart referenced in the article How To Create Extreme Slow Motion Using Apple Motion.
The below chart has two important purposes.
- Determining the correct speed to set your footage to try to achieve a particular Frames Per Second “look”.
- OR, determining your final simulated frame rate after setting your custom clip speed.
Use the Chart below like a multiplication table to understand and choose your frame rate as you create your slow motion video. If you were shooting at 60FPS and wanted to do some tests of 6000 FPS you could see from the chart that you will have to reduce the original video speed to 2.5%.
- The top row of numbers in the grey represent the frame rate that your camera is shooting on.
- The row of numbers in the grey boxes down the side represent common speeds you may choose to slow your footage down to in Apple Motion.
- The numbers in the blue boxes represent the final frame rate simulated once in FCP and after being conformed to 24FPS.
Please Click the chart for a pinter friendly/ high res. version.
Note:
The chart above is only applicable assuming you are conforming your final video to 24p ( or shooting 24p to begin with).
Numbers with Asterisks ( *) are rounded to the nearest whole number.
For best results, shoot in 60 FPS at shutter speeds of 1/1,000 or higher.
Kudos to crumplepop.com for a bit of inspiration for this post.
