Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Log in
  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Is it all about SloMo these days?

Simon Knight

Simon Knight

Banned
Joined
Dec 26, 2012
Messages
286
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
London, UK
Ok, I'm really putting out the feelers here and opening a discussion as I just wondered about the above?

I just watched Kevin's showreel in this forum. And it's beautiful. I cannot stress enough how I love the photography, color-grading and content.

Then I realised just how much was shot in HFR and slowed down. And then I got to thinking about WHY the Epic is so incredible and wanted. And just how much slow motion footage there is in tv and film these days. Ever since Neo dodged his first bullet in The Matrix its all been about slowing down time so that the audience can see "beyond" reality.

Of course i also shows off HD (and beyond) nicely....

I just remember back to the 1980s(ish) where I was mesmerised by David Atenborough's wildlife films. Watching (say) a Lion attach a deer there was occasionally a slower shot but it often was shown at full speed. And there was real drama in the image...

SO... am I getting old? Nostalgic? Or do I just want an Epic instead of my Scarlet? (grin)

'Cos I can't decide..

Regards

SK
 
Slow motion is all about you and how you want to use it (or not use).

From an entertainment trend standpoint, commercially speaking, it's extremely popular these days. If you take a random sampling of 10 commercials here in the US you'll probably find 50%-70% have some sort of slow motion in them. (at least that's what I found)

For entertainment production use it's more commonly used in action pieces. Or situations where action "happens" in other genres like dramas and comedies.

From a creative standpoint I'm like you Simon. I adore the concept of capturing the subtle nuances of movement in slow motion. Realtime is where it's at for narrative, but I'm always thinking of moments that could be enhanced by the integration of a slow motion shot.

Oddly, on a technical side, slow motion is extremely useful for both research and entertainment purposes. I've shot a great deal of animal reference overcranked to 48,60,72, and 96 fps for CG animators to use for instance.
 
  • Thread starter
  • Banned
  • #3
Phil,
Glad i'm not a nutter then! Oh, I totally appreciate those very exciting and technical reasons for recording over crank. It's more the creative expectations of the mass audience these days. Exactly like you stated - if you take a cross section of todays TV and film, there is a 'predominance' of over crank.... What does everyone think or like?

SK
 
Increased access to slow mo cameras without a significant price increase has made for increased slow mo shooting, increased access to slow mo interpolation plugins (Twixtor etc) has led to increased slow mo imagery even for those who do not have access to slow mo shooting.

Unlike other film making techniques which gain and lose popularity as a fad when they become available as part of the democratization of film making, so slow mo as a technique will remain comparatively exotic and thus 'popular', as it allows us to view our world in a way that we can't as humans.

That added sense of perception is actually more important than 3D, more important than HFR playback etc, because it tells us something we wouldn't have known otherwise.

So I wouldn't say it's all about slow mo (and certainly some forms of slow mo are certainly over used, while others are the only way to capture a sense of what's happening).

In regards to the difference between cameras - The RED One giving access to slow mo to a wider field was a big deal, unfortunately the 2K 120FPS slow mo was a little too compromised for it to become the 'killer app' aspect of the camera, so the major selling point was really just resolution (which people would question whether you needed, everyone needed high frame rates if they could get them, but no one wanted them to be compromised.)

Epic resolves this with it's 5K 150FPS shooting capability. It's the area that makes it such a versatile camera.

Whether in a few years slow mo will still be used as often as it is now is an interesting question, I imagine the usage will go down a bit across all productions as people get used to having access to it and thus not finding excuses to shoot in slow mo, but in arenas where the magic is often happening in less than 1/24th of a second (nature and wildlife photography, action scenes, pouring water etc.) there will always be something magical about being able to get a better view of things that we couldn't see much of with human vision, so I think abundant use of slow mo is here to stay.
 
  • Thread starter
  • Banned
  • #5
Nice thoughts Craig... Thanks...

As you say, slowing down things we cannot usually perceive; such as nature, always benefits from this possibility. Its perhaps the over-dramatic bullet-dodge, throw, person-diving-to escape or capture type slowmo shot (with the inevitable slowing of the person shouting "Noooooooo..." that perhaps I find a little staid..

SK
 
There has always been a ton of slow motion work. I'd say 50% of spot work is slow motion. I used to own an actionmaster 500 and I got calls all the time for it. One of the main reasons the 435 and 35-3 where so often b cameras was to shoot off speed. The fact that it is now available to markets that couldn't afford it previously may mean you see more of it, but it's a tool that has been in use when needed way before the matrix.

Nick
 
  • Thread starter
  • Banned
  • #7
Thanks Nick.. When are we talking about? Unless that puts an age on you!(grin)

When did the first shots start appearing ? Anyone?

SK
 
Well, the 35BLI came out in 1972 and it shot at 100fps. They didn't design it that way because no one wanted to shoot slow motion ;-)

Nick
 
Simon, the reason why I always film at 96fps is because my main jobs are dance events and extreme sports.

For example... During a edit of a dance event, there is always a breakpoint in the song.
At that moment everything is calm, and that's when I have to show people the feeling they have on that dance event.
The best way to do this to show people enjoying the music. But you can't put a 24fps shot at that moment cause you will see them dance when the music is really calm.
So slowmotion at that time is perfect for me.

Some jobs I do with my Scarlet, some with an Epic... Depends on the job.
So I would say, what do you do most? And do you need slowmotion for that. Then you will have your answer!

Cheers, Kevin
 
To the hoardes of marketing victims who are accustomed to chasing the newest camera gear (As well as the specialists who have always been focused on high speed shooting) it is all about over cranking. I think it will be over used and abused just like other trends have been and it will eventually fall out of favor, but it will always be a useful technique when used for valid reasons... Just like shallow DOF.
Al Swearengen said:
But something ya gotta know about specialists – they pay a premium, and they never cause fuckin’ trouble.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
I think there is a natural and emotional affinity towards slow motion (and for that matter, shallow DOF) because it is how we wish the world would really be... not that we want everything to be slow, but we want to take in and savor each moment. And there is something about slow motion and shallow DOF that allows us to do that, to focus on very small details... slowly. This video from Rockhouse Motion connects with me, as it probably does with any parent... and many things in nature and life really are best viewed this way.

 
In all honesty, i feel slow-motion is so overdone these days now that HFR cameras are more available. It's getting very worn out and the people who use less of it in the near future are going to be the ones that stand out and tell a better story. Slow motion has its place and I love it, but the abundance of slow motion out there is making me not like it as much. That said, slow motion is here and here to stay, it is so beautiful, thats why I got an Epic :).... i may have contradicted myself there haha.
 
See I'm with Dustin here... "Some" of it is so overused.... You guys give superb examples of where it's almost a "must have" moment, like the pause in the dance - or song.. And thats where we all secretly go "that's perfect!"

But sometimes it's almost as if the filmmaker is trying to justify why they rented an Epic, rather than a Scarlet!

Oh and my reasons for wanting the Scarlet were defined purely by budget and personal filming requirements. I have no need for the 'beast'.... Yet.!

SK
 
My camera stays locked at 96fps, even at night.

Once I get a 1,000fps 4K camera, I will shoot mostly all 600fps+
 
As a technicality, is it really appropriate to call it HFR when the footage is the high frame rate that is played back at 24FPS? I thought HFR is used to describe high frame rate taht is played back at that high frame rate.
 
It should be called high-speed cinematography, not HFR.
 
if you think you could live your life in slow motion and find amazing things to look at, do it. but don't waste or abuse anybody's real time. it's all about everything.

@tom, i'm sure you'll find some pretty cool things to look at, and i look forward to it ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top