I will be shooting a short film next month and need to shoot a scene that involves a drinking glass tumbling in slow motion from a counter top to the floor and shatters. Any suggestions? I will be shooting with a Canon Vixia HF M31 Shooting in 24p Cinema Mode at 60i. Thanks.
What’s the best way to shoot in SLOW MOTION with Canon VIXIA HF M31?
- Thread starter BruceDowns
- Start date
I would just shoot with a high shutter to get clear, sharp footage. And then slow it down in post.
If I wasn't sure which method is best, I would test it with a plastic "glass".
If I wasn't sure which method is best, I would test it with a plastic "glass".
You want to shoot at the highest frame rate your camera allows. Then when you get the footage into your NLE, make your project settings 24p. The effect will be that the footage is slowed down without it needing to repeat frames, hence, a smooth slow-mo.
Don't know that camera well, but assuming it can shoot straight 60i (not just 24p in 60i) then that's what you want to shoot at. Import your footage into After Effects, right click on the clip and choose "Interpret Footage > Main". Check the "conform to frame rate" option and enter 24.976 for the frames per second value. In the "Fields and Pulldown" section set "separate fields" to "lower field first' and check the "Preserve Edges" option. Drag the clip onto the new composition icon and render.
what he said ^^^ works every time but set high shutter too, like 1/120 th or more..
Thanks everyone. I'll practice a few times first. Newbie question if I shoot the movie in 24p and shoot this scene in 60i and do as ItDonnedOnMe said will the scene still look right with the rest of the movie? Thanks
It should. Wheatgrinder is right, to keep the motion blur matching other footage correctly you should shoot at 120th shutter. The one problem with this method is you lose a little vertical resolution - depending on the subject and amount of motion it's probably on the order of 20-30%. It may be noticeable as slightly softer than your other footage if someone is watching it at 1080p on a larger screen, in most common viewing situations it's not really a big deal.
I use the HF M30, which is similar. Both cameras are pretty consumer level, but still pretty great. (I love mine). Anyway there aren't a whole lot of functions on this camera to do what you need it to do, so the best thing I can suggest to you is to take an extremely clear take, and slow it down in editing, via your editing software. I have to shoot a slow-mo action sequence, so I just filmed it on a good tripod, got a very clear video, then slowed it down like 700x in iMovie, turned out fantastic.