Help with video speed technique required please

1. WhiteChocolateFrog
   Member

   

   Hi

   There's a technique I have been itching to master for a while. No idea what the correct term for it is. It's the speed thing where a figure in the foreground runs at normal or slow speed, while all about it runs at a fast blur. It's seen all the time in progs and film, and I was just reminded of it again while watching Garden State [Zack Braff sitting on the couch while the party whizzes about him in a blur of motion] . An hour of random searching for speed tips and tricks has yielded little more than frustration.

   If someone could explain it to me, point me in the right direction, or at least tell me what the correct term is so I can look it up for myself I'd be most grateful.

   Thanks very much

   Frog

   Posted 3 years ago #

2. Ryan3078
   Member

   

    Do you mean something along the lines of the effect I used in

    

   Get the Flash Video

   at about 1:00?

   We took the action that we wanted to be in regular motion (singing) and in real time had the person sing 8 times slower than normal.  We then took that footage into our editing program, and sped it up to 800% (8 times faster).  The singer then appeared to be singing at a normal speed while the world around him was moving super-fast.

   You simply need to isolate the action that you want in real time, and make them perform that action at a slow rate of speed, then adjust your speed in post. You can experiment with how slow or fast to get the best effect.

   Posted 3 years ago #

3. eastalabamamedia
   Member

   

   I haven't seen the example you referred to above; however, I can envision what it looks like. Two ways to pull it off:

   If none of the other people in the clip have to cross in front of the "normal speed" actor, simply lock the camera down, shoot only the subject at normal speed, then without moving the camera even the tiniest bit, remove the normal subject and shoot the other action. Then in post, use masking with your subject clip to layer it over a sped-up copy of the clip of the other subjects.

   If you want walking/running action for your main subject, you could use a treadmill, greenscreening out everything but your subject. You wouldn't want to show the feet (and might have to remove the treadmill handles or tape/paint them green. This would result in a "normal" speed clip of your subject which you would key-in over a sped-up clip of the other subjects.  Again, you couldn't have any of the secondary action passing in front of your subject, but that should be easy enough to control.

   Posted 3 years ago #

4. WhiteChocolateFrog
   Member

   

   Thanks very much for taking the time to reply, chaps. Both seem to have some relevence, but not exactly.

   For reference the party scene may be seen here

   Get the Flash Video

   starting from 6:20. The part I am referring to runs from 8:48 -8:57 though running up to that it's a very clever mishmash of time mapping and so forth. It's that little sequence where he's sitting and everything is running around him at hyper speed and it's blurred while he's crystal clear. I have seen it utilised before and can think of a project I'd like to try next year where it would be perfect in a different context for one short scene. I'm sure there's a technical term for it, and was rather hoping there might be a turorial of some sort to show how it is accomplished. I want to be sure that I understand it perfectly before I try to use it, rather than having a tenuous grasp of the subject and doing it really badly.

   Hopefully the clip will explain what I am trying to accomplish better than my poor description.

   Thanks again for your time. Much appreciated.

   Posted 3 years ago #

5. BarefootMedia
   Member

   

   It is pretty obvious that the clip you referred to is just simple time lapse.  The main character is sitting very still as the party is shot with a slow shutter speed to get the blurring effect or, more likely, the time lapse footage has a video effect that blends frames to create the appearance of blurring, sometimes called trails.  I know New Blu has that effect in at least one of their plug-in's, and I've seen it mentioned in a variety of other effect packages.  But the underlying shot is a simple time lapse with a slow moving subject.  The other speedy effects are created using a time mapping effect with continous control over the changes in speed.  I read a tutorial on it, but I am unable to recall or locate the article.  But the feature is part of the newest Adobe professional NLE.  You can start with reviewing their advertising material concerning "time mapping" effects.

   Good luck on getting your shot and be sure to try out the techniques before you need them.

   Posted 3 years ago #

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