2024 Approved How To Film a Slow Motion Video

Chloe Lv12

2024-05-20 03:38:09 2024-05-20 03:38:09 Created 2024-05-21 03:38:09 2024-05-21 03:38:09 Updated

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| animation videos

How To Film a Slow Motion Video

Scenes that might otherwise be monotonous can be made more interesting by the use of slow-motion photography in movies and television shows. For instance, a battle sequence between two characters can be portrayed in its entirety, but if it is later replayed in slow motion, the intensity of the action is amplified significantly.

Let’s dive in!

1. What is slow motion?

Filmmakers use the slow-motion effect to create the illusion that the passage of time has been slowed down on the screen. In the early 20th century, an Austrian priest named August Musger was the one who came up with the idea. Playing normally recorded material at a slower pace is another method for creating the illusion of slow motion.

When a film is recorded at 25 frames per second, but played back at 24 frames per second, it will seem as if it is being shown in slow motion because all of the movements will be slightly slower than when they were actually performed. This is because the film was recorded at 25 frames per second, but the playback was done at 24 frames per second.

Because there are not enough frames to show all of the details of each frame when a 24-frame animation is played at a 25-frame rate (or a 30-frame animation at a 32-frame rate), certain frames have to be repeated (every 5th one in this case). When there is a dramatic event taking place, this manipulation of the film speed makes the action on screen appear even more dramatic or “tensioned.”

2. Understanding frame rates

When filming video, there are a set number of frames per second that you can choose from. One picture is all you get when you take a still photograph. Click. That is only one example. A frame is the name of that picture. With video, however, you take 30 or 24 images per second, which you then combine. You now have footage.

The video is a combination of tens of thousands of frames or images that are flashing before your eyes. With a normal frame rate of 24 frames per second, you are essentially taking 24 pictures per second and stitching them together to create video. When you stretch it out in post for slow motion, you double or triple the frame rate, which results in more images per second and eliminates empty gaps and jarring actions.

This is how video that has been sped up for slow motion may still preserve its quality. But you can’t just choose a frame rate based on taste. Frame rates vary depending on the different types of emotions. 60 fps will do if the video is a slo-mo of a person’s emotion. However, if your shot contains a lot of movement and you want to show it, such as when automobiles collide or explode, you may require a higher frame rate, such as 120 fps.

3. Post processing

This is when it gets a bit complicated. Some cameras come equipped with a slow-motion feature. To capture the video in slow motion at a higher frame rate, go to your settings. You might not have this built-in slow-motion feature in other models.

Therefore, even though the footage was taken at a higher frame rate, the camera is playing the movie back at the same pace it was shot at, so when you shoot at a higher frame rate, you end up with footage of a normal speed. There is a solution to that. The footage’s speed can be adjusted during post-production.

The 24/30 fps editing timelines are pre-set. The majority of the video you capture at this frame rate plays back just nicely on this timeline. You must stretch out video that was shot at a higher frame rate to match this timeline, though. That effectively doubles or triples the length of a video, depending on the multiple of the timeline’s typical frame rate.

4. Lighting

While watching TV or movies, you might have observed anything. The majority of the extremely slow photos happen in broad daylight. Not after dark or in dimly lit areas. The reason for this is that sufficient lighting is required in order to capture motion. Lighting becomes crucial as your frame rate exceeds 300 frames per second. Therefore, if you must take these pictures, you must do so in a studio environment with lots of artificial lighting.

To create that cinematic magic, you can use high CRI lighting. On the screen, a flickering light may spell doom. Flickering lights have the potential to damage slow-motion film even though they would be OK for any other scene. Because there is no risk of voltage fluctuation, LED lights are a safe bet. The reason for this is that some models do not require an electrical outlet to function. Prior to departure, make sure you have checked each and every light.

If you are filming during the day and you point your camera toward the sun, you may end up with a significant amount of glare that cannot be hidden up in the post-production stage nor can it be ignored. This is not merely a problem that occurs throughout the daytime. Flares can also be obtained from moving vehicles and various other sources of light. If you use a flat lens when you’re out at night, you can eliminate the risk of something like that happening.

5. Why use slow motion?

When you first begin working with slow-motion video, you need to ask yourself, “What exactly is the purpose behind me choosing this effect?” Once you have an answer to that question, you may move on to the next step.

In most cases, there are often two primary causes for it.

1. It makes sense to present emotions on the screen for a longer period of time in order for the audience to be able to absorb and comprehend it in its whole if they are shown for a longer period of time since moments that are packed with emotions seem to endure longer than ordinary ones.

2. The second strategy is to draw attention to striking visuals that you might have overlooked in other circumstances and that contribute significantly to the aesthetic value of your setting. A flutter of the eyelid, a butterfly stretching its wings, rains falling on a flower petal, shards of fire breaking free, etc. are all examples of how quickly things may happen. You need to have a good reason for using slow motion, and you shouldn’t abuse the effect too much too. You should only do so at those moments where it makes logical sense to do so.

Subconscious slow-motion. Overusing or misusing a function ruins its appeal. Filming isn’t an exact science, but it does nothing unnecessary. For a cinematic effect, slow-motion should be introduced carefully.

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Using Adobe After Effects as a Pro-Level Editing Platforms Demands You to Add Expressions in After Effects. If You’re Looking for the Solutions on After Effects How to Add Expressions Then We’ve Got You Covered. Learn More Here

Although After Effects (AE) is a fantastic tool for creating UI animation prototypes, we’re constantly searching for methods to make our process go more quickly. Expressions are supported by AE and allow the designer to animate layers without manually specifying each keyframe by establishing connections between layer parameters or keyframes. We’ll go through the fundamentals of using and defining expressions as well as how to adapt them to your own need.

thisComp
loopOut
random
Wiggle
Time

How to Add Expressions in After Effects
How to Edit Expressions in After Effects

Part 1. What is After Effects Expression

Expressions are sections of code created in the JavaScript programming languages with the sole objective of changing the layer attributes in After Effects. They can create adaptable rigs and automate repetitive processes. Because of this, developing and modifying the code should be a breeze. There are many phrases that already exist and have for many years, but finding them might be challenging if you aren’t sure what you’re searching for. They may be as small as a single word or integer, or very complicated, including chapters and paragraphs of code.

You may begin forming connections between a property and other layers when you write an expression on that property. By connecting the expressions to the numerical parameters, the expression controllers in the Effects & Presets panel may assist you in better controlling the expressions. Although they are by no means necessary, expressions come in quite handy when attempting to replicate effects like inertia or bouncing without having to specify a ton of extra keyframes. They not only provide many creative possibilities, but they may also streamline your motion design process.

Part 2. Common Expressions in After Effects

An expression is a brief piece of JavaScript code that can be plugged into animated properties in After Effects applications. Expressions evaluate to a single value for a single layer property at a particular instant in time. Below are a few popular expressions.

1. ‘thisComp’

Expressions in After Effects revolve entirely on manipulating values inside an object hierarchy. Objects in this context include the composition, specific layers, and even effects. Values or other things may be contained by an object.

Use thisComp together with some fundamental arithmetic to precisely place things on the screen. This comes in quite helpful when exporting several versions for social media sites and reusing content. To have the logo scale in accordance with the size of the comp, you could even add a similar statement to the Scale option.

2. ‘loopOut’

You can always simply copy and paste keyframes throughout the timeline if you want an animation to repeat. But if you wanted to make adjustments, you’d have to go back and deal with all of those keyframes again. Again, you’d never see Batman using After Effects accomplishing this. You should use the loopOut expression in these circumstances. Even four options may be used to modify how the animation loops.

Again, cycle is the default setting; however, you may also choose from continue, offset, and ping pong. It just requires animating an Ellipse’s Scale and Opacity properties, then adding loopOut to each of them. The two keyframes are immediately cycled; it is plug and play. There are really just four keyframes in total, however the animation lasts the full length of the timeline. Use two keyframes per parameter to keep things simple, or specify which keyframes you want to loop to make things more complicated.

3. ‘random’

As implied by the name, each frame’s value is generated randomly by this expression based on the argument you provide. It will automatically randomize between 0 and 1 if you leave it empty. The parameter will generate a value at random between 0 and the value you provide between the parentheses. It will generate random numbers between the two values you enter.

Another excellent expression for rapidly producing an animation is this one. We often use it to make opacity transitions that flicker. It just takes a few clicks to do this by adding the phrase below to Opacity and keyframing it in and out from 100% Opacity.

4. ‘Wiggle’

One of the few expressions that may be used without keyframes is the Wiggle expression. Watch your shape begin to wiggle by simply adding the phrase to any Transform attribute. It will jiggle between keyframes if you decide to add them.

You will simultaneously move in two dimensions while using this phrase. You may sometimes just need to jiggle one dimension. The After Effects Wiggle expression (also known as AE Wiggle) is an excellent tool for creating erratic item movement, idle character movement, unpredictable camera motion, shaky lettering, and flashing lights.

5. ‘Time’

The greater the value next to “time” below, the quicker your animation will be. Time expression is useful for continuous animation. Utilizing time is one of the fastest and simplest methods to create an animation. Time just creates each second’s numerical value in the timeline. Remember that regardless of the timecode settings, this number begins at zero at the beginning of the comp.

Again, combine this with some simple arithmetic for excellent outcomes. To find a multiplier value that works for the parameter you are animating, play around and explore. Use it to gradually modify a layer’s position or rotation. Time is also very useful for driving animated textures like the Fractal or Turbulent Noise effects. The evolution parameter is increased by a factor of 100 throughout time.

Part 3. How to Add Expressions in After Effects

In Adobe AE, expressions may be added to any kind of layer and any form of layer attribute. Don’t give up; one of the best things about expressions is that you don’t have to be an expert programmer or coder to use them. A variety of transform effects may have expressions applied to them to generate fascinating animation, which might take hours to create from scratch.

While some idioms are brief, simple, and easy to use and comprehend, others are wordy and complex. Even though they can appear difficult, sticking them in their designated spot should work. The process of adding expressions is always the same; the code varies based on your goals. Learning how to apply an Expression effect to your layer is the first step.

Step1 Include your form or image in the timeline. When viewing the layer’s properties, click on the stopwatch of the property you wish to apply the phrase to while holding “Alt” (PC) or “Option” (Mac).

Step2 Make two keyframes for the transformation you’ve selected; in our case, we’ve point it Beginning and the End frames as shown below:

Step3 Go to the Animation menu and choose the Transform option you keyframed in the timeline. We are choosing Scale since it is what we keyframed. Multiple Transform settings may have expressions added to them, but you should do it sequentially.

Step4 A box will show up on the timeline after choosing Add Expression from the menu. In the box, paste your expression. The numerical parameters will become red and a text box will show up in the timeline below the layer. The Expressions will be typed or copied here. By adjusting the values in the code, you may fine-tune the expression; experiment with each to find what works for you.

Part 4. How to Edit Expressions in After Effects

To edit the Expressions in AE, you do need some programming skills to make the most of expressions since they employ JavaScript. However, there are many of excellent starter and expert expression examples, so you can still get a lot done with Premiere Pro without them. When you click the keyframe symbol on the property you wish to apply an expression to, hold down the Alt key to utilize expressions. There will appear an expression box where you may type and amend expressions.

Step1Select the property in the Timeline panel, then choose Animation > Add Expression to add and reveal an expression. To search Expressions and other parts of a property, use the search box in the Timeline panel.

Step2In the Timeline panel or the Effect Controls panel, click the stopwatch button next to the property name using the keyboard shortcut Alt + click for the Windows or Option + click for the MacOS. Four icons are shown under the property while the expression is active, and the value becomes red.

Step3To open the Expression Editor, click within the text box on the Timeline panel. Wherever you wish to alter the phrase, position the cursor. The pick whip may be moved to the name or cost of a property. The resultant expression shows all the values as one if you drag to the name of a property.

Step4Press Enter on the numeric keyboard to end text editing and start the expression.

Conclusion

One of the most popular pieces of software for the post-production of movies is called After Effects. The tools and expressions in AE are used by many video editors and motion graphics creators to produce stunning works of art, animated films, video advertising, distinctive video effects, and many other useful things. Expressions are JavaScript lines of code that let you manipulate data in Adobe After Effects. Even though they don’t have the same flashy name as a kryptonite spear, they may be just as powerful in the proper hands. The fact that they’ll save you a ton of time applies to all of them, regardless of size.

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