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Synch Recording with a V.O. at 50 fps !


filmfreak

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Greetings

I am about to step into the oddest inquiry a director has asked me up to now.
I need to record a guide V.O. first thing in the morning, ramp up it's speed at 50 FPS and then hand it over to the actress to listen back for 3-4 hours in order to be able to lip sync ( with her lines of course ! ) at 50 FPS when we 'll film her scene.
The scene to be filmed is a sequence which will be filmed native at 50 FPS and kept at 50 FPS. Her lines will be synched with a V.O. that cannot be the final one when we'll be filming her tomorrow.
Just stepped out of the pre production meeting and had a thorough conversation with the director discussing about the fact that sound will need to remain at 25 FPS no matter the frame count in picture as sound is split in a linear manner over time, that the best approach would be to just record the 4 lines in question in post and let the actress improvise but he wants to have a go at this whacky workflow, meaning that he wants me to record the guide V.O. at 25 FPS, ramp it up at 50 FPS and even though the recording will sound like Chip and Dale having a laugh, record everything at 25 FPS on set !!
Any ideas about such a request and had anyone come across such a request before ?
Which is the best way to double up the speed of the guide V.O. recording ?
Do I just multiply the speed X 2 ?
I have Pro Tools 9 and Twisted Wave handy but I 've never come across such a request before.
Tried to explain that in order to do such a juggle on set we would need to at least have the final V.O. in place and lock the V.O. with the playback source and camera.

Thanks in advance

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Hey Vas
I remember Simon Hayes saying at one point that the way he tackled this scene was to pre record the lines, ramp them down on a Nagra at 7 1/2 IPS and make the scene work in this way.
My issue is different though.
Even though we will be filking at 50 FPS, the shot will not be covered at the project base frame rate which will be 25 FPS but rather stay at 50 FPS.
On top, the synch dialogue will need to be synched with the V.O. that for the specific shot will be played up at 50 FPS ( at 200% speed ).
It's nuts but since he wants it I have to deliver and never been in the specific shoes before.

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You're not being very clear. 

Are they shooting at 50fps with the intent of showing it at 25fps? Slow motion, basically. But they want the actress talking at double speed when you shoot, so that when it's slowed down she'll be talking normally but everything will be in slow motion? That's done in music videos all the time. 

There are a number of methods to speed up the pre-record times two without chipmunking it. I'm no expert, but it's available in Audacity and other programs. The actress can try to lip sync to double speed playback, then ADR in post to get it better. 

Is that what you mean? It doesn't require anything special. You're just playing back 2x audio on set while they shoot off speed without sync sound. 

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From your description, as brother Sharman said, your director appears to want the same procedure used on a regular basis for music videos.  

If that's the case, the trickiest thing about it is that a full double speed will be quite a challenge for the talent.  Something around a 50% speed increase is much easier.  I'm not saying you should lobby for a lower speed, but just that it's totally understandable why the director wants the actress to have plenty of time to practice.

So, if we're understanding your needs correctly, then you want to double the speed (half the playing time), and lower the pitch by an octave.  The result should be that the playback voice pitch is normal, but the pace is twice as fast.  Any competent audio editing program can accomplish this easily.

When doing the actual take, does the director want her reciting along with the track as she listens through an earwig or will she free-form it?

 

Edited by John Blankenship
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Hi and thanks for chiming in.
Apologies for not making my self clear, it was literally hours before filming and the first time I 've been asked to deliver such a request which is usually a norm on video clips.
As Philip correctly advised, did the Maths and doubled up the speed of the recording.
What boggled me even further was playback at the same time.
Minutes after posting here, the site went down too so I just went on using Twisted Wave which has saved me so many times, it's my bread and butter quick editing software for some years now- edited out the lines adding 3 pips at the beginning of the recording and everything worked out smoothly.
End of Day 2 of a hectic paced shoot and off to get some rest before tomorrow's night shoot.
Appreciate your time and feedback everybody.

Best

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