{"id":148372,"date":"2021-02-02T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-02-02T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/?p=148372"},"modified":"2021-02-01T15:54:26","modified_gmt":"2021-02-01T21:54:26","slug":"ways-to-use-undercranking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/ways-to-use-undercranking\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Ways to Use Undercranking on Your Next Project"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

To speed things up, you must first slow things down. Let’s take a look at the antique art of undercranking.<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

At its most basic, undercranking is simply capturing at a frame rate lower than your project frame rate. The name comes from the early days of cinema, when cameras were operated via hand-cranking. Back then, undercranking was performed by simply cranking slower than average. This technique creates jumping, jittery motion.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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How to Undercrank<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"Vintage<\/a>
An example of an old-style movie camera with crank. Image via Everett Collection<\/a>.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To achieve this look today, you\u2019ll need either an interval timer or the ability to manually change frame rates. Some cameras (like my BMPCC 6K<\/a>) have both of these features built into the camera. To undercrank via changing the fps in camera, I can simply dive into the menu and manually bring the frame rate down to the desired rate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If I’m looking to shoot something at an extremely slow frame rate, I can head over to the interval timer and crank things down even further. Interval recording allows for extremely slow capture, such as shooting one frame every ten minutes. A lot of still photographers use this method to shoot time-lapse<\/a> material. If you own a DSLR and don’t have a built-in interval timer, you can always purchase an external intervalometer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Interval<\/a>
An example of an interval timer.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

While not all cameras have variable frame rate and interval timer shooting capabilities, you can achieve the same effect in post. With Adobe After Effects<\/a>, you can simply change the frame rate of a nested comp. Or, you can apply a Posterize Time effect to a layer and manually type in the desired frame rate. Here’s a closer look at how to use this effect<\/a> in both After Effects and Premiere Pro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, if undercranking gives jumping, jittery motion, why would you ever want to emulate this look? Here are five specific cases where you might want to bust out this technique next time you’re on set.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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1. Show the Passage of Time<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The most common use of undercranking is to capture time-lapse sequences<\/a>. Common shots of crowds, traffic, and skies are almost always more visually interesting when captured as a time-lapse. Some cameras allow you to slow the frame rate down manually, while others use interval timers. The shooting method you select will determine how you handle the footage in post. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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