The Timescale Experiment. in the Vimeo Projects Forum

adam deeves 3 months ago

Do you want to take part in a small video experiment?

It’s simple to do and the results should be quite entertaining.

The experiment is split into two parts.

The first part can be completed by anyone with a video camera and a musical instrument. Ideally this instrument would be an electric guitar but realistically anything will do.

You don’t even need to be able to play the instrument competently; all you need to be able to do is play a low C note.

While watching this video: vimeo.com/982628 , record yourself playing the low C every time a block hits the line near the top of the screen.

The video doesn’t move very fast and lasts about two minutes so it shouldn’t be difficult.

You can do whatever you want while playing so long as the instrument is audible, you only play a low C throughout, and you correspond playing this note as close as possible to the timing of the animation.

Upload the result and add a link to it in this thread.

Once this first part has been completed, instructions for the second part will be revealed.
Phantom Moose Films 3 months ago

What does completed signify? I am quite interested in this experiment and I will probably make a video for you. Do you need to see the video playing in the background for this experiment to work?
adam deeves 3 months ago

You don't need to see the instructional video. I'm supposed to be working at the moment so I won't be able to explain any more until I get home. Thanks for the interest.
Phantom Moose Films 3 months ago

Cool. I'll see if I can find a low C on my guitar and try to record a video this afternoon.
ed 3 months ago

Will a electric uklele C string do?
adam deeves 3 months ago

It should work fine so long as it's a low note.
dunno 3 months ago

vimeo.com/984236
adam deeves 3 months ago

Thanks very much. I wasn't sure if anyone would do it. The second part needs a detailed explanation but I'm supposed to be working at the moment so you'll have to wait about seven hours I'm afraid.

Stay tuned.
adam deeves 3 months ago

Thanks to slow rendering, I found the time.
adam deeves 3 months ago

The second part requires editing software that changes the pitch of audio when its speed is adjusted (such as Final Cut).

You need to place your video (or someone else’s downloadable video) in a timeline and add a cut to the beginning of each of the frames where a note begins.

- In Final Cut, this can be achieved utilising Audio Scrubbing (shift + S) to find the frames, and with Linked Selection enabled, adding a cut with the razor tool.

You then need to adjust the speed of each of these sixty-four chunks, so that they are all seven frames long (at 30fps. If you’re using a 25fps timeline, make them six frames).

- Again in Final Cut, ctrl or right click on the linked chunk, then in Speed… change the Duration to 00:00:00:07, or just 7.

I appreciate this may take a while but the result should be interesting.

The final note isn’t needed. It just gave a marker for the last cut.

Once you’ve rendered, the speed-adjusted notes (in theory) should produce a recognisable tune.

Upload the results and post a link here.
dunno 3 months ago

I have a PC and therefore do not have FCP, so this may be an issue.

I might be able to get one of my buddies to do it but I don't know how long that'll take. I'll see what I can do.
Phantom Moose Films 3 months ago

Still being converted, but here's me doing the first part. I'm actually rendering the second part right now, so I'll have that up pretty soon.

vimeo.com/986947
Phantom Moose Films 3 months ago

And now I've uploaded part 2. It's still being converted. I hope I did it all correctly.

vimeo.com/987123
adam deeves 3 months ago

I can't wait to see it. It's still waiting in line.

Did it make a tune?
Phantom Moose Films 3 months ago

Sort of. I didn't recognize it, but it's still very cool.
adam deeves 3 months ago

Haha. That's great. Thanks for doing that. It almost worked. I won't say what the tune is supposed to be just yet because I want to see if anything comes from dunno's contribution. Your result sounds like a creepy version but then again I know what it's supposed to be.

I really appreciate your work here. I really didn't think anyone would respond, let alone get it done within a day. Thanks very much.
Phantom Moose Films 3 months ago

No problem. It was lots of fun! :-)
dunno 3 months ago

Haha awesome! Sounds Slashing! I haven't done anything to mine yet, I haven't gotten the video to my friend. How the hell did you figure this out?
adam deeves 3 months ago

I can't wait to see how yours turns out. I would do it myself but I won't be able for a few days, as I need to use someone else's software to convert a wmv.

I realised that if you double the speed of a clip, the sound becomes an octave higher so with this in mind you can work out how much one note's speed needs to be increased for it to become another and create a music scale based on time.

The ratio of each note to the next one up is around 1 : 1.104 and about 1 : 1.051 to sharpen it.

In this case all the notes are based on the low C having a duration of 00:28 frames. Different notes are achieved by adjusting this duration (to the nearest frame) using the ratio. So D's duration is 01:01 (28 x 1.104), and E's is 01:04 (28 x 1.104 x 1.104 or 28 x 1.219).

So the first eight notes are:

D 1.104 x 00:28 = 01:01
D 2.208 x 00:28 = 02:02
A 1.641 x 00:28 = 01:16
G 1.486 x 00:28 = 01:12
G 2.972 x 00:28 = 02:23
A 1.641 x 00:28 = 01:16
F# 2.828 x 00:28 = 02:19
A 1.641 x 00:28 = 01:16

It was great to bring a human element back into it and see whether a tune would be recognisable after asking other people to try and play frame accurate durations.

I'm not sure what to do with this idea now. Maybe it could be utilised by taking a long piece of video with a constant tone or hum (such as someone vacuum cleaning), work out what key the footage is in and create a relevant song (like Queen's I Want To Break Free) by adjusting its speed.

Anyway thanks for helping on this. It was good to see the idea come to life through other people.
iamdamion 2 months ago

from the finished one that was posted, it sounds like sweet child o mine.