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Overcranking

Shooting at higher frame rates slows action in playback, opposite of undercranking yet born from the same hand-crank era.


Technical Principle

If footage is captured at 60 fps and projected at 24 fps, on-screen movement runs at 40 % real-time. Overcranking demands increased exposure or brighter lighting: doubling fps halves light per frame.

Cinematic Hallmarks

Sam Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch intercut 24 fps with 120 fps gunshots, birthing “balletic” violence. Sports replays rely on 300–600 fps bursts so umpires assess minutiae—cleat on base, puck across line.

Hybrid Frame-Rate Storytelling

Recent actioners jump between 24, 48, and 120 fps mid-scene to modulate adrenaline. IMAX HFR systems (Gemini Man, Avatar 2) aim for immersive clarity but polarise audiences over “soap-opera” smoothness.

Trivia

The term “crank” persists in DP jargon, though no one has hand-cranked a studio feature since the 1930s.


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