Slow and Steady Motion
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Earlier this week I wrote a post about how to achieve really nice slow motion on a video camera, an effect that usually looks terrible. Good slo-mo is now a reality, but so what? Do we really need it? Isn't it just another gimmick we can live without?
Slow motion has been around probably as long as the moving image itself. Someone (probably Edison, who invented the movie camera) figured out that if you shoot more frames than normal, then play them at regular speed, everything slows way down. Called "overcranking", this technique is still used on film cameras, which use motors to speed up the process rather than an energetic cinematographer.
Like any effect, it can be overused, but it does have purpose. Slow footage introduces a dreamlike state, creating surreality that can increase drama by extending time. A foot soldier takes a full minute to run across a dangerous minefield. A glass drops and shatters into a thousand discernible shards. A couple freezes as they see each other on a now-slow dance floor. Could shampoo companies sell as much as they do without slo-mo hair cascading down from a beautiful woman's head?
There is a definite cool factor associated with slow motion. It's been elusive for so long in the video world, that I herald its arrival. It's a great effect that can make all the difference in the world.
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