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Slow motion is a technique in filmmaking whereby time appears to be slowed down. Typically this is achieved when each Film frame is captured at a rate much faster than it will be played back. When replayed at normal speed, time appears to be moving slower. The technical term for slow motion is '''overcranking'''.

Slow motion is ubiquitous in modern filmmaking. It is used by diverse directors to achieve diverse effects. Some classic subjects of slow motion include:

  • Athletics diving, to demonstrate skill and style, or to recapture a key moment in a ball game. These scenes are often shown as a Replay .

  • Natural phenomena, such as a drop of water hitting a glass.


Slow motion can also be used for artistic effect, to create a romantic aura or suspense or naturally to stress a moment in time. Vsevolod Pudovkin , for instance, used slow motion in a suicide scene in ''The Deserter'', in which a man jumping into a river seems sucked down by the slowly splashing waves. Another example is '' Face/Off '', in which John Woo used the same technique in the movements of a flock of flying Pigeon s. '' The Matrix '' made a distinct success in applying the effect into action scenes.

The opposite of slow motion is Fast Motion . Cinematographers refer to fast motion as undercranking since it was originally achieved by cranking a handcranked camera slower than normal.

A VCR may have the option of slow motion playback, sometimes at various speeds; this can be applied to any normally recorded scene.
The concept of slow motion may have existed before the invention of the motion picture: e.g. a Japanese form of theatre ( Noh ) employs very slow movements.

Japanese director Akira Kurosawa was a pioneer using this technique in his 1954 movie '' The Seven Samurai ''. American Sam Peckinpah was another classic lover of the use of slow motion.


HOW SLOW MOTION WORKS


There are two ways in which slow motion can be achieved in modern cinematography. Both involve a camera and a projector. A projector refers to a classical film projector in a movie theatre, but the same basic rules apply to a television screen and any other device that displays consecutive images at a constant frame rate.


Overcranking