Have you watched The Matrix, then you must vividly remember The government Lobby shootout scene — it is rated as the best slow motion action shot. These shots are added to make the scene more theatrical and intense.
Slow Motion refers to the effect in videos where time appears to be slowed down. The idea is very simple but the fundamentals are counter-intuitive. High-speed cameras make things appear to move slowly. High-speed cameras have the feature of high frame rate. We often view a video at 24 frames per second. What would happen if you view a very fast frame rate video at a slower rate? Right! It will appear to become slow. Perhaps, we can play a 24 FPS video to some lower rate, let’s say 6 FPS, then the video will become one-fourth times slower than the actual video. But it will definitely lack the fluidity. We can achieve the real sense of slow-mo by using a really expensive shooting device or using post processing softwares. The feat of technology has allowed us to shoot slow-mo videos on our phone. Then again we also have techniques to speed up the video, this process is known as “undercranking”.
Just because it is shot at a higher frame rate, the shutter speed is high, thus less light hits the sensor of the camera. This makes the whole video dark. To compensate for it, ISO is boosted. Which is why there is noise when you shoot a slo-mo on your phone.
But why is this cinematic technique of slow-mo so intoxicating? Slow-mo is often used to portray how you would perceive the world when on adrenaline high. Slo-Mo helps in discovering the intricacies of the scene and more importantly it is so powerful that it can make you forget everything else in the scene. It accentuates the feeling, action, effect and phenomenon. Being slow, there is a subtle feeling of sadness and intenseness. It has the ability to enhance the drama.
From photography to slow motion videos, this is not just a feat of technology but an aesthetic tool for storytelling be it movies or sports or house party.