Why is slow motion so fascinating?
 

vote and then eat a peach.

Because it's a shock to the senses.

Eat my peach.

Because it makes everything look all so pretty.

you didn't even wait for the poll, you bus tards!! :D

because you get to see things you that would never get to see with your normal eyes
same reason why drugs are fun :P

So did I, but probably for different reasons to you.

I don't know if slow motion is fascinating, except that in that it gives the opportunity to inspect the details that get missed at full speed.

But do you find that there is music that when you visualise it being played, you always see it in slow motion? I can't think of titles at the moment, but there's a song by Dinosaur Jr and one by Queens Of The Stone Age [edit - "In My Head", I think] that, when I hear them, I always visualise a video in slow motion.

Is the song by Dinosaur Jr either 'Yeah, We Know' or 'Not The Same'? They both fit a slow-mo visualisation.

After a bit of research, no, it's "Budge". It's quite a fast song, but for some reason it has a slow-motion feel to me - possibly J Mascis' vocal delivery.

this is why slo mo is cool.....

right here....

Sigur Ros and Godspeed You Black Emperor make me feel nauseated with slow motion, particularly on songs like GSBE's 'The Dead Flag Blues', which is an exercise in trying to create an epic from the perspective of concealed pompous musicians.

There are pieces by Alan Curves and Ernst Reijseger or La Monte Young that wonderfully display an ability of making the listener's visual imagination first entranced and then slowly moving, amongst others people.

An example in rock music is a particularly mean version of VU's 'Sister Ray' by Lou Reed on a bootleg called 'Whatever Happened To Dick and Steve' where Reed slows down his singing mid-song in a totally demented and ridiculous way, thus hitting on the listener's visualisation of the lyrics in an unexpected way. He does the same on the original version of the song, but I prefer it on this bootleg because it is a more early-70's rock version of the song with this weird bit of singing and playing in the middle.

slow motion in films is the single most over-used and trite camera trick to add "meaning" or seemingly add "meaning" to a scene devoid of it. I think it is a cheap and easy trick and it sucks when I see it in movies too much.
I love wes anderson but that fucker does this every ten minutes, put on some hoary old chestnut from the 70's AM radio and have his characters walk somewhere in slow motion.

I HATE IT!

sunday!

There's a gracefulness to the rhythm and flow of slow motion that, if done right, is not unlike ballet or a line of prose from a Nabakov novel. Everything is in balance, and yet unfolding.

do it slo mo and it fools the human brain into thinking it is "graceful" and "elegant" and "meaningful"....BULSHIT I say!!!

You could have footage of Preznit Dubya blowing his nose into a handkerchief, and if you do it in slow moption, someone will see it and cry because they were "so moved"

HA! I say!

Just because it "fools the human brain" doesn't mean it's bullshit. Everything fools the human brain. You fool.

bullshit I say!!!!!

true meaning is gathered utilizing intelligence and wisdom and savvy, not implied by a movie TRICK!

read up on it! everyone from bergman to hitchcock to eastwood to spielberg knows slo mo in film is a cheap trick

Okay, so it's cheap. It works.

Well, even lighting is, but if it's done properly, why bash it "prejudicially" (<--?) ? I understand what you mean, but you're generalize a bit too much, eh!

the same three chord changes that are used in nearly every single romantic song "work" too, but that does not mean it is not BULLSHIT.

I think it's cheap if it's overused. But in the right places, at the right time, it can be perfect.

But if they're used well, what's wrong with using the same three chords?

Stop being so churlish, oh, bearded one.

it's called BOREDOm gmku!

sonic boredom, visual boredom, etc.

I agree that when used well a slo mo shot can enhance a film, that is obvious, but I rail against it's use in countless movies where it IS a cheap trick to make you "feel" an emotion that is not coveyed without the slo mo.

there are way too many filmmakers doing this, as well as too many filmmakers doing everything with the hand-held "unsteady" cam.

W.................H.........................A..... ...................T..................E...VVVVVVVV VEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.............RRRRRRRRRRRRRR RR))))))))))))))))))))))))

.................jaaaaaaaaammmmmmmmmm............. .....

im off to bed to watch Alien
prob fall asleep after 10 mins because im dead tired and its 2:35

sleep tight people

and so im not too off topic

theres slow motion in the matrix bla bla

Is there any slow motion in Alien?

Remember Raging Bull when he sees his child-bride at the gangster's table? He seeths with jealousy and the camera does a slow-mo pan.

Would it feel the same in real-time? Well, would it?

Yep, that's my point. It's appropriate for moments when nothing else would have the same impact. It has its place, definitely--just one more tool for the filmmaker.

no shit. everything i ahve said is that I hate it's OVER-USE by fucking loser ass ex-music video directors who use it to instill meaning where there is none.

scorsese uses very few slow motion elements and does it to great effect.

Wow, well, I sure must be an idiot, because I sure didn't get that from what you were saying earlier, Rob. My apologies.

I've also been cutting back on coffee. I may have to forget about that plan. I feel stupider without my caffeine.

Can we agree that when film techniques are used well, they are good?
When they are used poorly, they are bad?

I think we've broken new ground here. I feel a thesis project coming on.

used well or used poorly, my thing is that slo-mo is OVERUSED, when looking at the movies of the last ten years.

The use of slow motion, time-lapse, etc, can work wonders in a film. A Good filmmaker will use these techniques to stress a moment in time.

Bullet time took it a step further by producing an orbiting viewpoint of an action in slow motion.
It made films like the Matrix a jaw-dropping experience to watch.

sus















pense

I've always thought it's funny because normal people sounding like wasted, dumbfounded old men is just too much.

Tension Mother Fucker!

because ever since the 1950s, the visual effects of hallucinogenic substances have permeated our pop culture. squares demand such effects minus the drugs and thus explains the special effects of modern movies and video games... the are obessesed with tripping, and this also explains the fascination with slow motion... i say

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to SuchFriendsAreDangerous again.


i think you may be right

I have been meditating on this very issue since I was ten and first heard about acid, and kept the vibe alive until my first psychedelic experience five years later. there is much more evidence then just my own fried out mind, most world culture embraces both hallucinogens and in particular hallucinogenic imagery, from Central America, Africa, Asia, Europe world-wide. I'd say special effects and images are just the 21st century equivilant to peyote art

...ive been watching this a lot... (my neighbor got the box set for xmas)

...i'd say the slow motion and time lapse photography is so fascinating because it reveals things we don't normally percieve...