My Question Does slow motion convey more meaning and emotion than real time?

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In terms of film photography, If you shoot at 24 frames per second and play 24 frames per second you get normal speed but playing it at 8 frames per second creates a slower version of that footage. Increasing that to 100 fps will display much longer and smoother footage. Using software like after effects can manipulate the footage to simulate slow motion but the results don’t compare to a real slow motion camera.

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In 1872 Eadwaerd Muybridge used a number of cameras to capture a horse running to see if all four of it legs could be off the ground at the same time, to view the film Muybridge used a Phena-kisto-scope to view it. This experiment is the first slow motion film to exist, claimed by Schrader.

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Stanley Kubrick used slow motion in many of his films, including The Shining, this screen shot shows a wave of blood flooding the hallways from the elevator. In real time the scene wouldn’t have the same impact as it does in slow motion. The scene would go too quickly for any one of comprehended and feel anything that Kubrick would have wanted people to feel. This scene does present an unsettlting aura and I could argue that this means death.

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The Slowmo guys on youtube have a large library of slow motion footage. In these scene shots you can see the change from flinching from the impact of the cork hitting him to the expression of pain that follows. The bottom screen shots show droplets impacting with each other at 5000 fps, which is 200 times slower than real-time. The duration of the slow motion was about 2 mins, but the in real time it was 0.6 second. Showing that time matters and were missing small events that we probably don’t think about.

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Hero Shots, showing protagonists in a sense of empowerment, that these people are either about to combat evil or walking away from an explosion, defining them selves as a badass or cool. This is a signature stamp in most action films. Most of these scenes show the protagonists emotionless but others like Reservoir Dogs show few protagonists showing emotion. The meaning of these scenes are simple and clear.

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Bill Viola uses slow motion in his pieces to convey emotion and meaning. One of his pieces The Quintet of the Astonished (2000) The clip shows five characters expression emotion, Compassion, shock, anger, fear and the 5th as Shimamura states it rapture. The film captures your attention, looking to each person trying to interpret the meaning behind it. I found the piece interesting thought provoking but can’t pin point the meaning. Again mentioning that without slow motion the effect would have a different meaning and feel, I feel that this enforces the argument that slow motion does convey more emotion and meaning. https://vimeo.com/15130088

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Professor Bridwhistell claims that “that there was no universal body language, even a smile “ I feel though this is not entirely true, though it does bring up an issue that a smile may not always be the same, especially when you consider the emotional aspect behind that expression. In slow motion these subtle expressions could undoubtly be picked up. Birdwhistell claims that humans can recognised 250,000 different fascial expressions, in the practise I wouldn’t abe to starch the surface of expressions that can be generated.

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Aim of this practice is to show emotion through slow motion and real time, I took three different clips incorporating different emotions and meanings behind them. In order to get the effect I wanted I used an Iphone 5S that could capture real slow motion. The raw clip contains the extra frames needed to make the footage smoother.

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The purpose for each video was to show some sort emotion and meaning behind that emotion. The reason to show the real time versions of each clip is show how fast these moments can go, and how easily people could idenify subtle details. The main reason is to give viewers time to process what's happening and react accordingly.

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The practise piece did what it was meant to do, definitely makes the footage more comprehensible in slow motion thus allowing time for observers to react to the emotion shown. But in future I would have covered a lot more emotions than the three. I would have also asked people about the practise to really determine the outcome was satisfactory.

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