Extending on-screen time : investigating the effect of slow motion on the viewer

Abstract

"It's a well-known fact that everything looks cooler in slow motion" This was a youtube video description of a compilation of slow motion videos and films, mostly related to sports. Most of the people you would ask would generally agree with such a comment. Thus the question arises; Does slow motion innately transform a visual into a more beautiful, romantic or more emotionally engaging scene? The purpose of this research is to delve into the reasons for such a comment and analyse this filmmaking technique in its various uses in the visual media. It will investigate why filmmakers choose this visual effect so frequently in their productions. Extending on-screen time is a practice based research which will investigate the way extended time in visual art changes the perception of the image and sequential narrative when compared to real-time imagery. The project part of this paper was to produce a short film intended to be viewed in slow motion whilst the research part of this paper will use quantitative and qualitative research methods to answer the question of whether the viewer sees and engages differently with slow motion visuals rather than with real time visuals.