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Learn About 'The Art of Slow Motion in Film' with a New Video Essay

by Alex Billington
June 8, 2016
Source: YouTube

"We have no control of time. Except, of course, you're a filmmaker." There's an excellent new video essay made by Julian Palmer to check out, this one all about the use of slow motion. The video examines the slow motion work in films ranging from Ingmar Bergman's Wild Strawberries (1957) to many of Scorsese's films including Mean Streets (1973) and Taxi Driver (1976) to recent films like Zack Snyder's Watchmen (2009), Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker (2008), Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive (2011) and Pete Travis' Dredd (2012), which had a crazy cool slo-mo storyline. Of course there's the scene in The Matrix, because it's so iconic. There's plenty to admire and plenty to learn in this video essay on slow motion, so check it out.

Here's the video essay from Julian Palmer titled "The Art of Slow Motion" (thanks to TFS for the tip):

In addition, check out this older video essay from CineFix profiling 10 of their favorite slow motion scenes:

"Slow Motion is one of the oldest (and best!) tricks in the filmmaker’s playbook. Showing the action at half speed can add gravitas, drama, or old-fashioned epic-ness to any shot." For the full list of films featured in Julian Palmer's video essay, click "Show More" on the YouTube page. That great opening sequence from Watchmen is one of my favorites, and I love the Quicksilver scenes in the recent X-Men movies, but there are many classics that have great slo-mo moments: Hard Boiled, Casino, The Untouchables, Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, Platoon. These are the kind of fascinating video essays that should inspire filmmakers to pay careful attention to the cinematic tool at their disposal, and to use slow motion carefully and meticulously for the most powerful effect. See more of Julian's videos on YouTube. What's your favorite slow mo scene?