avr@hou2d.UUCP (Adam V. Reed) (06/12/87)
In article <1337@super.upenn.edu.upenn.edu>, tim@linc.cis.upenn.edu (Tim Finin) writes: > I have a similar question which might shed some light on our common > sense notions of time and acions: why did the six million dollar man > run so slowly? As you recall, the six million dollar man (from the > popular TV show in the early '70's) had bionic legs which enabled him > to run at super-human speeds. However, when the producers wanted to > show him doing this, they slowed down the image of him running. That > is, to depict him running at incredibly fast speeds, they showed an > image of him moving in "slow motion". > Id like to collect explanations for this fact. Slow motion is commonly used in TV (and before that, newsreel) reports to represent very fast motion (e.g. in horse races and other sports events). My guess is that this originated through use of free "photo finish" footage, originally filmed for the use of sport-event judges, in early movie newsreels. If my guess is right, the representation of fast movement with slow-motion footage uses a learned but highly familiar mental association. Adam Reed (hou2d!adam)
pattis@uw-june.UUCP (Richard Pattis) (06/13/87)
I've thought that the slowdown was not from the perspective of the viewer, but from the perspective of the the $6M man. The viewer, viewing from the frame of the $6M man, is moving so fast that everything else seems s, pureanotn!
mayerk@linc.cis.upenn.edu.UUCP (06/13/87)
Occaisionally, the producers _did_ show Lee Majors in a speeded up shot. The effect was comical. (As I recall, there was this old farmer watching from the porch of his house as Mr. $6million sprinted across his field.) I like the cougar metaphor. Wildlife films of such an animal in normal speed are choppy, incredibly brief, and usuall ends with the felling of the prey. In slow-mo we get a chance to see the beautiful detail of the predator flying by. From a cinematic viewpoint, the camera director/special effects director had to do something to show that Steve Austin wasn't simply jogging across a field like the rest of us. Slowing the file speed (and speeding up apparent time) looks comical, like an old Keystone Cops film. Stretching out the time line increases tension. The viewer gets a chance to examine more detail per sec. of real time. Exactly the way a novel will be incredibly brief during transitions, and excrutiatingly deatailed during climaxes. (I just finished reading Misery, by Stephen King. For a good reflective look at a writer's art, packaged in a really good thriller, borrow this book from the library for a summer weekend reader.) Kenneth Mayer mayerk@eniac.seas.upenn.edu
bobr@zeus.UUCP (06/15/87)
Because it was cheaper to take slow motion footage to show SOMETHING was happening than to make a believable high speed effect. Of course, they could taken blue screen shots of Steve Austin running normally and composited in a high speed background, but many of the shots involved his feet. Making a believable shot under those conditions would have been a lot more expensive. It is interesting to note that the recent reunion of the "bionic family" represented the new generation of bionic technology by having his son blur (it actually looked like defocused multiple exposures) during the slow motion "high speed" running shots. -- Robert Reed, Tektronix CAE Systems Division, bobr@zeus.TEK
coray@nucsrl.UUCP (Elizabeth) (06/25/87)
/ nucsrl:comp.ai / tim@linc.cis.upenn.edu (Tim Finin) / 11:47 pm Jun 11, 1987 / Why did the six million dollar man run so slowly? The guy moves slowly in the same way that a car accident happens "slowly". Slow motion simulates the increase in attention to detail and reaction times which go with an increase in adrenaline. This makes slow motion, oddly enough, exciting. The thing with the cougar is right on because the pedator in the hunt is just the sort of thing for which adrenaline evolved. M. E. Corey