Slowing down time (in writing & film) - Aaron Sitze
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0:14 - 0:17I got in my first car accident when I was sixteen.
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0:17 - 0:19I had just gotten my license and I was driving home
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0:19 - 0:21when a car pulled into the intersection
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0:21 - 0:23and bang! It hit me.
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0:23 - 0:24It had happened that quick.
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0:24 - 0:25Bang!
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0:25 - 0:26But when I play that memory back,
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0:26 - 0:28it doesn't take two seconds.
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0:28 - 0:32I see the tires of the car rolling through the stop sign,
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0:32 - 0:33I have time to think,
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0:33 - 0:36"You know, I think that car is going to hit me."
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0:36 - 0:38I see the right-hand corner of the hood
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0:38 - 0:39crumple up like tin foil,
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0:39 - 0:42I see the red paint flake off and drift off into the air,
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0:42 - 0:46I can see all of that, like it's happening in slow motion.
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0:46 - 0:50In my memory, that experience takes ten seconds.
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0:50 - 0:51But why?
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0:51 - 0:52Why did that memory play back longer
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0:52 - 0:54than the actual time it took?
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0:54 - 0:56This is an interesting phenomenon
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0:56 - 0:58and it's not just for car accidents,
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0:58 - 0:59a roller coaster,
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0:59 - 1:00or a first kiss.
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1:00 - 1:04These events seem to take longer than they actually take.
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1:04 - 1:05But why?
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1:05 - 1:07And when it comes to writing about that experience,
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1:07 - 1:11how do I get that peculiar feeling across?
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1:11 - 1:14How do I slow down time as a writer?
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1:14 - 1:17To get the answer, we have to visit Hollywood.
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1:17 - 1:19You see, the way filmmakers create slow motion
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1:19 - 1:22will tell us a lot about how writers can create slow motion.
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1:22 - 1:24First, let's remember how film works.
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1:24 - 1:27When the camera turns on, it's not recording motion,
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1:27 - 1:30it's taking lots and lots of individual pictures.
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1:30 - 1:34Then when those pictures are played back in the projector,
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1:34 - 1:37they blend together and create the appearance of motion,
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1:37 - 1:39like a flip book.
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1:39 - 1:41So, let's imagine that a camera man needs
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1:41 - 1:43to film his actress skipping through a field of daisies
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1:43 - 1:45in regular motion.
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1:45 - 1:47Ready, action.
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1:47 - 1:49She skips across the field,
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1:49 - 1:50he records it,
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1:50 - 1:52and...cut.
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1:52 - 1:53Let's say for the sake of easy math
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1:53 - 1:56that our camera man took 50 pictures,
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1:56 - 1:5950 little frames on that length of film.
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1:59 - 2:02Now, let's take that film and play it back
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2:02 - 2:06at the rate of 50 frames per 5 seconds.
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2:06 - 2:07This rate is constant,
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2:07 - 2:09the projector will always go at the same speed.
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2:09 - 2:14It's easy, we got 50 frames, so our film takes 5 seconds.
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2:14 - 2:17She skips across the field...
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2:17 - 2:19...and cut!
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2:19 - 2:22So, then, how do we slow down time in film?
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2:22 - 2:24How do we create slow motion?
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2:24 - 2:28Maybe this is a surprise, but we don't take less pictures,
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2:28 - 2:31we take more pictures.
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2:31 - 2:32Ready, action!
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2:32 - 2:34She skips across the field,
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2:34 - 2:35he records it,
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2:35 - 2:37and cut.
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2:37 - 2:41Now we have a lot of film, a long length,
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2:41 - 2:43let's say 100 frames long.
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2:43 - 2:45Now, when we play it back,
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2:45 - 2:48it takes a longer time to get through,
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2:48 - 2:51and there's the actress in slow motion.
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2:51 - 2:57Skipping through the field of daisies!
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2:57 - 2:58Which brings us now to writing.
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2:58 - 3:00When you're writing a narrative,
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3:00 - 3:03you may want to use slow motion in one of your scenes.
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3:03 - 3:05It's a cool effect, just like it is in Hollywood,
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3:05 - 3:08and it draws the reader's attention to important moments.
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3:08 - 3:09Well, here's how you do it.
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3:09 - 3:11You see, when we read,
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3:11 - 3:13our brain makes the words into pictures
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3:13 - 3:15and the pictures blend into action.
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3:15 - 3:18So what we read is what we see
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3:18 - 3:20in the time it takes us to read it.
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3:20 - 3:22For example, imagine you're writing a narrative
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3:22 - 3:25about your game-winning free throw in the championship game.
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3:25 - 3:27Here's a moment as a writer
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3:27 - 3:29that you might want to slow down time
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3:29 - 3:32to really capture the second-by-second tension
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3:32 - 3:34produced by the scene.
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3:34 - 3:35You concentrate,
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3:35 - 3:36you put the pencil to paper,
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3:36 - 3:38you really want to slow down time,
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3:38 - 3:39you write,
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3:39 - 3:41"I shot the ball in the hoop.
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3:41 - 3:44Time slowed down. Then we won."
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3:44 - 3:47To read that, takes two seconds;
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3:47 - 3:51therefore, your reader imagines a scene that takes two seconds.
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3:51 - 3:53Ball goes up, comes down, done.
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3:53 - 3:56See, even though you wrote, "time slowed down,"
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3:56 - 3:58you didn't achieve that effect for your reader.
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3:58 - 4:00Just saying it doesn't make it happen.
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4:00 - 4:02Now, let's take what we make about film,
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4:02 - 4:04time slows down with more pictures,
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4:04 - 4:06and try again.
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4:06 - 4:10This time write A LOT more.
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4:10 - 4:12"I bent my knees and held the ball loosely.
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4:12 - 4:15Letting the ball bounce on the floor once more,
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4:15 - 4:16I gathered my thoughts.
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4:16 - 4:18This was the moment.
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4:18 - 4:22My right arm extended as I released the ball with a gentle flick,
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4:22 - 4:27it rotated slightly as it arched toward the rim.
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4:27 - 4:29I held my breath.
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4:29 - 4:32The ball nudged the back rim,
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4:32 - 4:37falling through the net with a gentle, satisfying swish.
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4:37 - 4:41And the crowd exploded from their seats."
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4:41 - 4:45See, we just slowed down time through our writing.
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4:45 - 4:46The bottom line is this:
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4:46 - 4:49there are moments in life that take longer
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4:49 - 4:50than they actually take.
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4:50 - 4:52When you're planning out your narrative,
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4:52 - 4:54think about those moments,
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4:54 - 4:57those snippets of life that took longer than the watch:
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4:57 - 4:59the moment of hearing bad news,
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4:59 - 5:01the moment of hearing good news,
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5:01 - 5:05the moment of exhilaration when you realize you hit the jump,
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5:05 - 5:09or the moment when you realize you aren't going to land it.
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5:09 - 5:11Once you identify these moments in your narrative,
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5:11 - 5:14you can use this effect of slow motion when you write.
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5:14 - 5:18Just remember, it's not enough to say, "time slowed down"
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5:18 - 5:21and it's not enough to throw a couple adjectives
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5:21 - 5:23in a sentence and call it done either.
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5:23 - 5:25Descriptive writing is good writing, that's true.
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5:25 - 5:30But if you want to express the feeling of slow motion in life,
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5:30 - 5:32you have to actually take up
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5:32 - 5:35more physical space on the page,
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5:35 - 5:37use more film so to speak.
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5:37 - 5:39In doing so, you will create tension
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5:39 - 5:41and keep your reader interested.
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5:41 - 5:42And that way, the next time you write,
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5:42 - 5:45you'll control the camera of your own writing.
- Title:
- Slowing down time (in writing & film) - Aaron Sitze
- Description:
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View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/slowing-down-time-in-writing-film-aaron-sitze
Certain moments in our lives seem to last forever. Whether it is a first kiss or a car crash, time can can seem to stretch...or even stop. Aaron Sitze explains how this sensation is conveyed in cinema and how the same conventions can be used to slow down time in your writing.
Lesson by Aaron Sitze, animation by TED-Ed.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TED-Ed
- Duration:
- 06:00
Bedirhan Cinar approved English subtitles for Slowing down time (in writing & film) - Aaron Sitze | ||
Bedirhan Cinar accepted English subtitles for Slowing down time (in writing & film) - Aaron Sitze | ||
Bedirhan Cinar edited English subtitles for Slowing down time (in writing & film) - Aaron Sitze | ||
Andrea McDonough edited English subtitles for Slowing down time (in writing & film) - Aaron Sitze | ||
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