When the demand for amazingly engaging videos is at an all-time high, the need for exploring different video effects is up too.

You may have tried video collages, and you may have rocked your videos with transitions like fade in/fade out, etc.

What’s next?

How about playing with your video’s speed and attracting your audience with that slow motion effect that’s all the rage?

Before we dive into the world of slow motion videos, understand what frame rate is and how does it affect your video’s speed by checking this article: What is Video Frame Rate and Why Should You Care

Now that you may have got a fair idea of how the frame rate defines your video’s speed, it’s time to know slow motion better.

What is Slow Motion?

Slow motion video clips are stretched out shots that are slower than the normal video speed.

Slow motion video clips are stretched out shots that are slower than the normal video speed.

For decades the effect has been used in movies and music clips to emphasize a shot. It works great for adding a dramatic feel to a video and increasing its atmospheric and visual appeal.

Why are slow motion videos important?

Slow motion footage is not a new phenomenon. From silent films and sports reels to action movies, the slow motion effect has made its presence felt in the world of visuals ever since its introduction in the early 20^th century.

And, boy, is it impactful.

Whether you use slow motion to capture a nature shot or show more action in detail, its importance is undeniable.

Whether you use slow motion to capture a nature shot or show more action in detail, its importance is undeniable.

Now, with marketers including slow motion footages in their videos, the craze isn’t one to fade anytime soon.

Take Apple’s “Slofie” feature, for example. The smartphone brand leaves no stone unturned to showcase its slow-mo feature with creative video ads like this one:

Need more inspiration?

Well, a popular example of a YouTube channel running on slow-motion-goodness is The Slow Mo Guys.

This channel is all about creating slow motion videos and has over 13 million subscribers and two billion total views.

Here’s their most popular video with over 8 million views.

Imagine the love people have for all things slow-mo.

When to use slow motion?

What better way to add intrigue to your videos than through the slow motion effect? And hey, it does much more than that.

Here’s when you can use this effect to jazz up your footage:

• To focus on a shot: Let’s be honest here, not all shots are emphasis-worthy. To focus on the most important shot in a video, slow motion is a brilliant tool to wield. Emphasizing a cinematic moment becomes easier when the video slows at the right time. Use the effect to catch your audience’s attention and to help them stick to your video a little longer than otherwise.
• To build suspense: The slow-mo effect is perfect for that ‘what happens next?‘ shot. By keeping the audience hooked to a sequence of events, slow-mo is excellent for creating suspense.
• To create an artistic effect: Whether you want to take your audience inside a character’s head or draw out emotions with an artistic effect, slow-mo works perfectly.
• To add more dimension to an action scene: It’s a great way to add more dimension to an action scene and create drama on a larger scale. Think of the fantastic cinematic battle sequences in the cult movie 300 and the oh-so-cool violence in The Matrix. You know the drill, right?
• To demonstrate a skill/style: Nothing works as great as slow motion to demonstrate a skill or style. No wonder it’s often used in sports to analyze the positions, movements, and techniques of sportspersons in detail.
• To replay a special moment: Talking of sports, how can we miss replays. And not just sports, slow motion is particularly effective in exhibiting more significant levels of detail about what happened during the micro-seconds of a special moment.
• To observe natural phenomena: Want to capture a natural phenomenon? Slow motion is your best friend. From stormy mountain rivers to animals in action, when it comes to capturing natural wonders with slow motion, the sky’s the limit. Here’s a video from the BBC Earth Unplugged where you can observe animals in slow motion and see the otherwise impossible details.

 

How to make slow motion videos?

You might think that creating a slow motion video is difficult. The reality, however, differs. Here’s how you can make slow motion videos in two easy ways:

1. Shoot with the slow motion effect

To record slow motion footage with digital video cameras and DSLRs, pick a faster frame rate (120 FPS or even 240 FPS) and then play it at a normal rate. While you can always shoot at 24 FPS or 30 FPS, which is usually a standard movie recording speed, the results won’t really be smooth and flawless.

2. Apply the effect post-production

If you don’t have a slow motion camera or don’t wish to use one, you can slow your video footage post-production with a slow motion tool.

Don’t let the term “post-production” freak you out. Adding the slow motion effect isn’t a painstaking process, at least not with Wave.video.

Here’s how you can use Wave.video to get creative and speed down your videos.

• Upload your video or choose a template. You can also pick a stock video from our superb library.
• Go to the video editor and choose the speed. The default video speed is 1. You can select anything less than 1 to make your video slower.

And that’s all you need to create super impressive slow motion videos with Wave.video.

Slow it down!

From luxe fashion videos to holiday cooking videos, slow motion can add that fun element to any video footage. So, get going and make the most of this incredible effect because adding that slow-mo love to your videos has never been easier.

Have you ever made slow motion videos? If yes, how did your audience react? Let us know in the comments below!