Saturday 19 September 2015

When time stands still - animated perspectives

I was half-watching a not-very-good superhero movie on TV called X-men Days of the Future; when suddenly there was a scene of absolutely thrilling beauty which combined virtuoso special effects, script, acting, music to lift everything to a higher level.


The idea - as you probably gather - is that there is a switch of time perspective and back.

We see things from the perspective first of the majority of the people, then from the perspective of the featured character (the one with goggles and headphones) - and then back again to how the majority see things.

The featured character is the superhero Quicksilver, who can move so fast that the rest of the world seems to him extremely slow.

My guess is that the above scene was suggested by the comedy cartoon Over the Hedge, which I watched with my kids when it came-out. In the scene below there had been a big build-up to the squirrel Hammy being given an energy drink - and we, the audience, had been psyched from previous scenes to expect him to move extremely fast.

But instead:


(There is also a metaphysical, theological interest in all this if we substitute supernatural for superhero; which is maybe why these scenes seem so fascinating and moving.)

6 comments:

Leo said...

As I child (and some since) I have often thought of the advantages of being able to have extra time to get things done while others slept. Is that not part of the appeal of the First Resurrection? (Rev. 20:5)

Robert Brockman II said...

At this point it might be good for you to check out "World Record" -- a nine minute piece of The Animatrix. A rare thing, and something Christians would appreciate.

Anonymous said...

It had been done prior to that in an episode of Futurama, where the main character drank a bunch of coffee. The concept is fairly common in Flash comic books, but I assume it was too difficult to actually film with live actors until fairly recently.

Joel said...

There is a Wikipedia article for the technique: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullet_time

Anonymous said...

H.G. Wells got there even earlier in The New Accelerator (1901):

http://www.online-literature.com/wellshg/16/

Anonymous said...

Oh, yes, I forgot-- Arthur C. Clarke used the trope in his short story "All the Time in the World". It's not in public domain yet, but here is a link to a 1952 American TV adaptation:

http://www.hulu.com/watch/70147#i0,p20,d0