Slow Motion meme · memes.md

Slow Motion, also known as "slowmo," is a video-editing technique that stretches recorded footage across additional frames so time appears to crawl on playback[1]. Invented by an Austrian priest in 1904 and popularized on YouTube by channels like The Slowmo Guys, it became a go-to format for popping water balloons, high-frame-rate gunfire clips, and the iPhone 5S bounce videos that took over Reddit in 2013[2].

Origin

The technique itself was invented by August Musger, an Austrian Catholic priest and physicist who modified a film projector with a mirrored drum to slow the projected image[5]. He filed his patent in 1904 and demonstrated the device publicly for the first time in 1907 at a cinema in Graz, Styria[5]. Filmmakers later achieved the same look with a camera trick called "overcranking," running the camera at a high frame rate and playing footage back at standard speed[1].

The web's earliest dedicated hub for slow motion clips, Ultraslo, went online on October 14th, 2005, offering a library of high-frame-rate videos long before YouTube supported the format natively[4]. That site laid the groundwork for slow motion's YouTube era, which arrived with Colin Colenso's May 30th, 2006 billiard-ball video[6].

Platform: Cinema (invention) / YouTube (viral spread)
Creator: August Musger (inventor of the technique)
Date: 1904

Overview

Slow motion clips online tend to fall into a few recognizable buckets: destructive impacts like balloons bursting or watermelons exploding, high-speed weapons and projectiles, and animals or humans filmed at hundreds or thousands of frames per second[1]. The footage is captured with a high frame rate camera (or, from 2013 onward, generated by software interpolation) and played back at 24 or 30 fps, which stretches a fraction of a second into many seconds of screen time[3].

The format took off online because ordinary events look completely different when slowed down. A face reacting to a soccer ball, water droplets hanging in the air, or a bullet exiting a barrel all read as small science experiments the eye normally cannot see[4]. Channels like The Slowmo Guys built entire careers around this reveal, and Reddit communities like /r/SlowMotion built around collecting the best clips[8].

By 2013 the technique moved from specialist gear into the average phone. YouTube added a native slowmo enhancement to its editor[3], and Apple shipped a 120 fps slow-mo mode on the iPhone 5S, which put the format directly in users' pockets and immediately produced a wave of viral clips[2].

How It Spread

The YouTube breakout came on May 30th, 2006, when Colin Colenso uploaded a clip of billiard balls colliding in slow motion, a video that pulled more than 5.52 million views over the following seven years[6]. Less than a year later, on March 31st, 2007, the Ultraslo YouTube channel posted footage of a firearm being discharged at a very high frame rate, which passed 7.28 million views[7]. The /r/SlowMotion subreddit was created on March 14th, 2009, giving fans a central place to share new finds[8].

The GIF era pushed the format further into general internet culture. On November 2nd, 2012, Redditor EABACA posted a Luger pistol firing GIF to /r/guns, which cleared 5,600 upvotes before being archived[11]. About six weeks later on December 18th, Redditor Weldz submitted a missile-launch GIF to /r/woahdude that took over 5,800 upvotes across the next five months[10]. In the same window, The Slowmo Guys, launched August 15th, 2010, hit roughly 219 million views and 2 million subscribers by May 2013, driven by hits like a giant water balloon bursting and a soccer ball to the face[7].

Two events in 2013 opened the format to everyone. On May 28th, YouTube added a slow motion enhancement to its editor, letting any uploader slow a video down to 1/8 speed without high-speed camera hardware[3]. Then on September 20th, Apple released the iPhone 5S with a 720p 120 fps slow-mo mode built into the iSight camera[2]. Two days after launch, Redditor HoboStabz posted a clip titled "Testing out the new iPhone slow-mo camera on my girlfriend boobs," which cleared 567,000 views and 2,300 comments in 24 hours and spawned the /r/SloMoBoobs subreddit[9].

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Slow Motion?

Slow Motion, or "slowmo," is a video-editing and camera technique that inserts additional frames into recorded footage so time appears to move slower on playback[1].

Where did Slow Motion come from?

The effect was invented by Austrian priest August Musger, who patented it in 1904 and demonstrated it in 1907 at a cinema in Graz, Styria[5].

What does Slow Motion mean?

Technically it means stretching a short window of real time across more display frames, either by shooting at a very high frame rate and playing back at normal speed or by software interpolation[1].

How do you use Slow Motion?

Common workflows are shooting at 120 to 1000+ fps and playing back at 24 or 30 fps, or applying YouTube's built-in slowmo enhancement introduced in May 2013[3].

Is Slow Motion still popular?

Slow motion is a classic online format, still central to channels like The Slowmo Guys, which had already passed 219 million views and 2 million subscribers by 2013[7].

Who invented slow motion?

Austrian Catholic priest and physicist August Musger, who filed the patent in 1904 and gave the first public demonstration in Graz in 1907[5].

What is Ultraslo?

Ultraslo is the earliest known hub site dedicated to slow motion videos, launched on October 14th, 2005[4].

What did the iPhone 5S do for slow motion?

The iPhone 5S, released September 20th, 2013, shipped a 720p 120 fps slow-mo mode in its iSight camera, putting the format in ordinary users' hands[2].