Slow motion is a thing of beauty. When an everyday process or action is decelerated and shown hundreds of times slower, you see a hidden layer. A layer of beauty in the mundane. A layer of simplicity in the complex. A level of understanding of a natural process you couldn’t perceive without the aid of technology.

High Speed cameras such as the Phantom HD, as used in Discovery Channels Planet Earth, allow us to see nature, animals, humans and actions with incredible detail. Every bead of sweat, every rippling muscle, every chain reaction, happen before our eyes. The amount of applications for such technology are countless: Education, Health, Research and most of all, Fun!

This video is quite jarring. It shows a bullet, a hollow point bullet, going through a large piece of gelatin. The video is slowed down so that you can actually see the bullet rip through the piece of gelatin and cause a layer of ripples and deformations. This shows the sheer destructiveness of one bullet, and it doesn’t even hit a hard surface! What’s sad is that a video like this was most likely made to sell a type of bullet or weapon, and not prevent the use of such a destructive force.

In my opinion the best commercial ever made. I’ve never wanted
to try Schweppes sparkling water until now. Whatever genius marketing team, advertising team or director came up with this idea… Bravo! Perfectly integrated slow motion video with music and a great message. I don’t think anyone could every grow tired of watching slow motion water balloons explode.

When you run out of ideas of what to film in slow motion (which has to be hard) you resort to the weird. Why not fill up a plastic bottle full of red water and have someone slice through it with a razor sharp sword with pinpoint accuracy? The video gives off a violent undertone as the red water splashes away from it’s container. This further demonstrates the sheer destructiveness of violence. High speed video cameras can be used as a tool to educate the masses about the danger of man made violence, by showing the action in a speed in which someone can fully comprehend the power.

This sequence of slow motion videos is a compilation of water balloon’s to the face. It is shown from different angles and the video is mirrored to add an extra level of depth to the insane amount of water that appear to be drenching its victims.

If strawberries are an aphrodisiac for you and you’re not in the mood, turn away now. This is about as seductive as a fruit falling into milk can get.

This video is a quick description of how the slow motion works, and a look into its applications. And yes it does feature slow motion captured through the beauty of a bursting water balloon. The narrator also describes the applications through nature and the study of animals particularly.

Yet another sword video. I don’t know what’s harder to get your hands on, a high speed camera or someone good enough with a sword to cut through an apple with such accuracy. Watch as not only the apple slices in half, but the juices and skin peel away as the apple falls.

Fire is fun enough, in real time. Watch as the finger strikes the lighter and the flame appears to materialize out of thin air. You can almost see the gasses that ignite the sparks.

Nature is a force not to be reckoned with. Lighting strikes happens constantly. This video captures the real power of lightening. The ripping strike through the night sky and the outward spider of it’s bolts sweeping across the dark oblivion. If you didn’t believe me before when I said slow motion video could be more than fun, but also educational, here is your proof.

Who would think watching a drop of water falls into more water would be interesting? Especially when it would last for almost one minute! Yet again, the sheer simplicity of the natural world is one of outstanding curiosity. It’s amazing to watch not only the preliminary water drop into the basin, but to see the secondary aftermath, the sheer destruction that one drop of water causes on a placid sea. The term “A Drop in The Bucket” just took on a new meaning.

Watch the filament of this light bulb strip away and continue burning for a brief period after it’s shattered. The sensation of glass breaking is one of unexplained content. Watching glass break this slow is a tickle for everyone’s dark side.

Possibly one of the most fascinating videos among this collection. Popcorn! Sure it taste good before you strip it from its husk; but heat it up, put butter and salt on it and you’ve got something good going. This video shows one individual kernel of corn reaching its tipping point then succumbing to its natural progression… A tasty treat!

Hopefully these have entertained you as much as the continuously entertain me. I’m unclear as to what it is within us that keeps us so fascinated in the super slow parts of everyday life. Maybe it’s because we live such fast paced, sped up levels of existence? Sometimes it’s nice to just watch the everyday mundane process slowed down to a pace at which we all desire to live.