Imagine you're at a birthday party. There’s cake, balloons and your friend trying (and failing) to hit a piñata. Now, picture yourself as a time wizard holding a magic wand that can control how fast or slow you experience this moment.
With certain simple, easy-to-use videography effects, you can do just that. You can control time.
Let’s break it down.
Frames per second, or FPS, is how many individual pictures your camera captures per second to create a video. Think of it like a flipbook: the more pages you flip (frames), the smoother the action looks. Standard video usually runs at 24 FPS. It’s like watching the world at a comfortable, human pace.
Most cell phone cameras also have the ability to shoot video at 30 FPS, a little higher quality, which gives a more cinematic look. Playing with frames per second can add drama to your video by slowing it down or add a faster pace by speeding it up. Making adjustments to frames per second on your camera allows you to control time.
To capture slow motion, your camera needs to record at a higher FPS — say, 120 or even 240 FPS. When you play that footage back at a normal speed, the action stretches out, giving you that epic slow-motion effect.
Back to the piñata. If your friend’s swing is in slow motion, you'll see every detail: the piñata wobbling, candy slowly escaping its paper prison and your friend’s triumphant grin. It turns a mundane moment into a dramatic, cinematic masterpiece, one that could be paired with a hypothetical orchestra playing in the background.
On the flip side, timelapse is the opposite of slow motion. Here, the camera takes fewer frames over a longer period — such as one frame every second or even every minute. When you play it back, time zips by in a beautiful blur. It’s like watching time fly, but in a way that’s oddly satisfying.
The next time you watch a video, or go to record one, picture yourself as a wizard behind the scenes. Ask yourself, "do I want to slow down the moment, speed it up or let it play out as is? Would a change in pace help make the point of the video stand out? Could slowing down this shot make someone laugh? Would speeding it up making someone understand the work involved in a process?"
One of the most important factors in creating a video that people want to watch is paying attention to the pacing, or the speed at which the viewer understands what's happening on screen. Controlling frames per second is one of many tools we can use to create good pacing.
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