slowing down time

Every once in a while, I discover something that inspires or triggers creativity...something that brings out the inner "Spielberg" or "Martha" in me.

Last year it was iMovie.  After creating a little video for my husband's birthday, I found that I love stringing together pictures and video set to music, bringing out the former film director/producer in me.

I remember during film school, we had to edit by carefully cutting each film strip to create a scene.  Stringing images together with the sound strip (which in itself, was an arduous task as you would have to lip read to ensure that everything was in sync).  iMovie has changed that (for me anyhow), and assembling videos takes 1/3 of the time.

Well, this summer I discovered a new iphone app that has stirred that fun creative side in me again.  It's a really easy app called SloPro. Consider it as a special effects app.  After taking video (it's best to use it for action type footage), you can manipulate it to slow down key highlights of the scene...essentially it's a slow motion app.

We started to test this app with a simple action like jumping in the backyard.  

Then the kids had a great idea of doing it at the pool, using the slow motion effect on their cannonball dives in mid-air and immersing into the water.  

Here's TheB's dive...

And here's TheG's dive...

What I loved about this was the twinkle in the eye of the kids when I showed them this.  And the kicker...it only took about 5 minutes to do each of these videos!  Oh the possibilities..."We can do this in the winter when we ski/snowboard!  We can 'slow mo' some bike tricks when we're on the trails!  We can film Grandma and Grandpa blowing out candles at their birthday!"  

I think we should film their Dad golfing...and help him analyze his swing ;)

Anyway, 16 videos and 2 days later...we're were still playing and tinkering with this new app (free on iTunes...you can pay for the pro version which gives you more flexibility in terms of posting the video).  

Loads of fun...and a great way to slow down time.