Pip Chodorov writes: Jean Epstein, the French filmmaker and theorist ... saw slow motion as a temporal microscopic, doing in time what a microscope does in space: magnifying, rendering details apparent, heightening the mystical, contemplative nature of seeing. I suggest that "slow-mo" is most often used to prolong a climatic scene - as when the hero (in almost any thriller) finally dispatches the villain.You see a building blowing up and up and on and on... Another use is to heighten the sense of helplessness when, for example, a hero tries in vain to prevent someone from falling. You see the hero running towards the victim crying "Noooooo" as the victim falls. These are two obvious uses.It seems that much the same effect could be achieved by intercutting a large number of shots of people watching the action in addition to those of the principals.High Noon (1952) is an example. If the slo-mo provides "microscopic" perpsective of a process, what is the function of the freeze-frame ending? Is it to provide a "macroscopic" perspective on the characters and theme of the film? By the way, what was the first freeze-frame ending? The first I can remember is the ending of one of Hitchcock's films - Topaz I think in the 1960's. I would value any thoughts you might have. "Live every day as though it were your last and one day you're sure to be right." Breaker Morant (1979) Sincerely, Peter S. Latham ---- To signoff SCREEN-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF SCREEN-L in the message. Problems? Contact [log in to unmask]