How a slow motion video can change our perception of events...

A US study has noticed that juries are more likely to convict a defendant if video evidence is shown in slow motion. The two weathermen applied the brakes.

Weatherman 2: I read that if you see a video of crime in slow motion, you are more likely to think the burglar or murderer was guilty, than if you see it at normal speed. It seems that if I watch you in slow motion doing something, it can look like there was more intent, and intention is an important factor in determining guilt.

Weatherman 1: Astonishing. Don’t the jury realise it is slow motion?   

WM2:  Yes, but the subjective impression lingers, even if there is a clock ticking somewhere on the screen. There’s a chap awaiting a lethal injection who was convicted of the murder of a police officer. The evidence presented was a slow motion video.  

WM1: What happens with normal speed videos?

WM2:  It is more likely to be perceived as an impulse crime. You still fired the gun, but didn’t have time to think about it.

WM1: I suppose the criminal must have thought about it a bit, because he robbed the shop armed with a weapon.  When the policeman runs in after the alarm has gone off and shouts

“Drop your weapon,”

I doubt if any burglar responds with:

“Oh my goodness - how did that get into my hand?”

WM2:  It’s a good job we don’t have videos at home. I accidentally trod on my son’s Lego car he had built last week. It crumpled. I assured him it was a clumsy accident and gave him a hug. But if he had seen smart phone footage of my leg lifting up in slow motion, it would have been harder to believe his dad was an oaf.

WM1 : And what happens if you speed the videos up?

WM2 :  The prosecution probably do that when trying to convict a motorist of speeding.

WM1 : The defendant must have some recourse to fairness.

WM2 :  He probably starts talking faster.

“I didn’t speed. That’s not fair. Well I did a bit, but not that much.  The clock was only showing 50 mph. Maybe my car’s speedo is faulty?”

....but all gabbled out at high speed in a squeaky voice.

WM1 : That doesn’t help him does it? The wise response is to slow your defence down.  And if you lower the voice as well, the jury take you more seriously.

WM2 : If you want to really nail the driver, there should be video footage taken on a smartphone, but with a shaky hand. This makes you look even more reckless.... as  if the speeding car caused an earth quake

WM1 :. Although if it was an earth quake, there would be a better excuse. Every time I see films of earth quakes people tend to have stopped driving in straight lines.

WM2 : According to that US study,  a referee is  more likely to see a foul if he sees it in slow motion.

WM1 : And goal of the month on “Match of the Day”....is it better faster, slower or at normal speed?

WM2 : Faster is more impressive. The speed we do things is important in how they are received. My wife keeps telling me this in the bedroom.

WM1 : I reckon table-tennis is speeded up once the ping-pong ball leaves the bat. All I see are little Chinese men running around a table, I never see the ball thereafter.

WM2 : We should try it with the weather forecast. Tell our audiences it will be a cold icy day, but tell them quickly. Maybe bad news is best delivered at top speed.

WM1 : They will run out to de-ice their windscreen in a panic, slip and break an arm. We’ll be sued.

WM2 : It could help in the summer though. We tell them it will be a scorching day, so wear lots of factor 50, but we say it very slowly in a low serious voice full of gravitas. We have the power to reduce melanomas.

WM1 : That chap on death row awaiting his lethal injection....I bet time passes slowly for him. Although the advocates of “an eye for an eye” would say that at least time does pass for him, unlike the policeman he shot.