Why is it when a character in a film has grown large (such as Ant-Man in the Avengers and Civil War), do all their movements appear slowed down, as if they are moving through water?
In: Other
They don’t actually move slower. (Well, they do, because of special effects, but if it was real…)
Example: When Ant-Man is human size (6 feet or so, just shy of 2 meters), and takes one step, he moves about 1 meter (3 feet) If he takes two steps every second, he’s moving 2 meters per second.
Now, when Ant Man is, say, 600 feet tall, he’s 100x the size. So, one step now covers 100 meters. Say he still takes two steps per second, that’d be 200m/s. That’s over 450 MPH! He’d be moving at 2/3 of the speed of sound JUST WALKING. Ever stick your hand out the window of a car at highway speed? Now imagine doing that in a jet aircraft! You’d tire yourself out just TRYING to take a step.
On top of this, each of his legs would weigh more than a locomotive, and you just can’t speed a locomotive up to half the speed of sound, then bring it to a complete stop again, and do that two times per second. It’s just too much weight to start and stop again so quickly.
So, when the camera zooms out to show all of 600 foot high Ant Man, he looks slow. He only takes maybe a step every other second, instead of twice a second. But… he’s actually moving across the ground way, way faster than a normal sized person would. But if you were right under his heel, it’d go flying past you like a race car.
Latest Answers