View source for Motion Blur

{{trope}}
[[File:zippindemon.jpg|frame]]

You know how, in comics and western animation, they indicate that something is moving ''really'' fast by showing it as just a blur, perhaps with contrails?

'''Motion Blur''' is the recording of this phenomenon.

Interestingly, it gets used in live-action film, too. This usually requires special effects, as anything in [[Real Life]] that moves fast enough to be seen only as a blur is usually barely seen at all, and that usually isn't what the filmmakers are aiming for.

[[Human Hummingbird]], [[Speed Echoes]], [[Speed Stripes]], [[Sword Lines]] and [[Wheel-O-Feet]] are subtropes.
{{examples}}

== [[Film]] ==
* Between 1980 and 1993, "Go Motion" (a process developed by Industrial Light & Magic and Phil Tippett for use in ''[[The Empire Strikes Back]]'') was used in a number of films to add motion blur to the subjects of traditional stop-motion animation in order to get a more realistic portrayal of movement. It was eventually abandoned after the advent of computer-generated effects, as it is far more expensive and time-consuming than CGI.
** Not completely abandoned. It's used in the ''[[Wallace and Gromit]]'' shorts (see below).

== [[Live Action TV]] ==

* An episode of the ''[[X-Files]]'' involving teenagers that could slow time down for everyone but themselves, had a key plot-point where school security footage was found to show a strange blur. Using [[Applied Phlebotinum|experimental technology]] to colorize it the agents reveal the blur is made up of the school colors, implying that it comes from the jacket of one of the superpowered teens.
* ''[[Smallville]]'' is a fan of this any time Clark, Kara, or Bart use their superspeed. At one point Jimmy Olsen even caught a picture of Clark in action, but all the picture showed was a red and blue blur, which led to everyone referring to him as The Red-Blue Blur. Later this was shortened to just The Blur. Clark's still not going by Superman on the show yet, so The Blur works fine for him.

== [[Video Games]] ==

* [[Sonic the Hedgehog]] can do this. He's even [[Fan Nickname|nicknamed]] "The Blue Blur".
** In some of the 3D games, Sonic can create a blur by Spin Dashing. In fact, everyone who can use the Homing Attack has their own Motion Blur.
* Gamespite has an interesting discussion of how ''[[Street Fighter]] 3'''s Makoto is animated so as to suggest more movement than there are animation frames. Check out some examples [http://www.gamespite.net/toastywiki/index.php/Games/3rdStrikeMakoto here.]
* Games with limited animation tend to blur fast moving body parts in addition to applying speed lines. When a blurred character or body part remains slow enough for the player to control the effect is quite surreal.
* ''[[Crysis (series)|Crysis]]'' implemented a motion blur system that applied the effect to individual moving objects instead of simply the entire scene as the player moved the mouse around. With config file tweaking, the full-screen motion blur could be turned off while leaving the per-object motion blur on. 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

* The various animated appearance of the Flash from the [[DC Universe]] have used this to suggest his super-speed.
** Done with [[Superman: The Animated Series|Superman]] from time to time too.
* Quicksilver, another speedster from the [[Marvel Universe]], uses motion blur in the same way.
* In ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' the quick characters are portrayed this way:
** Road Runner;
** Speedy Gonzales;
** Anyone who needed to leave/arrive in a hurry, really.
* The [[Chuck Jones]] ''[[Merrie Melodies]]'' short "[[The Dover Boys]]" pioneered the use of the smear, in which the characters [http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2009/07/smears-and-poses.html appear elongated for two or three frames as they zip from one pose to the next]. The technique has been used by animators ever since, most notably on ''[[Johnny Bravo]]''.
** [http://animationsmears.tumblr.com/ Here] is a [[Tumblr]] blog dedicated to smears and similar tricks.
* For the chase scenes in the ''[[Wallace and Gromit]]'' shorts, the camera was attached to whatever vehicle was involved (a toy train, a motorcycle, etc.) and moved along during exposure, resulting in a blurred background - basically a revival of the "Go-motion" technique, as the audio commentary for "A Matter of Loaf and Death" points out.

{{reflist}}
[[Category:Camera Tricks]]
[[Category:Motion Blur]]