3 min readMay 10, 2009 08:19 PM IST
First published on: May 10, 2009 at 08:19 PM IST
Thirty-one-year-old Jeff Lieberman is the host of Discovery Channels Time Warp,a show that uses high-speed photography to slow down events like a water balloon hitting the face or a free runner taking a leap. While normal video cameras shoot at 30 frames per second,these photos are taken by ultra high-speed digital cameras that shoot up to 650 times faster and display these events much slower. Hosted by Lieberman,scientist at Massachusetts Institute of Technologys Media Lab,and digital photography expert Matt Kearney,the show aims to help viewers understand the world around them better. Here,Lieberman,who likes to make music and invent robotic sculptures,tells Sharon Fernandes about science and art
amp;149;What excites you about high-speed photography? Why did you base a show on it?
Science in general is the search for things that are beyond obvious perception. So,youre always looking for things that you cant directly perceive yourself. Time Warp is a show that is designed to show how technologies can show people things that they cant see otherwise. We tend to focus on high-speed videoand these things go up to almost a million frames a secondwhich we display really slowly. Being a scientist,I try to use this to teach people about science thats all around them every day.
amp;149;The show treads the line between science and art…
I think art and science are both parts of the same exact thing. So,its hard for me to really separate the two. In both,you have to have intuition and you have to follow that intuition and derive some kind of rationale in order to execute your intuition as best as possible. But,in either case,youre really searching for the truth.
amp;149;What is it that you want to communicate through your show?
We always want to capture the most important moments or angle of an event to really make it as clear as possible to the viewer. Hopefully after repeatedly watching these clips people will start wondering about what they cant see themselves and look at events a little differently. It will help build up that curiosity. Imagine when you start walking around and everyones a scientist,everyone can analyse the world around them that they just tend not to.
Time Warp airs every Monday at 9 p.m.
Share
