What is video freeze frame
As the very term implies, this notion means a “frozen” frame – when the video stops while the audio lasts. It looks like a still picture with a voiceover.
This effect helps to draw attention to the scene making it more dramatic. It also gives the narrator some time to explain what is going on or, vice versa, increase suspense.
Freeze frame effect may be applied wherever it is needed: at the end, beginning or the midst of the shooting, but most frequently you can come across it at the start or final.
In the first case, the director, most likely, wants to use a flashback effect and “roll the video back” from the frozen moment. If a film ends with a stop frame, it creates an impression of ambiguity, even a cliffhanger (to be continued effect).
Freeze frame movie examples
- The classical example of the freeze frame effect is the final scene of Thelma & Louise. Two girls, escaping from the police, decide not to surrender but plunge into the Grand Canyon. The end is quite obvious, but the frame stops with them floating in the air, free and alive.
- Rocky III, another classic in our list, a film about two boxers. The movie stops at the moment when two main characters start fighting, so we still don’t know who the winner is (Rocky IV is coming).
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. The third movie in the franchise is rather gloomy and somber, so the last frozen frame, with Harry, full of joy and freedom on his new broom, plays as a contrast.