Slit-Scan

スリットスキャン / 1968– / Technique / Film Technology

Long exposure through a slit while the camera or the subject moves, stretching space and time into a single image. The Stargate sequence of 2001: A Space Odyssey wrote it into film history.

Slit-Scan — Self-portrait made with a slit shutter camera (Steve Mann, CC BY-SA 3.0) · © Glogger — Self-portrait made with a slit shutter camera (Steve Mann, CC BY-SA 3.0) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · © Glogger

Slit-Scan — Slit-scan photography experiment 1985 (CC BY-SA 3.0) · © Glogger — Slit-scan photography experiment 1985 (CC BY-SA 3.0) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · © Glogger

Slit-Scan — Photo finish (Zielfoto) of the 100 m world record 1977 — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0 de · © Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-S0702-0019,_100m-Weltrekordlauf_Marlies_Oelsner,_Zielfoto.jpg : Unknown Unknown derivative work: Svajcr ( talk ) — Photo finish (Zielfoto) of the 100 m world record 1977 — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0 de · CC BY-SA 3.0 de · © Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-S0702-0019,_100m-Weltrekordlauf_Marlies_Oelsner,_Zielfoto.jpg : Unknown Unknown derivative work: Svajcr ( talk )

At a glance

Visual cues

Streaked light
Endless planes
Time turned into space
Machine-controlled exposure

Best used for

Building the subjectivity of space travel or high speed from photographed light
Title sequences that need the sense of an endless tunnel in seconds

Use this style

Take the compact brief into a project or hand the structured version to an AI tool.

design.md image prompt JSON API MCP & machine access Compose

open in ChatGPT open in Claude open in Google AI

Detailed guidance and sourcesProduction rules, reference works, comparisons, research and citation formats

Dictionary entry

Type: Cut letters as apertures and stretch them along the streaks
Composition: Vanishing point at center, wrapped on all sides by symmetrical planes
Material: Strong light on black, with exposure time setting color and density
Caution: Adding the streak in post with no continuity of exposure behind it, so the bands slide independently of the motion they should describe.
Further study: Douglas Trumbull / the Doctor Who titles / its kinship with photo-finish cameras

Related entries

Bullet Time (バレットタイム)Same Film Technology lineage.Compare Slit-Scan and Bullet Time
Psychedelic (サイケデリック)Shared effects: Exhilaration.Compare Slit-Scan and Psychedelic

Cite this entry

The dictionary is meant to be linked to. Take whichever form fits where you are writing.

Link: https://indexstyle.org/styles/slit-scan
Markdown: [Slit-Scan — IndexStyle](https://indexstyle.org/styles/slit-scan)
HTML: <a href="https://indexstyle.org/styles/slit-scan">Slit-Scan — IndexStyle</a>

Back to index position