Bullet time
Encyclopedia
Bullet time is a special
and visual effect that refers to a digitally enhanced simulation
of variable-speed (i.e. slow motion
, time-lapse
, etc.) photography
used in film
s, broadcast advertisements, and video games. It is characterized both by its extreme transformation of time (slow enough to show normally imperceptible and unfilmable events, such as flying bullet
s) and space (by way of the ability of the camera angle
—the audience's point-of-view
—to move around the scene at a normal speed while events are slowed). This is almost impossible with conventional slow-motion, as the physical camera would have to move impossibly fast; the concept implies that only a "virtual camera", often illustrated within the confines of a computer-generated environment such as a virtual world
or virtual reality
, would be capable of "filming" bullet-time types of moments. Technical and historical variations of this effect have been referred to as time slicing, view morphing, slow-mo
, temps mort and virtual cinematography
.
The term bullet time is a registered trademark
of Warner Bros.
, distributor of The Matrix
.
s surrounding the subject. The cameras are fired sequentially, or all at the same time, depending on the desired effect. Single frames from each camera are then arranged and displayed consecutively to produce an orbiting viewpoint of an action frozen in time or as hyper-slow-motion. This technique suggests the limitless perspectives and variable frame rates possible with a virtual camera. However, if the still array process is done with real cameras, it is often limited to assigned paths.
For many years, it has been possible to use computer vision
techniques to capture scenes and render images of novel viewpoints sufficient for bullet time type effects. More recently, these have been formalized into what is becoming known as free viewpoint television
(FTV). At the time of The Matrix, FTV was not a fully mature technology
. FTV is effectively the live action version of bullet time, without the slow motion.
In The Matrix
, the camera path was pre-designed using computer-generated visualizations as a guide. Cameras were arranged, behind a green or blue screen, on a track and aligned through a laser targeting system, forming a complex curve through space. The cameras were then triggered at extremely close intervals, so the action continued to unfold, in extreme slow-motion, while the viewpoint moved. Additionally, the individual frames were scanned for computer processing. Using sophisticated interpolation
software, extra frames could be inserted to slow down the action further and improve the fluidity of the movement (especially the frame rate
of the images); frames could also be dropped to speed up the action. This approach provides greater flexibility than a purely photographic one. The same effect can also be produced using pure CGI
, motion capture
and universal capture. It is thought that the opening sequence from the late 1960s Speed Racer
cartoons partially inspired the Wachowski Brothers to incorporate the bullet time effect into The Matrix
.
Antecedents to bullet time occurred before the invention of cinema itself. Eadweard Muybridge
used still camera
s placed along a racetrack to take pictures of a galloping horse
. Each camera was actuated by a taut string stretched across the track; as the horse galloped past, the camera shutters snapped, taking one frame at a time. (The original intent was to settle a debate the governor of California had engaged in, as to whether all four of the animal's legs would leave the ground when galloping.) Muybridge later assembled the pictures into a rudimentary animation
, by placing them on a glass disk which he spun in front of a light source. His zoopraxiscope
may have been an inspiration for Thomas Edison
to explore the idea of motion pictures.
Muybridge also took photos of actions from many angles at the same instant in time, to study how the human body went up stairs, for example. This is the effect used in The Matrix, and other movies, and is achieved roughly the same way as Muybridge set up his shots. In effect, however, Muybridge had achieved the aesthetic opposite to The Matrix
' s bullet-time sequences, since his studies lacked the dimensionality of the later developments. A debt may also be owed to MIT
professor Doc Edgerton
, who, in the 1940s, captured now-iconic photos of bullets using xenon strobe lights to "freeze" motion.
Long before the emergence of a technology permitting a live-action application, bullet-time as a concept was frequently developed in cel animation
. One of the earliest examples is the shot at the end of the title sequence for the 1966 Japan
ese anime
series Speed Racer
: as Speed leaps from the Mach Five
, he freezes in mid-jump, and then the camera does an arc shot from front to sideways.
In 1980, Tim Macmillan started producing pioneering video work in this field while studying for a BA at the (then named) Bath Academy of Art
using 16mm film arranged in a progressing sequence of pinhole cameras.
Bullet time became popularized when John Gaeta
and team expanded it temporally and into the digital arena through the incorporation of frame interpolation and image based CGI within the film The Matrix
(1999) and through view-morphing techniques pioneered by BUF Compagnie
in music videos by Michel Gondry and commercials for, among others, The Gap
. Gaeta said of The Matrixs use of the effect:
In popular film culture, Blade
was the first film to illustrate super human reflexes dodging bullets in a scene in a park when the character of Blade fires at Stephen Dorff's character, Deacon Frost. Computer generated bullets are also used to illustrate the concept and slow motion camera work.
John Woo
is also famous for incorporating slow motion shoot outs in his movies, such as A Better Tomorrow
and Hard Boiled
. These films would later influence media such as Max Payne
and The Matrix
series.
In 2003, bullet time evolved further through The Matrix Reloaded
and The Matrix Revolutions
with the introduction of high-definition computer-generated approaches like virtual cinematography and universal capture. Virtual elements within the Matrix Trilogy utilized state-of-the-art image-based computer rendering techniques pioneered in Paul Debevec
's 1997 film and custom evolved for the Matrix by George Borshukov, an early collaborator of Debevec.
Following The Matrix, bullet time has featured as a key gameplay mechanic in various video games, which typically involve players having the ability to slow down time during certain actions, allowing them to easily aim weapons. The first video game to use this style of gameplay was Remedy Entertainment
's 2001 video game, Max Payne
.
Special effect
The illusions used in the film, television, theatre, or entertainment industries to simulate the imagined events in a story are traditionally called special effects ....
and visual effect that refers to a digitally enhanced simulation
Simulation
Simulation is the imitation of some real thing available, state of affairs, or process. The act of simulating something generally entails representing certain key characteristics or behaviours of a selected physical or abstract system....
of variable-speed (i.e. slow motion
Slow motion
Slow motion is an effect in film-making whereby time appears to be slowed down. It was invented by the Austrian priest August Musger....
, time-lapse
Time-lapse
Time-lapse photography is a cinematography technique whereby the frequency at which film frames are captured is much lower than that which will be used to play the sequence back. When replayed at normal speed, time appears to be moving faster and thus lapsing...
, etc.) photography
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
used in film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
s, broadcast advertisements, and video games. It is characterized both by its extreme transformation of time (slow enough to show normally imperceptible and unfilmable events, such as flying bullet
Bullet
A bullet is a projectile propelled by a firearm, sling, or air gun. Bullets do not normally contain explosives, but damage the intended target by impact and penetration...
s) and space (by way of the ability of the camera angle
Camera angle
The camera angle marks the specific location at which a camera is placed to take a shot. A scene may be shot from several camera angles. This will give different experience and sometimes emotion. the different camera angles will have different effects on the viewer and how they perceive the scene...
—the audience's point-of-view
Camera angle
The camera angle marks the specific location at which a camera is placed to take a shot. A scene may be shot from several camera angles. This will give different experience and sometimes emotion. the different camera angles will have different effects on the viewer and how they perceive the scene...
—to move around the scene at a normal speed while events are slowed). This is almost impossible with conventional slow-motion, as the physical camera would have to move impossibly fast; the concept implies that only a "virtual camera", often illustrated within the confines of a computer-generated environment such as a virtual world
Virtual world
A virtual world is an online community that takes the form of a computer-based simulated environment through which users can interact with one another and use and create objects. The term has become largely synonymous with interactive 3D virtual environments, where the users take the form of...
or virtual reality
Virtual reality
Virtual reality , also known as virtuality, is a term that applies to computer-simulated environments that can simulate physical presence in places in the real world, as well as in imaginary worlds...
, would be capable of "filming" bullet-time types of moments. Technical and historical variations of this effect have been referred to as time slicing, view morphing, slow-mo
Slow motion
Slow motion is an effect in film-making whereby time appears to be slowed down. It was invented by the Austrian priest August Musger....
, temps mort and virtual cinematography
Virtual cinematography
Virtual cinematography is an umbrella term used to describe cinematographic techniques performed in a computer graphics environment. This includes a wide variety of subjects like photographing real objects for the purpose of recreating them as three dimensional objects or algorithms for automated...
.
The term bullet time is a registered trademark
Trademark
A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...
of Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
, distributor of The Matrix
The Matrix
The Matrix is a 1999 science fiction-action film written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano, and Hugo Weaving...
.
Technology
The bullet time effect was originally achieved photographically by a set of still cameraStill camera
A still camera is a type of camera used to take photographs. Traditional cameras capture light onto photographic film. Digital cameras use electronics, usually a charge coupled device to store digital images in computer memory inside the camera...
s surrounding the subject. The cameras are fired sequentially, or all at the same time, depending on the desired effect. Single frames from each camera are then arranged and displayed consecutively to produce an orbiting viewpoint of an action frozen in time or as hyper-slow-motion. This technique suggests the limitless perspectives and variable frame rates possible with a virtual camera. However, if the still array process is done with real cameras, it is often limited to assigned paths.
For many years, it has been possible to use computer vision
Computer vision
Computer vision is a field that includes methods for acquiring, processing, analysing, and understanding images and, in general, high-dimensional data from the real world in order to produce numerical or symbolic information, e.g., in the forms of decisions...
techniques to capture scenes and render images of novel viewpoints sufficient for bullet time type effects. More recently, these have been formalized into what is becoming known as free viewpoint television
Free viewpoint television
Free viewpoint television is a system for viewing natural video, allowing the user to interactively control the viewpoint and generate new views of a dynamic scene from any 3D position....
(FTV). At the time of The Matrix, FTV was not a fully mature technology
Mature technology
A mature technology is a technology that has been in use for long enough that most of its initial faults and inherent problems have been removed or reduced by further development...
. FTV is effectively the live action version of bullet time, without the slow motion.
In The Matrix
The Matrix
The Matrix is a 1999 science fiction-action film written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano, and Hugo Weaving...
, the camera path was pre-designed using computer-generated visualizations as a guide. Cameras were arranged, behind a green or blue screen, on a track and aligned through a laser targeting system, forming a complex curve through space. The cameras were then triggered at extremely close intervals, so the action continued to unfold, in extreme slow-motion, while the viewpoint moved. Additionally, the individual frames were scanned for computer processing. Using sophisticated interpolation
Interpolation
In the mathematical field of numerical analysis, interpolation is a method of constructing new data points within the range of a discrete set of known data points....
software, extra frames could be inserted to slow down the action further and improve the fluidity of the movement (especially the frame rate
Frame rate
Frame rate is the frequency at which an imaging device produces unique consecutive images called frames. The term applies equally well to computer graphics, video cameras, film cameras, and motion capture systems...
of the images); frames could also be dropped to speed up the action. This approach provides greater flexibility than a purely photographic one. The same effect can also be produced using pure CGI
3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...
, motion capture
Motion capture
Motion capture, motion tracking, or mocap are terms used to describe the process of recording movement and translating that movement on to a digital model. It is used in military, entertainment, sports, and medical applications, and for validation of computer vision and robotics...
and universal capture. It is thought that the opening sequence from the late 1960s Speed Racer
Speed Racer
Speed Racer is an English adaptation name of the Japanese manga and anime, which centered on automobile racing. Mach GoGoGo was originally serialized in print form in Shueisha's 1958 Shōnen Book, and was released in tankōbon book form by Sun Wide Comics, re-released in Japan by Fusosha...
cartoons partially inspired the Wachowski Brothers to incorporate the bullet time effect into The Matrix
The Matrix
The Matrix is a 1999 science fiction-action film written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano, and Hugo Weaving...
.
History
Eadweard Muybridge
Eadweard J. Muybridge was an English photographer who spent much of his life in the United States. He is known for his pioneering work on animal locomotion which used multiple cameras to capture motion, and his zoopraxiscope, a device for projecting motion pictures that pre-dated the flexible...
used still camera
Camera
A camera is a device that records and stores images. These images may be still photographs or moving images such as videos or movies. The term camera comes from the camera obscura , an early mechanism for projecting images...
s placed along a racetrack to take pictures of a galloping horse
Horse
The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
. Each camera was actuated by a taut string stretched across the track; as the horse galloped past, the camera shutters snapped, taking one frame at a time. (The original intent was to settle a debate the governor of California had engaged in, as to whether all four of the animal's legs would leave the ground when galloping.) Muybridge later assembled the pictures into a rudimentary animation
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
, by placing them on a glass disk which he spun in front of a light source. His zoopraxiscope
Zoopraxiscope
The zoopraxiscope is an early device for displaying motion pictures. Created by photographic pioneer Eadweard Muybridge in 1879, it may be considered the first movie projector. The zoopraxiscope projected images from rotating glass disks in rapid succession to give the impression of motion. The...
may have been an inspiration for Thomas Edison
Thomas Edison
Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. In addition, he created the world’s first industrial...
to explore the idea of motion pictures.
Muybridge also took photos of actions from many angles at the same instant in time, to study how the human body went up stairs, for example. This is the effect used in The Matrix, and other movies, and is achieved roughly the same way as Muybridge set up his shots. In effect, however, Muybridge had achieved the aesthetic opposite to The Matrix
The Matrix
The Matrix is a 1999 science fiction-action film written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano, and Hugo Weaving...
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
professor Doc Edgerton
Harold Eugene Edgerton
Harold Eugene "Doc" Edgerton was a professor of electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology...
, who, in the 1940s, captured now-iconic photos of bullets using xenon strobe lights to "freeze" motion.
Long before the emergence of a technology permitting a live-action application, bullet-time as a concept was frequently developed in cel animation
Traditional animation
Traditional animation, is an animation technique where each frame is drawn by hand...
. One of the earliest examples is the shot at the end of the title sequence for the 1966 Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
series Speed Racer
Speed Racer
Speed Racer is an English adaptation name of the Japanese manga and anime, which centered on automobile racing. Mach GoGoGo was originally serialized in print form in Shueisha's 1958 Shōnen Book, and was released in tankōbon book form by Sun Wide Comics, re-released in Japan by Fusosha...
: as Speed leaps from the Mach Five
Mach Five
The is the racing car Speed Racer drives in the anime series of the same name . The car was designed, built, and created by "Pops Racer" , Speed Racer's father. It features a set of special devices which Speed Racer uses throughout the series...
, he freezes in mid-jump, and then the camera does an arc shot from front to sideways.
In 1980, Tim Macmillan started producing pioneering video work in this field while studying for a BA at the (then named) Bath Academy of Art
Bath School of Art and Design
Bath School of Art and Design is an art college in Bath, England. It forms part of the Bath Spa University whose main campus is located a few miles from the City at Newton Park, near Corston, Somerset.-History:...
using 16mm film arranged in a progressing sequence of pinhole cameras.
Bullet time became popularized when John Gaeta
John Gaeta
John Gaeta is an academy award winning visual effects designer best known for his work on the Matrix film trilogy and Speed Racer, where he explored and advanced the effects methods known as "Bullet Time", "Virtual Cinematography", and "Photo Anime".-Career:John C. Gaeta's career began in New York...
and team expanded it temporally and into the digital arena through the incorporation of frame interpolation and image based CGI within the film The Matrix
The Matrix
The Matrix is a 1999 science fiction-action film written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano, and Hugo Weaving...
(1999) and through view-morphing techniques pioneered by BUF Compagnie
BUF Compagnie
BUF Compagnie is a French visual effects company, specializing in CGI for feature films, commercials, and music videos.-History:Based in Paris, France and Los Angeles, California, BUF Compagnie was founded by Pierre Buffin in 1984...
in music videos by Michel Gondry and commercials for, among others, The Gap
Gap (clothing retailer)
The Gap, Inc. is an American clothing and accessories retailer based in San Francisco, California, and founded in 1969 by Donald G. Fisher and Doris F. Fisher. The company has five primary brands: the namesake Gap banner, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Piperlime and Athleta. As of September 2008,...
. Gaeta said of The Matrixs use of the effect:
For artistic inspiration for bullet time, I would credit Otomo Katsuhiro, who co-wrote and directed AkiraAkira (film)is a 1988 Japanese animated cyberpunk science fiction film directed by Katsuhiro Otomo, written by Otomo and Izo Hashimoto, and starring the voices of Mitsuo Iwata, Nozomu Sasaki, Mami Koyama and Taro Ishida. The screenplay is based on Otomo's manga Akira....
, which definitely blew me away, along with director Michel GondryMichel GondryMichel Gondry is an Academy Award winning filmmaker, whose works include being a commercial director, music video director, and a screenwriter. He is noted for his inventive visual style and manipulation of mise en scène. - Life and career :...
. His music videos experimented with a different type of technique called view-morphing and it was just part of the beginning of uncovering the creative approaches toward using still cameras for special effects. Our technique was significantly different because we built it to move around objects that were themselves in motion, and we were also able to create slow-motion events that 'virtual cameras' could move around – rather than the static action in Gondry's music videos with limited camera moves.
In popular film culture, Blade
Blade (film)
Blade is a 1998 vampire superhero action horror starring Wesley Snipes and Stephen Dorff, loosely based on the Marvel Comics character Blade. The film was directed by Stephen Norrington and written by David S. Goyer. Blade grossed $70 million at the U.S. box office, and $131.2 million worldwide...
was the first film to illustrate super human reflexes dodging bullets in a scene in a park when the character of Blade fires at Stephen Dorff's character, Deacon Frost. Computer generated bullets are also used to illustrate the concept and slow motion camera work.
John Woo
John Woo
John Woo Yu-Sen SBS is a Hong Kong-based film director and producer. Recognized for his stylised films of highly choreographed action sequences, Mexican standoffs, and use of slow-motion, Woo has directed several notable Hong Kong action films, among them, A Better Tomorrow, The Killer, Hard...
is also famous for incorporating slow motion shoot outs in his movies, such as A Better Tomorrow
A Better Tomorrow
A Better Tomorrow is a 1986 Hong Kong action film which had a profound influence on the Hong Kong film-making industry, and later on an international scale.Directed by John Woo, it stars Chow Yun-fat, Ti Lung and Leslie Cheung...
and Hard Boiled
Hard Boiled
Hard Boiled is a 1992 Hong Kong action film directed by John Woo. The film stars Chow Yun-fat as Inspector "Tequila" Yuen, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai as Tony, an undercover cop, and Anthony Wong as Johnny Wong, a leader of criminal triads. The film features Tequila, whose partner is killed in a tea...
. These films would later influence media such as Max Payne
Max Payne
Max Payne is a BAFTA Award–winning third-person shooter video game developed by Finnish developers Remedy Entertainment and published by Gathering of Developers in July 2001 for Microsoft Windows. Ports created later in the year for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and the GameBoy Advance were published by...
and The Matrix
The Matrix
The Matrix is a 1999 science fiction-action film written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano, and Hugo Weaving...
series.
In 2003, bullet time evolved further through The Matrix Reloaded
The Matrix Reloaded
The Matrix Reloaded is a 2003 American science fiction film and the second installment in The Matrix trilogy, written and directed by the Wachowskis. It premiered on May 7, 2003, in Westwood, Los Angeles, California, and went on general release by Warner Bros. in North American theaters on May 15,...
and The Matrix Revolutions
The Matrix Revolutions
The Matrix Revolutions is a 2003 American science fiction film and the third installment of The Matrix trilogy. The film was released six months following The Matrix Reloaded. The film was written and directed by the Wachowski brothers and released simultaneously in sixty countries on November 5,...
with the introduction of high-definition computer-generated approaches like virtual cinematography and universal capture. Virtual elements within the Matrix Trilogy utilized state-of-the-art image-based computer rendering techniques pioneered in Paul Debevec
Paul Debevec
Paul Debevec is a researcher in computer graphics at the University of Southern California's Institute for Creative Technologies. He is best known for his pioneering work in high dynamic range imaging and image-based modelling and rendering....
's 1997 film and custom evolved for the Matrix by George Borshukov, an early collaborator of Debevec.
Following The Matrix, bullet time has featured as a key gameplay mechanic in various video games, which typically involve players having the ability to slow down time during certain actions, allowing them to easily aim weapons. The first video game to use this style of gameplay was Remedy Entertainment
Remedy Entertainment
Remedy Entertainment is a Finnish computer game developer founded in 1995 and based in Espoo, Finland. The company is best known for its Max Payne and Alan Wake series of video games.-History:...
's 2001 video game, Max Payne
Max Payne
Max Payne is a BAFTA Award–winning third-person shooter video game developed by Finnish developers Remedy Entertainment and published by Gathering of Developers in July 2001 for Microsoft Windows. Ports created later in the year for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and the GameBoy Advance were published by...
.
External links
- Bullet Time at TV TropesTV TropesTV Tropes is a wiki which collects and expands on various conventions and devices found within creative works. Since its establishment in 2004, the site has gone from covering only television and film tropes to also covering those in a number of other media such as literature, comics, video-games,...