This page includes contributions by Matt Gray.
The term 'Bullet Time' was coined (and later trademarked by Warner Bros) on the set of the 1999 film The Matrix where the technique became used for the first time on a large-scale project. Essentially, the technique works by taking a large amount of still photographs along a designated camera move (dolly, etc). The stills are then are stitched together in post production to give the appearance of a moving image, though the speed of that moving image can be changed. Much more detail can be found in the Wikipedia article on Bullet Time.
An excellent technical overview can be found at digitalair.com:
- Tim Macmillan's early work (1980 - 1994).
- The Matrix, The film that popularized the method.
- The Matrix: raw footage
- Inferno by Mitch Martinez (2015) & more
- Olivier Gondry for Tiga, You Gonna Want Me, : long exposure bullet time (2005).
- How does it work? Bullet Time (National Geographic)
- Lumasol.nl Trampolina Bullet-Time photo booth with trampoline
- Lumasol.nl Bullet-time light painting
- TimeSculpture, Toshiba Commercial, Looping with Bullet Time
- The Making of Toshiba TimeSculpture
By manipulating the frame rate of the moving image, individual elements can be focused on by the camera - such as effect, object, location and character. Here's an example from the popular television show CSI. The sequence was used to begin the show's tenth season.The crime is seemingly 'frozen' at the moment of inception as the camera tracks through all the elements involved.
Another variation on the technique is to keep some elements of the frame still as others move. When stitched together, this can give the impression of the still elements as 'calm' and 'commanding' amongst the chaos surrounding them. An example of this is the ongoing promo series that the network TNT uses for all of its dramas. By using both Bullet Time AND the additional technique of keeping central characters from the show very still in the shots, these characters can be highlighted. This gives the audience a visceral and concentrated 'introduction' to these characters. Below is an example of a promo for the TNT show 'Leverage':