What is the bullet time effect? Bullet-time beginnings and the present.

Bullet-time is a film technique until now recently reserved for the highest-grossing Hollywood productions, known, among others, from the film The Matrix (1999). This visual special effect allows you to capture the filmed scene in detail and freeze it in time and space. The film appears to be in slow motion or stops while the camera appears to move around the scene. Thanks to this, nowadays it can be used both as an element of larger video productions (films, music videos, advertisements) but it also works perfectly as an element of content marketing or an event attraction.

How to create the bullettime effect?

Regardless of the topic, convention, or idea for which it is used, bullet-time, also known as freeze motion, is created using a large number of cameras or film cameras, which are placed on a special structure at equal distances around the object or scene. These cameras are centrally controlled and take a photo or video at the same time or with a small delay. The images obtained in this way are placed in post-production on the timeline, stabilized and animated to obtain an effective video.

History of creation.

Although the bullet-time effect is mainly associated with the cult Matrix (and rightly so, because it was the creators of this film who originated the name bullet time), the history of its creation and attempts to use it go back much earlier. One of the progenitors was the British - Eadweard Muybridge, who at the end of the 19th century created a series of animations using six cameras. This technological feat, unusual for 1878, involved capturing a galloping horse with 12 cameras placed along the racetrack. The shutter of each camera was released automatically as soon as the cart wheel, chest or horse's legs hit the wires connected to the electromagnetic circuit.

Interestingly, over the next hundred years, various successors of the British tried to experiment with the effect, but in terms of technology, little changed in this matter. Only the end of the twentieth century brought its wider use and the development of its production technique. However, even the creators of The Matrix needed almost several months to record, edit and produce it. Even though the number of cameras used in production increased (as well as their technical capabilities), the problem was still... the time needed to record the material, stabilize it and undergo post-production to create a video effect.

Bullet-time effect today - film / events / 360 photography / SPIN service

The capabilities of modern digital SLR cameras and the emergence of dedicated software have not only significantly improved the final visual effect, but above all, significantly shortened the time needed to produce it. Thanks to this, this effect is increasingly used in film production, and has also become established in the event industry as a freeze booth, 360 photography or the SPIN service. Apart from the time needed to assemble the structure supporting the cameras (which, depending on the needs, can be from a dozen to several hundred), the time from taking a photo to obtaining the final effect in the form of a video is only a dozen or so seconds.

Today's bullet-time production software offers enormous possibilities. Cameras can be activated at the same time or sequentially, thus creating a slowing down and time control effect. After taking the shot, within a few seconds the software aligns the obtained images and shows the final effect. This significantly improves the quality of work during film productions, when the filmmaker and director can preview the finished effect almost immediately. The software's capabilities to automatically add music, animations, watermarks and other graphic elements encourage event companies to use it during their events. PR agencies, on the other hand, work with him to create eye-catching content used in online advertising spots or during social media campaigns.