Jump to content

Bullet time: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
→History: John Woo's films use slow-mo and gunfights, but not in a way that has much to do with time-slicing and bullet time. Only relevant in this context for their influence on The Matrix and Max Payne.
(3 intermediate revisions by the same user not shown)
Line 29: Line 29:
In 1980, [[Tim Macmillan]] started producing pioneering video work<ref>Video of [http://vimeo.com/6165108 Tim Macmillan Early Work 1980 - 1994] on Vimeo</ref> in this field while studying for a BA at the (then named) [[Bath School of Art and Design|Bath Academy of Art]] using 16mm film arranged in a progressing sequence of pinhole cameras.
In 1980, [[Tim Macmillan]] started producing pioneering video work<ref>Video of [http://vimeo.com/6165108 Tim Macmillan Early Work 1980 - 1994] on Vimeo</ref> in this field while studying for a BA at the (then named) [[Bath School of Art and Design|Bath Academy of Art]] using 16mm film arranged in a progressing sequence of pinhole cameras.


The first music video to use bullet-time was "Midnight Mover", a 1985 [[Accept]] video.<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20020215044049/wolfhoffmann.com/html/metalheart.html ACCEPT Remembered - Discography - Metal Heart<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> A variation on bullet-time came into use in the mid-1990s, first in a series of commercials to sell products for Gap and [[Lexus]], then in feature films such as ''[[Lost in Space]]'', and later in ''The Matrix''.<ref name="frozen time new morph" /> 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, [[Gap (clothing retailer)|The Gap]]. ''The Matrix'' incorporated the effect into action scenes influenced by the slow-motion gunfights in the [[heroic bloodshed]] films of [[John Woo]]. Gaeta said of ''The Matrix'''s use of the effect:
The first music video to use bullet-time was "Midnight Mover", a 1985 [[Accept]] video.<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20020215044049/wolfhoffmann.com/html/metalheart.html ACCEPT Remembered - Discography - Metal Heart<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> In the 1990s, a morphing-based<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.morphizm.com/recommends/interviews/gondry_block.html|title='How My Brain Works': An Interview with Michel Gondry|author=Thill, Scott|work=Morphizm.com|quote=Like with The Rolling Stones' video for "Like a Rolling Stone," which is already ten years old. I used morphing in a different way than it was used at the time.}}</ref> variation on time-slicing was employed by director [[Michel Gondry]] and the visual effects company [[BUF Compagnie]] in the music video for [[The Rolling Stones]]' "[[Like A Rolling Stone]]",<ref name="frozen time new morph" /><ref name="BUF-rolling">http://www.buf.com/tv.php?id=573&display=movie&year=1995&type=VideoClip</ref> and in a 1996 [[Smirnoff]] commercial the effect was used to depict slow-motion bullets being dodged.<ref name="BUF-smirnoff">http://www.buf.com/tv.php?id=141&display=movie&year=1996&type=Commercial</ref> Similar time-slice effects were also featured in commercials for [[Gap (clothing retailer)|The Gap]]<ref name="guardian-sfx">{{cite news |url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/1999/jun/05/features2 |title=Better than SFX |last1=Green |first1=Dave |date=June 5, 1999 |work=The Guardian |accessdate=December 18, 2009 | location=London}}</ref> (which was directed by M.Rolston and again produced by BUF),<ref>http://www.buf.com/tv.php?id=176&display=gallery&year=1998&type=Commercial</ref> and in feature films such as ''[[Lost in Space]]'' (1998)<ref name="frozen time new morph" /> and ''[[Buffalo '66]]'' (1998).<ref name="guardian-sfx"/>


It is well-established for feature films' action scenes to be depicted using slow-motion footage, for example the gunfights in ''[[The Wild Bunch]]'' (directed by [[Sam Peckinpah]]) and the [[heroic bloodshed]] films of [[John Woo]]. Subsequently, the 1998 film ''[[Blade (film)|Blade]]'' featured a scene that used computer generated bullets and slow-motion footage to illustrate characters' superhuman bullet-dodging reflexes. The 1999 film ''The Matrix'' combined these elements (gunfight action scenes, superhuman bullet-dodging, and time-slice effects), popularizing both the effect and the term "bullet-time". ''The Matrix''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s version of the effect was created by [[John Gaeta]] and [[Manex Visual Effects]]. Rigs of still cameras were set up in patterns determined by simulations,<ref name="guardian-sfx"/> and then shot either simultaneously (producing an effect similar to previous time-slice scenes) or sequentially (which added a temporal element to the effect). [[Interpolation]] effects, digital compositing, and computer generated "virtual" scenery were used to improve the fluidity of the apparent camera motion. Gaeta said of ''The Matrix'''s use of the effect:
⚫
<blockquote>For artistic inspiration for bullet time, I would credit [[Otomo Katsuhiro]], who co-wrote and directed ''[[Akira (film)|Akira]]'', which definitely blew me away, along with director [[Michel Gondry]]. 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.<ref name="gaeta-empire">{{cite journal|year=2006 |month=February |title=200 Things That Rocked Our World: Bullet Time |journal=[[Empire (magazine)|Empire]]|issue=200|page=136 |publisher=[[EMAP]]|accessdate=2010-01-18}}</ref></blockquote>


⚫
<blockquote>For artistic inspiration for bullet time, I would credit [[Otomo Katsuhiro]], who co-wrote and directed ''[[Akira (film)|Akira]]'', which definitely blew me away, along with director [[Michel Gondry]]. 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.<ref name="gaeta-empire">{{cite journal|year=2006 |month=February |title=200 Things That Rocked Our World: Bullet Time |journal=[[Empire (magazine)|Empire]]|issue=200|page=136 |publisher=[[EMAP]]|accessdate=2010-01-18}}</ref></blockquote>
''[[Blade (film)|Blade]]'' (1998) includes a scene that uses computer generated bullets and slow motion footage to illustrate characters' super-human reflexes.


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 <ref>{{cite web
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 <ref>{{cite web

Revision as of 21:26, 30 July 2012

Bullet time (also known as frozen time, the big freeze, dead time, flow motion, or time slice)[1] 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 films, 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 bullets) 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.[2]

Technology

The bullet time effect was originally achieved photographically by a set of still cameras 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 Wachowskis to incorporate the bullet time effect into The Matrix.[citation needed]

History

Muybridge horse photos

The technique of using a group of still cameras to freeze motion occurred before the invention of cinema itself. It dates back to the 19th-century experiments by Eadweard Muybridge, who analyzed the motion of a galloping horse by using a line of cameras to photograph the animal as it ran past.[1] Eadweard Muybridge used still cameras placed along a racetrack, and 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.[3]

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. In effect, however, Muybridge had achieved the aesthetic opposite to modern 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.[4]

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 Japanese 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[5] 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.

The first music video to use bullet-time was "Midnight Mover", a 1985 Accept video.[6] In the 1990s, a morphing-based[7] variation on time-slicing was employed by director Michel Gondry and the visual effects company BUF Compagnie in the music video for The Rolling Stones' "Like A Rolling Stone",[1][8] and in a 1996 Smirnoff commercial the effect was used to depict slow-motion bullets being dodged.[9] Similar time-slice effects were also featured in commercials for The Gap[10] (which was directed by M.Rolston and again produced by BUF),[11] and in feature films such as Lost in Space (1998)[1] and Buffalo '66 (1998).[10]

It is well-established for feature films' action scenes to be depicted using slow-motion footage, for example the gunfights in The Wild Bunch (directed by Sam Peckinpah) and the heroic bloodshed films of John Woo. Subsequently, the 1998 film Blade featured a scene that used computer generated bullets and slow-motion footage to illustrate characters' superhuman bullet-dodging reflexes. The 1999 film The Matrix combined these elements (gunfight action scenes, superhuman bullet-dodging, and time-slice effects), popularizing both the effect and the term "bullet-time". The Matrix's version of the effect was created by John Gaeta and Manex Visual Effects. Rigs of still cameras were set up in patterns determined by simulations,[10] and then shot either simultaneously (producing an effect similar to previous time-slice scenes) or sequentially (which added a temporal element to the effect). Interpolation effects, digital compositing, and computer generated "virtual" scenery were used to improve the fluidity of the apparent camera motion. Gaeta said of The Matrix's use of the effect:

For artistic inspiration for bullet time, I would credit Otomo Katsuhiro, who co-wrote and directed Akira, which definitely blew me away, along with director Michel Gondry. 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.[12]

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 [13] and custom evolved for the Matrix by George Borshukov, an early collaborator of Debevec.

Following The Matrix, bullet time and other slow-motion effects were featured as key gameplay mechanics in various video games. Cyclone Studios' Requiem: Avenging Angel, released in March 1999, features slow-motion effects.[14] Remedy Entertainment's 2001 video game Max Payne contains a slow-motion mechanic that allows players to view the paths of bullets, an effect explicitly referred to as "Bullet Time".[15]

Bullet time was used for the first time in a live music environment in October 2009 for Creed's live DVD Creed Live.[16]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Argy, Stephanie (21 January 2001). "Frozen f/x still in action: There's less love for morph". Variety.com. Retrieved 3 April 2012.
  2. ^ USPTO Trademark serial number #78285661
  3. ^ Hendricks, Gordon (1961), The Edison Motion Picture Myth, Berkeley, California: University of California Press
  4. ^ "High Speed Camera « Harold "Doc" Edgerton". 2009-11-28. Retrieved 2009-11-28. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |h2= ignored (help)
  5. ^ Video of Tim Macmillan Early Work 1980 - 1994 on Vimeo
  6. ^ ACCEPT Remembered - Discography - Metal Heart
  7. ^ Thill, Scott. "'How My Brain Works': An Interview with Michel Gondry". Morphizm.com. Like with The Rolling Stones' video for "Like a Rolling Stone," which is already ten years old. I used morphing in a different way than it was used at the time.
  8. ^ http://www.buf.com/tv.php?id=573&display=movie&year=1995&type=VideoClip
  9. ^ http://www.buf.com/tv.php?id=141&display=movie&year=1996&type=Commercial
  10. ^ a b c Green, Dave (June 5, 1999). "Better than SFX". The Guardian. London. Retrieved December 18, 2009.
  11. ^ http://www.buf.com/tv.php?id=176&display=gallery&year=1998&type=Commercial
  12. ^ "200 Things That Rocked Our World: Bullet Time". Empire (200). EMAP: 136. 2006. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  13. ^ "The Campanile Movie". Paul Debevec. Updated November 2007. Retrieved September 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  14. ^ "Requiem: Avenging Angel Review". Gamespot. April 25, 1999.
  15. ^ "The Game World: Bullet Time". Max Payne: Official Police Dossier (game manual). PC CD ROM version. 2001. p. 19. When pressed into a tight spot, Max can activate Bullet Time, which will slow the action around him, while allowing him to aim his weapons in real-time. This ... even allows Max to dodge oncoming bullets.
  16. ^ "Creed Announce First Live DVD". Guitar World. November 24, 2009.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bullet_time&oldid=504996525"