Bullet-time is a stylistic way of showing. . .
. . .that you're in a constructed reality. . .
. . .and that time and space are not the same as. . .
. . .you know, us today, living our lives.
lt's slowing down time to such an extent. . .
. . .that you really see everything around you. . .
. . .as clearly as you possibly could.
Bullet-time was conceived for The Matrix, specifically.
But l think it's the byproduct of. . .
. . .the directors observing the controls coming into place.
And then they ask the right guestion at the right time.
You always know that you're doing something groundbreaking. . .
. . .if someone asks something, that you go:
"Maybe.
Maybe, if we do some development. . .
. . .and get the right minds working on it. "
And it takes some pretty heavy thinking to get it together.
Everything begins with a simulation.
All the computer simulation information is the basis. . .
. . .of the timing seguence.
Each camera has a specific moment in time to fire a frame of film.
All that is taking into account. . .
. . .the net, total effect of the move.
That is, a camera coming up to speed, moving out of speed. . .
. . .and coming off of speed.
ln this particular rig. . .
. . .there are 1 20 cameras and two motion-picture cameras set up.
The rig that we've made. . .
. . .can be configured into any shape that you want.
The shapes are basically what we compose. . .
. . .in our simulations.
lt can do " S" curves. lt can do arcs.
lt can do spirals. lt can do anything you want.
lt's an erector set.
The heights of the cameras, where they point. . .
. . .also from same simulation.
ln the middle of that box right there. . .
. . .is a motion control laser-pointing system. . .
. . .that takes an animation file and creates a point. . .
. . .on the cube's surface, telling where to point the camera.
The two motion-picture cameras that'll be in this particular shot. . . .
That's running at 1 50. That one's running at 1 20.
There are bullet-times where the end camera is a Photosonics camera.
So we'll be running that at 360.
l can choose, at will. . .
. . .any elapsed real-world time. . .
. . .to photograph.
That is, if l have a guy falling over. . .
. . .l can choose to capture the whole event. . .
. . .in the time it takes to go around the circle.
l could choose to capture only a very brief moment.
And that is how we determine what frame rate. . .
. . .the cameras eventually wind up.
l could shoot the same exact stunt several times over. . .
. . .creating a simulation of 1 00 frames per second. . .
. . .500 or 2000 frames per second. . .
. . .all with the same camera move, moving at the same speed and time.
l can go forward in camera motion. . .
. . .and forward in time with the event.
l can stop the camera abruptly. . .
. . .start moving backwards while the action continues to move forward.
l can shoot the move coming from both sides at the same time. . .
. . .crisscrossing over and ending.
l could shoot in waves, you know, cycles of film. . .
. . .that crisscross like waves over the middle.
There is a very heavy digital half to this capture.
Not every frame that a camera captures. . .
. . .is the only frame that will be seen.
There's a lot of a process we called " interpolation" . . .
. . .which is the creation of frames, digitally. . .
. . .that are the byproduct. . .
. . .of real frames.
That is, we analyze what real frames we have.
And we can create new frames. . .
. . .of moments in between the captured frames. . .
. . .to make moves longer. . .
. . .or stretch them out, or do time-compression effects.
There's a lot of work going on. . .
. . .in the art form of interpolation.
lt needs to be said, because it's not " what you see is what you get. "
lt's all baby steps toward something much larger. . .
. . .that won't be really commonplace for a few years.
But there are people around the world. . .
. . .that are sort of scratching their heads. . .
. . .about a new way to photograph things.
lt'll be as revolutionary as when cameras came off sticks. . .
. . .and went to a crane. . .
. . .when they came off of cranes and went to Steadicams.
We're talking about cameras that are now. . .
. . .broken from the subject matter, that are virtual.
That's the next phase. That's what computers. . .
. . .have introduced into cinematography.