Talk:Bullet time

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I want to support the claims of the other on this page for rewriting sections of this article. While in the first definition the difference between extreme slow motion and bullet time, in which an object in slow motion is circled or panned in normal speed is clear, the article itself gets more and more confusing. I have no idea what time slicing or the other thing Gondry did was nor is my english sufficient enough, so someone who is should be so kind and clear this up by differentiate this from bullet time as described in the definition. ManniCalavera (talk) 10:50, 17 January 2012 (UTC)Reply

In the Smirnoff commercial Gondry uses bullet time in the terms i would define it: he moves the camera around objects frozen in time or in slow motion. Since the effect of being frozen or being in slow motion is gained by letting the single camera shot simultanously or with slight delay, I would not differentiate here since its the similar technical setup.ManniCalavera (talk) 11:01, 17 January 2012 (UTC)Reply

Like I said above, as long as you find a source for the info, just add it in or fix the errors. Remember: WP:BE BOLD, but remember not to do WP:ORIGINAL RESEARCH. - M0rphzone (talk) 02:03, 3 April 2012 (UTC)Reply

I have done my best to sort out the paragraph on the effect's history leading up to The Matrix. I've tried to clarify the distinction between bullet-time and the slow-mo gunfights of Woo (and other) films, and I've also tried to clarify how the bullet-dodging of Blade and the Smirnoff ad relates to The Matrix. More references are still needed, though...

It's awkward because most of the references I could find online are user-sourced content (often just copied and pasted from past versions of this very article), which clearly aren't reliable sources. Even the ones that have been published (like the Guardian and Variety articles) aren't very thorough, only mentioning part of the story (e.g. mentioning a Smirnoff ad that used time-slice, but not that it was directed by Gondry or featured bullet-dodging). All of that has meant that the positioning of references in those sentences, to show exactly what asssertion each one is supporting, has got a little bit convoluted!

Also, there are lots of ambiguities in the terminology and methods of creating the effects: does "time-slice" only refer to the effect when the scene is completely frozen, not progressing forward in time at all? Can you still call it "bullet time" if it doesn't feature any bullets? What if it uses morphing effects like Gondry's videos, rather than rigs of still cameras like The Matrix - does that change the term that should be used? It'd be nice if ambiguities like those could be cleared up definitively, because uncertainties like those mean that it's hard for a layman like me (outside the visual effects industry) to be sure I'm writing about the variants of the effect correctly.

--Nick R^Talk 21:28, 30 July 2012 (UTC)Reply

I started watching this old show again, and it occured to me that there might be a wiki about bullet time and related ideas, and that Time Trax might be one of the earlier occurances of the idea used as an actualized phenomenon vs the film technique alone. In this series, it was called time stalling, and it purported that slowing down neurons as a mental technique to have reflexes greater than normally capable, including dodging projectiles (not sure if actual bullets were dodged during the series, maybe someone can find that out). Though I understand that makes no sense as you'd want to speed up the mind for perception to appear slowed, the effect in the series is quite clear.

I'm not one to edit an actual wiki page, I can never tell if something is actually relevant, but I think this might be as far as origins and history of bullet time is concerned. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.255.144.59 (talk) 17:51, 6 April 2012 (UTC)Reply

This movie used a similar effect in 1998 before the first Matrix came out. It occurs in the very beginning when the protagonists are running from the cops. I think this was one of the first uses of this effect. Jimindc (talk) 01:56, 2 November 2013 (UTC)Reply

Didn't Canon have a tennis ball commercial in the 1980s where they used a 'bullet time' rig (that they showed) to show off their film cameras — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.157.173.163 (talk) 21:25, 20 January 2014 (UTC)Reply

Yes, it was directed by Tony Kaye, starred Andre Agassi. Multicam effects by ReelEFX in North Hollywood. 96 or 97 216.165.125.249 (talk) 21:13, 26 April 2024 (UTC)Reply

As defined in the first sentence of the article: "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.)" Therefore bullet time, can be either a stop in time or a very slow motion in the time axis. As long as nobody changes this definition i'm going to restore the slow-motion part in the history section about riefenstahls olympia diving scenes. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.65.233.252 (talk) 10:11, 16 February 2014 (UTC)Reply

The opening sentence of the article continues from your quoted part to explain that: "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)." Riefenstahl's film is a slowed down panning shot. It does not freeze time and move the camera position whilst time is frozen. - X201 (talk) 15:59, 16 February 2014 (UTC)Reply

User:107.10.51.45 placed the following on my Talk page, I've copied it here because I think the article talk page is the better place for the discussion.

I removed the image because I agree with the reason User:Vsmith gave when they removed it back in 2013, it contains excessive advertising. It contains the logo of the Pocket Guns and Gear blog, along with advertising Aimed research who are a company that provide high-speed camera rental and associated services. The first two things the eyes are drawn to are the Pocket Guns logo and then the Aimed Research logo, the bullet, which should be the the main reason for the image gets lost amongst them.

You mention there are no trademarked images which I accept at face value, but which isn't the problem, the Pocket Guns logo will be covered by copyright, I'm worried there may be Secondary Copyright" issues. I'm no expert on that, and will seek help from other parts of Wikipedia to comment on it.

Just because it's the only example of a subject doesn't mean the Wikipedia must use it, if the image is unacceptable for Wikipedia, then it won't use it. I'm not sure what you mean by "Reference Wikipedia's Sony example.", could you provide a link please? - X201 (talk) 08:40, 24 April 2015 (UTC)Reply

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During the run of ST:TNG (1987-94), there were several instances where a real-world event (ST:TNG-wise) was 'played out' on the holodeck and could be 'frozen in time' while crew members walked among the scene, that could even have them in it, and the camera(s) moved around and through the frozen scene giving the television viewer a nearly 3D experience of the frozen scene.

Could this not also be part of the developmental history of Bullet Time?

(Just kinda surprised that there's no mention of this 'technique' nor of ST:TNG given all the mentions of past, similar techniques/camera moves.)

Just curious. 2600:8800:785:1300:C23F:D5FF:FEC4:D51D (talk) 11:53, 29 March 2018 (UTC)Reply

Its a different technique. It's green screen with a motion controlled camera. - X201 (talk) 13:11, 29 March 2018 (UTC)Reply

I'm not sure that explains how there were three-dimensionally able to walk around their own 3-D image while the main camera was also moving.

I'd tend to think it might be a variation of double-exposure. 2600:8800:785:9400:C23F:D5FF:FEC4:D51D (talk) 06:08, 23 January 2021 (UTC)Reply

The whole section below was added by a user who I believe has a conflict of interest. The section itself would be OK, but needs references from independent sources.

If reliable independent sources can be found, this can go back in the article. But the article is not an advertising space. - X201 (talk) 15:20, 6 February 2020 (UTC)Reply

I think the Speed Racer example in the third paragraph of the "History" section is wrong. I believe that the frozen motion angle change was achieved through animation perspective change drawings, not by a camera move as stated.

Especially since it's in the paragraph where "cel animation" is specifically mentioned in the first sentence.

Or am I missing something? 2600:8800:785:9400:C23F:D5FF:FEC4:D51D (talk) 06:03, 23 January 2021 (UTC)Reply

I am very surprised that there is no reference to Emmanuel Carlier ?

I am an early inventor, patent holder, and publisher of camera array visual effects. I am also the current owner of the bullet time rig used on The Matrix. The text below is annotated with hyperlinks to historical records on my website:

https:/digitalairtechnologies.com/index.html

In 1994, five years before The Matrix (1999), Dayton Taylor invented and patented a system for producing time-independent virtual camera movement in motion pictures and other media. In 1995 Dayton incorporated Digital Air, Inc. in New York to commercialize his patent pending invention. In 1996 he published "Virtual Camera Movement: The Way of the Future?" in American Cinematographer Magazine. In 1997 Digital Air was contracted to shoot a TV commercial for Coberco in The Netherlands directed by René Eller filmed entirely in what would later be called flo-motion or bullet time, published how it was made using his then patented invention in American Cinematographer Magazine, and was contacted by the VFX team responsible for The Matrix.

With Digital Air established and his invention patented, published and proven by the end of 1997, Digital Air was the principal beneficiary of the global exposure brought by The Matrix upon its release in 1999. In addition to being featured in articles in American Cinematographer, Scientific American, Millimeter, Time Magazine and Advertising Age between 1996 and 1998, Dayton and his invention were featured on ABC's World News Tonight with Peter Jennings in December of 1998 and Dayton's original 1994 prototype was collected by the Smithsonian Museum of American History in March 1999. Anyone looking to produce visual effects using camera arrays could find Digital Air's sample work, patents and and publications on the internet, and they could hire Dayton to work with them anywhere in the world. And they did.

In 2005 the company that owned the the original bullet time rig was liquidated. The liquidator found Dayton's name on the first page of the development notes that had been packed up with the rig and asked Dayton if he wanted to purchase it. After contacting Kim Libreri, who led the bullet time team on The Matrix, to confirm that the offer was real, Dayton did purchase it and Digital Air subsequently used parts of it in the production of Tony Scott's Deja Vu and TV commercials for Uniqlo, BMW, Toyota and Ferrari.

In 2020, to honor the visual effects effects team behind The Matrix: John Gaeta, Kim Libreri, George Borshukov, Dan Piponi, Rodney Iwashina, and the others, Dayton restored the original rig and added an additional interactive digital system developed by Digital Air to it. The resulting interactive installation was intended for a temporary exhibit at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles, however, that exhibit was cancelled before opening due to COVID-19 lockdown delays.

Should the editors wish to receive scans of the entire Bullet Time rig development notebook, the contents of the hard drive in the Intergraph computer that controlled the bullet time rig, or anything else in my possession I would be happy to provide!

Dayton Taylor, Digital Air Technologies (Switzerland), October 7, 2025

The Khakis Swing commercial from 1998 is an example that brought its use to more popular attention. I did not see any mention of it. — al-Shimoni (talk) 05:36, 15 June 2026 (UTC)Reply