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What do you think of bullet time in other movies? There are movies such as The One, Charlie's Angels and Swordfish.

This is what I think:

Charlie's Angels: Oh, boy! They slowed it down so the bullet was creeping along... and no camera rotation, just bullet spirals. It wasn't great...

The One: Well, it was OK, a little faster, but you could barely see the bullet spirals. The One was just a try hard matrix wannabe movie.

Swordfish: It was much better, but still trying desperately to copy the matrix.

Andy and Larry Wachowski got fed-up when they realised a lot of the effects they used in the original were being copied by other movies. They decided that, in the two Matrix movies, that they would create visual effects that could never be copied. The Matrix will always be the best movie with bullet time, since it takes place in virtual reality.

I heard Jet Li did The One 'cause he was tired of waiting for the Matrix sequels to start production.

For slow motion, they didn't do it too well when he was running down the street. All the cars just drove slower and Jet Li ran at normal speed.

Jet Li wasnted involved in the matrix because he wanted more money then they thought he was worth

It was horrid in "House of the Dead", but it doesn't get any better than the cow in "Kung Pow", firing milk from its utters in bullet time.

Priceless.

I actually like the effect in Swordfish.

Was there a technique related to bullet time for the first Blade film where they had to show bullets travelling in slow motion? I'm sure this was released before the matrix.

^^Yep, Blade did it on screen first.

shooting at Frost if im not mistaken.

I'm sure Buffalo 66 did it first in one scene. I mentioned it in another topic. Anyway this film did something before The Matrix, when everyone was saying Matrix created it when it didn't.

Really must find that info.

As for other movies doing 'bullet time', I don't care as long as it's done well and not over used.

In other movies apart from the matrix has crap bullet time they have slo mo which is pathetic well except in spoofs and Jet li movies

bullet time was actually first use for a bbc wild life documentary...

John Gaeta VFX Supervisor for the Matrix Trilogy: Bullet Time Questions Answered.

Firstly...There has never been a visual effect created which has been as isolated, sudden and definative in it's first clear moment as say the invention of the telephone or the light bulb. Within digital film history there was no moment when the acid hit the wires and suddenly a voice could be heard and it was understood to be "Bullet Time". Rather, like other creative outlets such as painting or photography, discoveries and advancements usually come as part of a collective consciousness or movement; like the advent of dada or surrealism. Many people around the globe were reaching a similar place in there own personal explorations within a similar time period. The reason things seem to happen as movements usually has to do with the fact that people in the same fields or artistic communities can choose paths based on the same or similar influences and combine fragmented ideas techniques or technologies in new ways without concern for the lack of the look in question as reference. Thusly, it is a basic truth that in different places through the 90's that new and experimental combinations of emerging computer and photograhic elements led to a variety or frozen time techniques.

I have mentioned numerous times that:

*My sole influence to any understanding of these emmerging looks was the Rolling Stones video in 1996 which utilized "view morphing" techniques deployed by a company named BUF in Paris. It may be a Micheal Gondry video, I'm not sure. At any rate I love Mr. Gondry's other works and consider 'City of the Lost Children' one of the coolest effects heavy films ever made. I in so many ways connect to the risk taking aesthetics of some of the smaller european visual effects firms then I ever did the behemoth commercial ventures pouring out of California.

*I and my digital associates were only doing what we thought was the most straightforward method for capturing ultra slow motion. WHICH WAS DESCRIBED IN A WRITTEN DESCRIPTION CONTAINED WITHIN THE MATRIX SCRIPT AND CALLED "BULLET TIME". Bullet time is a concept created by Larry and Andy W. which basically means Mind Over Matrix and is not the name of a technique which uses still cameras to make virtual camera paths. There were other names for that. Do some digging and you will see that all that I have mentioned is documented in articles. It has been mentioned before hundreds of people during lectures etc. Neither I nor my associates have ever claimed to have "invented" Bullet time. However, our method was NOT frozen and DID incorporate some heavy 3D computer planning and virtual all-cgi backgrounds.

*The next films will blow your minds. We'll show all the faithful that the concept of Bullet time still rules. We have trashed all the previous methods, they are ancient history. And once again the victory will be for the movement in digital film circles which have devoted themselves to visualizing virtual cameras and virtual reality for the first time on the big screen. Many ideas and influences are in the mix BUT ONLY ONE FILM WILL PRESENT THEM WITH MEANING AND PURPOSE WHICH SERVES THE STORY OF A SUPERHUMAN MESSIAH NAMED NEO.

Please enjoy them and understand that it's not about being first, it's about being part of evolution. Every contribution is a factor for the future of images.

All the best to you die hards,

John Gaeta

The best use of bullet time since The Matrix is in Shaolin Soccer.

I also like the Flash Thompson fight scene in Spiderman where Peter first uses his Spider-Sense which is pretty creative and cool. It works in it own rights and makes sense.

who cares! as long as it looks tight i am down.

What about The Beast catching a bullet in Kung Fu Hustle? Or wasn't there Bullet time in Bullet Proof Monk? Never saw it because it looked like crap.

Swordfish's bullet time was possibly the coolest looking scene ever. Using the Matrix technology and applying it to an explosion that ripped through cars. Yes.

you want good bullet time. watch a GI JOE movie, that is friggin awesome.

oh and about blade being the first to do "bullettime" i wouldnt consider that bullet time. it was just slo mo of Frost jumping out of the cameras way and adding in digital bullets. Not realy bullettime

The Matrix merely innovated on the freeze frame pan shot. It took it one step forward.

The Matrix didn't use normal panning freeze shots. Instead, it took it one step further, and actually had the camera moving.

The bullet time in Blade is actually fake bullet time.

Bullet time does not refer to the focus of the bullet, bullet time is when a slo motion action is panned in real-time, as though the slo-motion is actually genuine and more cinematic.

Bullet time isn't just a slo-motion shot of a bullet. Bullet time refers to the speed of the actors and scenery in relation to the camera.

Matrix was actually the first to provide this sort of shot, where real actors could be manipulated in the same way as a CGI replica.

lol i know what bullet time is, i am sure anybody who really liked the matrix found out what it is. i am saying that the "bullet time" in blade WAS NOT bullet time. it was a simple shot of dorff jumping out of the cameras eye and digitally adding in fake ass bullets.

It's so overused now that they're doing it with other objects, too. I don't have any examples but I remember several occurrances.