TimeSlice

This page is a running collection of my own ramblings about bullet timeslice (bullet time) filming techniques. Read from top to bottom as I add chronological updates below from time to time.

1/2012

Timeslice (aka “bullet time“) is a technique pioneered by Tim Macmillan and later made famous by movies like the Matrix.  Ever since consumer digital cameras have dropped in price I have become interested in attempting this technique. Consistent alignment and spacing of the cameras is key. Below is a test using 5 GoPro cameras. I am syncing these all up manually in post with a film slate.  My recent discovery of PluralEyes will help speed up this initial post process.

I am shooting all of these on GoPro Heros at 720 60fps and using twixtor for super slow motion effect. Christopher Kaczmarzyk, a member of my GoPro NYC meetup group, machined some prototype mounts for me to thread 1/4″ – 20 bolts to help mount the cameras consistently. The goal of this project is to produce the best quality timeslice footage on a super portable rig with very little money.

Jeff Campbell at Ambarella (the company responsible for the imaging chip inside GoPro cameras) has been nice enough to  send me a few cameras for my experiments.  Ideally you will want to use the same cameras for something like this. In addition to the Hero2’s improved image quality, its white balance and exposure will differ and will  not match the other models. I would prefer all Hero2’s but I suppose that will have to wait 😉

This is my first test. I mounted 4 GoPro cameras to the hood of a car.

This next test spaces the cameras roughly 6″ apart (no audio).
(Don’t worry, no animals were harmed during this shoot)

These tests space the cameras roughly 12″ apart. The difference is obvious.

Here are 5 GoPro Hero Hd Cameras mounted to a custom cut piece of particle board. The cameras are hooked up to a 4.5″ LCD screen for monitoring. GoPro LCD bac pacs would drain too much battery, increase the cost and most importantly not be as advantageous as seeing all of the shots in succession on one screen.

Using analog Sony A/V switches to route all cameras to a single monitor I am able to turn the knobs to  flip through the cameras on the monitor. Essentially getting a real time read of the effect. It’s not smooth or perfect but it’s good enough for now. The HERO2 has an HDMI out so I suspect that a digital solution can be very smooth.

All cameras can be monitored, tested and eyeballed with this LCD screen.

I think the biggest issue I have with using GoPro Hero cameras with this is their super wide angle. I would like to try this with a set of Hero2’s so that I can shoot in “narrow” mode.

Here is a really interesting clip that shows Tim Macmillan’s early creations and how he did it with film. You can see some more of Macmillan and crew’s work at TimeSliceFilms.com

Pretty neat!

Macmillan with a LOT of GoPros

Here is another interesting method that a company called The Marmalade uses. It’s a Phantom HD camera attached to an industrial robotic arm. Because the frame rate is so high and the movement so fast the results are pretty amazing:

5/20/2014 Here’s an experiment with a GoPro on a custom slider I made to hurdle a GoPro  Hero3+ as fast as I could along a straight track while shooting at 240fps

6/1/2016

Indie music group Matt and Kim created a video with a GoPro and fishing wire. They reference the “Centriphone” camera technique.

Centriphone

Here’s a low budget version of the above example that uses a GoPro and a fan motor:

1/1/2017

Ben Crasnow who runs the excellent YouTube science channel Applied Science has been experimenting with an inexpensive Kicsktarter-funded camera called the Chronos 1.4. He has built EXACTLY what I was trying to initially accomplish in my above 2014 video. He knows a lot about building these kinds of things. Check out this video of his high speed motorized slider:

1/23/2017

Adam Magyar uses slit scan photography to produce stunning works like this. Read more about his technique on his site:

3/10/2017

Inspired by the work of Adam Magyar above I decided to publish some videos I’ve been shooting on the NYC subways with my iPhone 6 at 240fps. It’s kind of nuts how far point and shoot camera technology has come. Here’s one of the clips:

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I also tried one with a Sony A7sii camera shooting at 120fps:

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3/13/2017

I’m down at SXSW in Austin, Texas with Mashable. One of the brand activations featured at the Mashable House is for an upcoming film called “King Arthur: Legend of the Sword”. The setup is simple, and one that I have written about above. There is one GoPro connected to a rotating arm. The participant stands in the middle and is told to pull the sword out while the camera spins. The GoPro is shooting at 120fps and connected via WiFi to a computer that then has some custom software to add the overlays, music and let you share out instantly to social media. It was pretty cool to see this working in real time. Kudos to the team who put this together.

Here’s what I look like:

And here is a behind the scenes look of my colleague Ray:

3/2020

A company party featuring a 360 video booth. I put together this edit from a few different sessions

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