THE MATRIX TRILOGY

Film written and directed by the Wachowski Brothers

An introduction to "Bullet Time"

Remember this? 

Bullet time, the visual effects used in the film was used to create a character's control over time and space. Scenes were filmed using cameras that allow them to film in slow much but show on screen what appears to be normal speed. Bullet time effects are often quite complex to film. Using 3D stimulation, they fired camera fractions of a second after each other. This captured every single action, (so about 12000 frames for a 3 second scene) to create the most iconic slow-motion effect.

Various cameras would circle around each other to shoot the scene. The Matrix hired George Borshukov who specialised in this field to edit out the cameras in the background using 3D models that were based on geometry of buildings and even photographs of buildings.

LIGHTS CAMERA ACTION!

The "bullet time" scenes like the ones shown above were The Matrix's most successful and mind-blowing scenes. Adding to a cyberpunk mystique film, the directors were able to bring out intense fight sequences that were remarkable and most of all, rememberable. 

Spider-Man and the Special Effects

When the first movie in the Spider-Man series came out, it created quite a stir due to the over the top stunt sequences and the brilliant graphics that were incorporated into this movie. John Dyskstra, one of the best special effects directors in the Hollywood business at present was hired to do the visual effects of the film. Dyskstra was the one who actually convinced the director to use computer generated images for the dare devil stunt sequences of the lead superhero as well as the villains in the film, because otherwise, these stunts would have been very hard to produce physically and even if they were produced, they would not have the same effect.

The very famous Spider-Man swing from building to building, lovingly described as 'ballet in the sky' by the director was the best work of the special effects team, something that improved further in the next two installments of the series. The effect was created by strapping a stuntman, or sometimes Spider-Man himself, actor Andrew Garfield, to a wire "no thicker than a bootlace" 60 feet in the air, which was connected to a winch on a rail. When they'd jump and reach the bottom of their swing, the winch would move down the rail, giving them a nice clean arc and unquestionably solid underwear.

The brilliant use of special effects is probably one of the reasons why the Spider-Man movies drew so much crowd and went on to become one of the most successful movie franchises of all time in Hollywood. Spider Man is easily one of the top most superhero movies, although the special effects work of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight are far more superior to it.