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What is the difference between Bullet Time and Slow Motion?

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Ishntknew Since: Apr, 2009
#1: Aug 31st 2014 at 2:12:57 PM

This is something that's been bothering me since before TV Tropes, actually. What, precisely, is the difference between Bullet Time and Slow Motion? In The Matrix, I recall Bullet Time involved a 3D camera that whooshed around the action, but most examples of the trope don't seem to have that. The description seems to imply it's The Same But More of slow motion— it's slow motion for really fast objects, like bullets. The Laconic says that it's about dodging, but quite a few examples don't involve dodging at all. And some of the examples seem to be any slow motion scene that focuses on bullets— which is a reasonable enough definition, except that other examples don't involve bullets.

I'm putting this here instead of TRS or a cleanup thread because I'm not sure if it really needs a cleanup, or if I just don't understand the trope(s).

AnotherDuck No, the other one. from Stockholm Since: Jul, 2012 Relationship Status: Mu
No, the other one.
#2: Aug 31st 2014 at 5:09:26 PM

Slow Motion is a supertrope convering all kinds of slow motion, while Bullet Time is a specific variant meant to show high-speed action in slow motion.

Haven't looked at the examples, but misuse would probably belong under one of the other subtropes of Slow Motion.

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OnTheTropesNick Podcaster Guy from Akron Since: Jun, 2013
Podcaster Guy
#3: Sep 10th 2014 at 4:27:39 AM

Hey, we tried to cover this topic a bit in the most recent episode of On the Tropes- Bullet Time was originally the term used to describe "time slice photography" used in the Matrix. It's the technique with multiple cameras all set up next to each other to capture something as a still or super Slow Motion from multiple angles.

http://onthetropes.podomatic.com
NateTheGreat Since: Jan, 2001
#4: Nov 30th 2014 at 3:21:47 PM

I kinda thought that Bullet Time is a subset of Slow Motion. If the action is slowed down so that the audience can see it, that's Slow Motion. But if a character in the scene can observe things in Slow Motion, we're now in Bullet Time. Like how Quicksilver moved things around in X Men Days Of Future Past.

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