Let's do the Time Warp again, everyone - Hong Kong production company perfects SFX technique used by the makers of The Matrix

Hong Kong-based production house Spicy Films has laid claim to being the first in Asia to develop and utilise the same camera system and techniques used to astonishing effect in the Hollywood blockbuster movie The Matrix. Spicy Films director Ken Chung said that while the concept had been around for close to a century, the technical complications posed had proved to be a huge deterrent. "It is technically very challenging, but we have managed to put together a system which created the same visual effects that were used in The Matrix," he told MEDIA. "I believe that we are the only production house in Asia capable of this, and for the first time the system has been used in China to shoot a commercial for that market." The spot which used the 'Time Warp' system (in the US it's called 'Time Track') was done for Lintas Shanghai (creative director: Romeo Lacao), for its client Audi. While the creative concept for the Audi commercial does not break new ground, the Time Warp effects lift it far out of the ordinary. In its simplest form, the Time Warp system involves the use of multiple cameras placed in a pattern (usually circular, corkscrew or spiral) at a specific point in the shoot. The shots are then strung together to create the illusion of motion - with cameras capable of shooting up to 400 frames per second, the potential is enormous. In other words, where only traditional, single-angle freeze frames had previously been possible, the Time Warp allows for multiple, consecutive freeze-frames shot from slightly different angles - for the viewer, it looks as if a moving camera has panned around a moment frozen in time. "A few years ago, French and British directors began experimenting with the system; in the US, the technique had largely been used in shoots for music videos," Mr Chung said. "This is probably where the producers of The Matrix got the idea from." Post-production on films shot using Time Warp can be very complicated - Spicy Films first used the system for a shampoo ad in Jakarta, also for Lintas (creative director: Jeanie Hardono) - but Mr Chung said that a lot of time and effort had been spent in the editing room to perfect the technique. "Time Warp offers one dimension more than motion control, which can't freeze the image and can only move at a certain speed," he said. Despite the bulk of the equipment (Spicy has left the 50 cameras used in the Audi shoot in storage in Shanghai) and the lengthy set-up time, Mr Chung said Time Warp was worth the hard work. It also has potential in still photography for print ads, and can be used not just for action shots, but to highlight dramatic moments as well. "Time Warp lets you control, slice, freeze time," he said. "When we first tested it, it was on a small scale. The second time, for Audi, it was much bigger ... but it was a nightmare to put it together." However, he warned creative directors against getting too excited about the technique: "If you use it just for the sake of it, it will become a forgettable technique. Techniques should be there only to serve the story. "But I'm sure that the more creative directors think about it, the more they will develop concepts that can incorporate Time Warp logically."

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