HOLLYWOOD – Cinesite (www.cinesite.com) helped director Jonathan Frakes make time stand still in the feature film Clockstoppers. Visual effects supervisor Mike Fink and DP Tim Suhrstedt developed a technique where the camera pushes in rapidly, spins around the character’s head and ends up on his face.
During the 360-degreee spin, the image blurs, streaks and warps while the background around him moves in extremely slow motion, all in less than a second. Cinesite created several elements during the time displacement, including a computer-generated bee and hummingbird so the flapping of the wings could be perceived. The falling rain is almost motionless while people move at normal speeds. Cinesite used its own proprietary software to render the water and the CG elements.
