The Matrix

'The Matrix' (1999, dir. Larry and Andy Wachowski) was where the term 'Bullet time' was really made famous and where the way the concept was significantly developed.
'The Matrix' is a 1999 science fiction-action film starring Keanu Reeves, Lawrence Fishburne, Carrie-anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano and Hugo Weaving. It was released on March 31, 1999 in the USA and was the first installment in a very succesfull trilogy. It was Distrubted by Warner Bros and made a Gross Revenue 0f $463,517,383 from a Budget of $65million.

Plot Summary:

Thomas A. Anderson is a man living to lives, by day a boring computer techie and by night a computer hacker known as Neo. Neo had always questioned his own reality however the truth was far beyond his imagination. He then learns that he is being tracked by the police and is then contacted by a legendary hacker known a Morpheus, eho then awakens him to the real world.

Visual Effects

The Visual Effect Supervisor of 'the Matrix' was John Gaeta, who started the Research and testing for the film in 1996, while also working on the film 'What Dreams may come'(1998) which won an Oscar for it's visual effects. He Also won a BAFTA and an Academy Award for his work on the first Matrix film, along with various Visual effect Awards for the other films in the trilogy.
In 2000, after inital success of the original 'Matrix' film, Gaeta was asked to become the senior Visual effect Suppervisor on the remaining films in the trilogy, which were to all be filmed in a new multi-million, custom built, effects complex called ESC. The centerpieces to these films were to be terms coined by Gaeta, 'Virtual Cinematography' and Virtual effect'.These are basically umbrella terms for cinematographic techniques performed in a computer graphics enviroment.
In fully synthetic scenes of the Matrix sequels, all aspects including; principal actors, elaborate performances, dynamic events and scenery were all computer generated through a process of "image based" rendering technigues. This process is usually anologous with virtual reality and not film making.

More History

There have been many times in history where the concept of bullet time has been used.

In the late 1960's the concept was used frequently in cel animation. For examle in the title sequence of 'Speed Racer', the character is seen jumping out his car, it then pauses and the view point pans round in a 90 degree arc around the subject.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YTq7AJm_GI

The first music video to use the concept was 'Army of me' Bjork which was directed by Michel Gondry. It occurs 37secs into the music video and shows the girl driving the truck from dead on, the point of view changes profile shot via 90 degree arc around the subject.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeAZ9DQZFz8

Michel Gondry also used the concept the music video 'like a rolling stone' Rolling stones, here he has taken pictures from different POV's of the same subject frozen in time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCz8-1RPJF4