Humans Suspended in Mid-Air Like the 'Matrix'? There's Fascinating GoPro Footage of It

More affordable camera technology is giving amateur and smaller filmmakers more opportunities to try their hand at videography and techniques they might not have been able to before.

Take the "bullet time effect" or, as some have called it since it was popularized, the "Matrix-effect," referring to 1999 sci-fi film where some scenes appeared to be in super slow motion or frozen completely.

Marc Donahue with Permagrin Films recently recreated the effect by putting together 15 GoPro cameras in an array on a rig.

These screenshots from his footage show how he used the technique to make it appear as if these people were suspended in mid-air for longer than humanly possible:

(Image: YouTube screenshot)

(Image: YouTube screenshot)

(Image: YouTube screenshot)

Check out the footage filmed with the GoPro array to get a sense of what we're talking about:

Speaking with FStoppers, Donahue said he had four takes of all the footage with the 15-camera array. This allowed him to work with 65 layers to achieve the bullet time effect.

The cameras were mounted as such. (Image: YouTube screenshot)

"I just organized everything down to a split second, used multiple sequences per take and stacked a final build sequence," Donahue said to FStoppers. "It was actually fun to have that many options to choose from."

Donahue gives some more behind-the-scenes insight into the array used to film the effect with a drummer playing:

If you were wondering what the bullet time effect looked like in "The Matrix," here's an example:

(H/T: Mashable)