1. The first camera The first camera to create the frozen-time effect was devised in 1980 by Tim Macmillan at Bath Academy of Art during his BA. Fine Arts degree course. Originally a painter, Macmillan was interested in combining Cubist theory with contemporary technology. Initially using hand-made photographic emulsions and photo grams, he went on to using a series of cameras creating multiple viewpoints of a space which were then collaged together. The multiple camera concept then made a lateral leap to being applied to cine film. The first motion-picture camera designed specifically around the technique by Macmillan involved a length of 16mm film negative held in a channel. Above the neg Macmillan placed clear perspex spacers to give the camera a focal length. Above the spacers was placed a length of opaque 16mm cine magnetic tape with a pinhole drilled into each frame (cine magnetic tape is opaque). A simple shutter over the magnetic tape then provided the means of exposure. The result was a perpendicular tracking shot through a space. The profound revelation was that while the viewer experienced a move through space, time was frozen. A paradox!
2. The square camera  Although proving the effect beyond doubt, the quality of the image was very soft due to the small image size at 16mm. Macmillan then enlarged the construction to accommodate 35mm motion picture neg, building a 2m square camera. This camera allowed a full 360 degree view of the subject. The effect worked when projected because the film frames and the apertures were all registered allowing the film to be viewed via a simple reduction print with no post-production.
3. The ten-sided camera  After receiving a BA Hons (first) at Bath, Macmillan went on to the Slade School of Art in London to pursue his ideas further. He constructed a ten-sided camera along the same lines as the square camera. This was made of mahogany, very much in the style of the 'Victorian' scientific instrument.
4. The 360 degree camera  However, the main aim of his post-graduate studies was to design and build a circular camera. This enabled a conceptual and visual unification of the process – it became possible to create an endless or infinite rendition of a discrete moment in time, ie the film was played as a loop. To illustrate this concept his degree show work took on the challenge of creating a series of time-slice® film loops showing a girl diving into a pool, with the camera half submerged in the water. Another 360 degree camera was built out in Japan while Macmillan was working and lecturing there.
		1. The Tomorrow's World camera  While living in Japan Macmillan had become familiar with plastics and aware of how to exploit their engineering potential to the full. The Tomorrow's World camera (1993) was built entirely out of machined plastic with welded aluminium joints for rigidity. It featured removable mags for fresh film and take-up and proved exceptionally robust and reliable. It continues to be used to this day.
2. The Macro Rig  Sponsorship from Kodak enabled Macmillan to get to grips with miniature lenses. The Macro Rig enabled higher quality images to be produced by refining the design of the camera body. Sharpness and detail were also pushed to the limit by using the rig in conjunction with ultra high-speed flash. The camera produces a three second long shot.
		3. The Insect Rig  An increase in scale – this camera is twice the 'length' of the Macro rig – allowed for a more integrated shutter and flash sync.
		4. The Linear Rig  Again an increase in scale, this time to 125 frames, allows for a five-metre long shot, and a more sophisticated return to the original camera concept from 1980. Live-action takes were also undertaken with this rig.
5. The 'Josephine' Rig  This camera gives a five-metre long 90 degree circular tracking shot in time-slice®, live-action, long exposure, high-speed shutter or any combination. The camera performs like a compact motion-control rig. The optics are multi-coated, allowing the camera to perform to wide screen feature film standards. Again the construction is robust, enabling the camera to travel to far flung locations and work under the harshest conditions (as has proven the case with natural history work).
6. The 'Susan' Rig  A scaled-down version of 'Josephine' allowing high-resoloution pictures at a closer distance (1 metre radius). The past two to three years has seen the emergence of a plethora of similar camera rigs or arrays. As the concept disseminates through film and television and as the software needed to compile, track, stabilize and interpolate between the adjacent frames improves, we are now experiencing a tidal wave of the frozen-time effect in TV commercials and feature films.