How a 16-Camera Rig Captured a Drifting Car in 3D

When director George Nicholls (Quadrant) approached cinematographer Rowan Biddiscombe in early 2025, he had one mission: to create something visually striking and scroll-stopping for social media. The duo knew they needed more than slick camera work — they needed innovation. Enter Harry Hankin (@hankzoid) and his custom-built bullet time rig.

The Concept: Turning Bullet Time Into a Moving Experience

Inspired by Hankin’s prior experiments with bullet time, Biddiscombe pitched the ambitious idea of mounting a 16-camera array onto a drifting car. The goal was to create a never-before-seen 3D moment in motion. The rig — originally designed for portability and compact tripod use — had never been pushed to this level. But if it worked, the results would be game-changing.

Mounting the Rig

The challenge was convincing The Grip Company (@thegripcompany) to adapt this lightweight, flexible rig for the intense forces of a drifting vehicle. The team engineered a mounting solution using an extensive system of suction cups and reinforcement points to add the necessary rigidity and ensure safety on set. The rig may have been “wobbly AF,” but meticulous prep turned it into a stable, road-ready system.

The Tech: 3D Scene Capture Using Gaussian Splatting

What makes this bullet time approach revolutionary is the post-production process. Using a custom software/hardware combination, Hankin triggered all 16 cameras simultaneously. Harry processed the images using a technique called Gaussian splatting — a cutting-edge method that generates a 3D map of the environment.

He then imported this 3D data into Unreal Engine, giving Biddiscombe and the team full freedom to move a virtual camera within the captured scene. Unlike traditional bullet time setups, which limit the camera to the original physical positions, this method unlocks creative flexibility in post-production, even beyond the rig’s initial footprint.

Thank you, fam, for reading. If you wanna learn more about the work of Rowan Biddiscombe, check his Instagram profile, and in case you missed our previous mag piece, go check it out!

Much love!
FilmmakersWorld Team

Don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter so you don’t miss the new articles we publish! Thank you!