CNN have posted an editorial entitled Taking 'Matrix' to the next FX level which looks at the development in visual effects that were used in The Matrix: Reloaded and The Matrix: Revolutions! Here's a snip.
To achieve their latest eye-popping visuals, Gaeta and company continued to push the envelope in virtual cinematography techniques and image-based rendering, mapping photographic images over 3-D wireframe models. (A more physically based-method for acquiring impossible camera moves was used to achive the original film's "bullet time.") For the "Burly Brawl" scene -- in which Neo (Keanu Reeves) battles an army of rapidly multiplying Agent Smiths (Hugo Weaving), with the camera whirling by at supersonic speed -- the technology was used to create 3-D scenes that are 100 percent computer-generated, including the actors.
Taking 'Matrix' To The Next Visual FX Level
