Help with Construction Time Lapse

AlexR54

AlexR54

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Hi There

For my Duke of Edinburgh Expedition, we need to do a project so we chose the generic option of building a shelter and would like to make a timelapse of use constructing it from start to finish.
We are looking at ways to present it and found that we would like to do a time lapse.
I currently have the following equipment that will be useful;

Nikon D3100
3 EL-14 Batteries
A Joby SLR Gorilla Pod
LCD Timer Remote Switch MC-D2 (See Here)
Photoshop CS5
32 GB Memory Card + 3 16GB

The time allocated is 3 Hours and we would like the time lapse to appear quite smoothly flowing.

Could people please help me decide on the best Time interval between each photo as well as the best software to use and any other useful advice.

Thanks

Alex
 
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Well, first off you'll be wanting a lens to go with that kit. :p

Timing wise, there's nothing worse than a long drawn out time-lapse of not a lot (or the same thing repeatedly) happening. Think about how long you want the finished piece to be, and work backwards.

I would consider moving the camera a few times throughout as well, or setting up extra cameras if you have them available. Just make sure you can't see the cameras in shot. Being able to cut between views will make it more interesting, and also give a better overview of your project.

Photoshop will be able to put everything together, though video software will give you more options and be easier to work with if you want to do more interesting edits.
 
Hi Alex,

Timelapse looks good Few notes though; not an awful lot happens in that timelapse - I'd say either to speed it up or find a subject that does more in 2 1/2 hours. I guess that'd be sorted if you were filming yourself building a shelter. The slight movement at the side of the frames, is that because IS is on?

For timelapse I use Motion and Final Cut Pro. Motion imports the image sequence, then you can re-size it, plus put any movement on (slow zoom for instance). I then export that to ProRes 422HQ and put it into Final Cut Pro for editing together. Note though that it is much better to do the moves etc at the motion stage rather than in the editor
 
Thanks, I'm aware that timelapse was slightly dull as it was a test.

The movement at the side of the frames was my fault I accidently banged into it as well as it was exposed to quite a windy day in Glasgow.

For software I bought Vegas to use, It's not the best however it's s start and will hopefully be ok for the project tommorow. After that though once I purchase a Macbook, chances are I shall purchase Final Cut for future use

Thanks for the help and I'l be sure to let you know how it goes!
 
Yeah, Vegas is a great start - any editor really can handle this. Final Cut though will just handle it really easily - although watch out as it may become harder to get hold of
 
I'd have to agree that it needs to be shorter, I was fast forwarding through the video to get to the 'action'. Good test though.
 
Thanks for the help everyone, Here is what the video ended up like.

Quality isn't that great due to the computer we are using to present may not be able to cope with better quality than what it was saved as there.

But yeah worked out better than I thought and I managed to fit in the other angle of the roof building that we wanted in it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3_DOx0smio

Not very professional but was good practice and I'm glad I got to try it!

Your Thoughts?
 
That came out well! I do like the in-frame second view.
What software did you use in the end for the final video?
 
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