As a videographer, I always try to tell a story effectively. I’ve found that one of the most effective storytelling tools in video production is time lapse.
With a time lapse, you can compress a long, static event into a short, engaging clip. An effective use of a time lapse is a party like the one in the clip below, where people mingle but don’t do anything too interesting to capture as a video clip. As a single video shot, this would be about as interesting as watching grass grow. However, when compressed to about 3-5 seconds, the clip is engaging and tells a story without boring the viewer.
When doing a time lapse there are a few things to consider. First of all, what do we want to focus on? The image we want the viewer to fixate on should be either fixed or slowly progressing/regressing. On the other hand, moving figures or characters will move fast and that’s why we want to blur them. In this type of video production, this is achieved through motion blur with the use of a slow shutter speed. The shutter speed in the video clip mentioned above was set to 1/3 of a second and we get a ghost effect of people. Hence, the viewer perceives the activity but focuses on the aesthetics of the room and the people who are standing still or moving slowly.
Another important element to consider is movement. As discussed above, repetitive motions such as people blending in need to be blurred. However, if we want to add drama to the video, we can SLOWLY move the camera to the point of focus.
Or we can move SLOWLY around the subject like here. The movement should be just above the threshold of being noticed because this type of movement is effective if it is felt rather than seen.
Slow and dramatic camera movement in a time lapse is achieved through the use of a mechanized slider. The slider gradually moves the camera from the start point to the end point each time a picture is taken.
As a videographer and filmmaker, I don’t always set up a traditional time lapse where the camera takes a picture over a set period of time. Sometimes I will shoot a long video clip knowing that I will be manipulating time. For example, I’ll speed up a gimbal video clip to make the scene more dynamic. An advantage of this video production technique is that I can slow down the clip at a specific moment to highlight something interesting.
There are also some very sophisticated time lapse techniques where the slider movement or the speed of the time lapse changes over time. These types of time lapses require careful planning and tools like a computerized application that can control sliders or video production dollies.
In short, a time lapse is a video production technique that can show something boring in a new, fun and engaging way. And yes, it can even make watching grass grow exciting!