A Timelapse Project
November 16, 2011 10:16 AM   Subscribe

Portland Nights is a series of structured motion controlled time-lapse clips taken in and around downtown Portland, Oregon at night over the course of several months.
posted by OverlappingElvis (13 comments total) 14 users marked this as a favorite
 
Portland - Seattle's homely sister.
posted by lon_star at 10:23 AM on November 16, 2011


Seattle - Portland's charmless Sister.
posted by rainperimeter at 10:30 AM on November 16, 2011 [18 favorites]


MOIST FIGHT!
posted by darksasami at 10:32 AM on November 16, 2011 [5 favorites]


I get the distinct impression that the film maker is really, really, really impressed with his new-found ability to pan the camera during a time-lapse.
posted by crunchland at 10:36 AM on November 16, 2011 [4 favorites]


For me this wasn't about Portland... it was a portrait of a man obsessed with railings
posted by gonna get a dog at 10:39 AM on November 16, 2011 [13 favorites]


This was waaaay more koyaanisqatsi than that other post. For that alone, this was appreciated.
posted by DU at 10:45 AM on November 16, 2011


All right - we'll call it a draw.
posted by lon_star at 10:51 AM on November 16, 2011 [2 favorites]


I'd really like to see the rig used for this, not just the DSLR itself but the track/rail and servos or whatever are being used to precisely drive it through all the sequences in which the camera itself is in motion. I know there's some (horribly expensive) commercial equipment for doing this, but some folks out there have made really amazing DIY stuff as well.
posted by trackofalljades at 10:51 AM on November 16, 2011


Ok, lon_star. I really like Seattle to be honest.
posted by rainperimeter at 11:02 AM on November 16, 2011


The motion control could be done with a pile of Lego Mindstorm and Technic sets - preprogrammed for extensive motion and relatively cheap.

Yay Portland!
posted by LoudMusic at 11:09 AM on November 16, 2011


I love watching these with the soundtracks on mute. I like the crowd scenes in this particular one, where you can see who is standing in one place for an extended period of time.

Can someone visiting the thread recommend a DIY site for beginners? I have a pretty nice, small video camera which I'd like to try using for time-lapse stuff.
posted by not_on_display at 11:45 AM on November 16, 2011


not on display: typically these are done with DSLR cameras rather than actual video cameras. Software is used to string the individual frames together.

The most important things are camera stability, and manual settings. If the camera moves too quickly, or erratically, the 'video' will be nauseating. If you allow the camera to adjust focus, aperture, or shutter speed, you will end up with a similar horrible product.

Fortunately there are literally thousands of people doing this and talking about it on the internet. Information is everywhere, and it's mostly good.
posted by LoudMusic at 1:10 PM on November 16, 2011


I think I saw when they were filming the Portland Timbers sections and if so, they had a full crane setup.

Although that could also have been ESPN when they came to film the Timbers/Galaxy game.
posted by fiercekitten at 7:37 PM on November 16, 2011


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