Hey everybody, welcome back with a new video. I hope all of you are doing well! My name
is Jamie from Film Empire, and today on the FXhome channel, we’re going to take a look
at timelapses and how to do them right. Let’s get this out of the way first: time-lapses
are neat, but they can be a bit scary to create. See, a timelapse is not a sped-up video, rather
a series of photographs stiched together to make a video. You have to think of the preproduction
and the math involved and later import a whole bunch of images into HitFilm… But don’t
worry! I’ll break down how to do it so you too can make amazing timelapses.
Everything we're covering today can be used and followed for free in HitFilm Express.
Starting with pre production: it’s important to know what your shot will look like. How
is your camera positioned? Are you using a slider or gimbal to add motion? How long do
you want your timelapse to last? Let’s start with planning the shot. I want
a timelapse of highway with cars moving by. I think it’s nice to add a bit of motion
to the timelapse, so I’ll use a Ronin-S gimbal to move the camera during shooting.
Of course, adding motion is completely optional; you can create amazing timelapses on a tripod!
Now it’s time to think about the sun. Big lighting shifts during the shooting of your
timelapse can impact the final result. You might also not want the sun to shine directly
into the lens as that can create unwanted lens flares. There are tools to help you plan
your camera placement though: the free website SunCalc.net can show you how the sun will
move on a given date and location, allowing you to plan accordingly. iOS also has the
paid app Lumy which has a ton of information regarding the position of the sun and the
weather. I now know which way to face so that the sun does not ruin my shot.
I know that I want to shoot next to a highway which means I can already start to think about
my interval. See, a timelapse is not a sped-up video, but rather a series of photographs
stitched together to create a video. For quick moving objects like thunderstorms you’d
generally take a short interval like 1, 2 or 3 seconds. For something like a sunset,
5 to 8 seconds is fine. Cars are moving by quickly so I’ll choose
an interval of three seconds. Now let’s get into a bit of math. I want my timelapse
to last 10 seconds long, at 24 fps. That means 240 photos total, that comes down to 12 minutes
of shooting at 3 seconds between photos. There is a great online calculator to help you with
this - link in the description below. It can help you calculate your shooting interval,
your clip length, or the duration of the event you're shooting. Super helpful.
Alright. Highway. I want to convey a sense of speed, so I’ll take a longer shutterspeed
to add blur to the cars. 1/10 of a second should do the trick just fine. However, a
longer shutterspeed also means more light hitting the sensor resulting in a brighter
image. I could choose a smaller aperture so that less light enters the camera, however
that results in a deeper depth of field. If I want my depth of field to stay the same
I will need to find another way to limit the amount of light coming in. This can be done
with an ND filter, allowing me to take photos at longer shutterspeeds without ruining the
exposure. Cool. That is the preproduction done. Let’s go!
Alright! I’m here on location ready to shoot. What I currently have set up here is a Canon
6D on a Ronin-S for movement. The way you can record timelapses depends on your setup
and is something you need to research for your specific use case. With the Ronin, I
can control the camera from the app which makes setting up a timelapse very simple.
Many camera manufacturers have a built-in timelapse mode on their cameras, which is
something you’ll need to look up. In my case I can simply go into the DJI Ronin app,
select Create and then choose motionlapse since I’m going to add movement to it. The
app does the math for me, so I simply input the three second interval, the 10 second content
duration and the 24fps framerate. By selecting the keyframes and then pressing
the joystick icon, I can set the position of the first and last point of the timelapse.
On cameras that do not have such a mode, you can often use an external intervalometer which
will press the shutter button for you. Now it is time to check if all settings are
correct. Make sure your camera is set to manual mode so that your aperture doesn’t suddenly
change halfway. Set your focus to manual too and check that it is correct. Also check the
shutterspeed: I settled for 1/10 of a second. When using the Rhonin, turn off stabilization
on the lense as that can cause some problems when creating a timelapse. Everything is how
I want it to be; I can start recording my timelapse.
For a bit of extra spice, you can also try your hand at a hyperlapse. This is where you
create a timelapse with a lot more movement. You can do this by turning on timelapse mode
and moving the camera between shots, but you can also move the camera and take a photo
manually. Repeat this a lot of times, and you can get a pretty darn cool result!
To make a great hyperlapse there are a few things you can calculate to make your life
during shooting easier. I want to move a total of 750ft and I want my hyperlapse to be 4
seconds long at 24 fps, that gives me 96 photos. Divide the distance by the number of photos
and you know how far to move between them, in my case, about 8ft. I'd like a nice moving
sky so I'll use an interval of 3 seconds. Hmm, 8ft in 3 seconds, while technically possible,
I'd like a bit more time to set up the camera correctly. See this is why you do calculations
beforehand. Math! I'll make my hyperlapse 6 seconds long instead
meaning 750ft divided by 144 photos, this leaves me with about 5ft between photos. A
lot better, now, I can start shooting. Back to our original timelapse. Once the recording
is done, I now have 720 images ready for me to stitch into one video. Luckily, HitFilm
has an easy way to do this. Open up a new project and click the arrow next to the import
button. Choose “Image Sequence” and select all your photos. HitFilm will now import that
sequence as a video, according to the framerate of your project file.
Now you can grade your clip as usual. If there is a bit of wobble in your shot, you can apply
the auto stabilizer effect and play with the settings until you have the shot you want.
As always, experimenting is key in finding the right method for you. Don’t be discouraged
if your first timelapse doesn’t come out as well. Try again and find ways to improve.
But most of all, have fun. I hope that this tutorial helped you further
on your timelapse journey. Feel free to share results on the forum or tag @fxhome_official
on Instagram! If you have any questions, leave them in the comment section below. Don’t
forget to like and subscribe if you haven’t already, and we’ll see you next time with
a new video. Cheers!