Reel Vision Studios

TIME LAPSE VIDEO PROFESSIONALS

What is Time Lapse Video?​

Check out our Long term construction time lapse tips press release.

Every video is composed of dozens of still images per-second that appear to our eyes as motion when played back. Now, imagine if we only took one shot every minute, hour, or even once a day and played the images back at a speed of 25 frames per-second?

The result is an ultra-realistic playback of time, called a time lapse. Time lapse video productions take what is normally captured as single moments in time and create a moving, living story. Time lapse photography allows us to compress many hours or days into just a few seconds or minutes. For example, we can create a 60 second video out of a months long bridge construction – compressing a major project into a bite-sized, powerful piece of video content that will look great to potential clients.

To make these videos, we set up cameras to take a series of photos at regular intervals, such as every minute, hour, or day, of your project or subject. This step can take anywhere from less than an hour, to years, depending on the duration of your project. After we capture some fantastic footage of your project, we move into post-production. Here, we seamlessly stitch together those images into a moving story that tells the story you want to tell! Any project with motion or movement is ideal for time lapses, and since most projects tick off those boxes, you could say Reel Vision Studios is up for just about anything.

Thanks to our tireless work, Reel Vision Studios has perfected the art of time lapse videos. Selecting key frames and stitching them together seamlessly in post-production is what transforms your project into a powerful video for you to share. For Toronto time lapses, you can’t find anyone better.

Common & effective uses of Time Lapse video

The most effective use of a time lapse video is to capture an event happening over a long period of time and condense it into a short video. Think about a building being erected or an event gradually filling up. The before and after images of these examples are interesting because they illustrate massive change, but a time lapse is even better because it shows the beginning, end, and all of the interesting things that happen in between. A time lapse of a condo building being constructed would show it being built floor by floor, turning nothing into something amazing. This is a visually impressive feat that manages to tell an interesting story in a short amount of time, and your company can reap massive benefits by capturing the intricacies of your projects.

Your company works long and hard to ensure that your projects are built to be great. Time lapses let you share the incredibly hard work you accomplish with your customers, friends, and family. You build and host projects for people to see them, and time lapses allow you to portray them in the best possible light.

These benefits include being able to add stunning video content to your website and social media platforms, being able to demonstrate your team’s hard work to investors (maybe as a dramatic beginning to a meeting perhaps?), being able to show off the new equipment you’ve purchased, or to show how successful and popular your event or store has been recently, among others.

Event Time Lapse Video Production....

Time lapse videos are a fantastic way to illustrate the time and effort your company puts into hosting a memorable event, along with all the awesome stuff that takes place during the event! A well-produced event time lapse video is the perfect way to show prospective attendees exactly what goes on at your event from a fly on the wall perspective. It’s also a fantastic tool to garner more organic interest, as those who attended the event are sure to share the time lapse with their friends and family.

Capturing the set up of a major event is arguably more impressive than the event itself, as it allows viewers a behind the scenes look into an event they may have attended and wondered how something so impressive could be built. 

Many time lapse videos that have gone viral are of these transformations, including videos of how stadiums transform from a basketball court to a hockey arena, and of setting up impressive stages for artists and bands. Every event must transform its venue to some degree, and capturing that change is an important part of marketing to your customers.

Capturing your event fill up with attendees is also a visually impressive feat, and there is no better way to illustrate that an event was successful than to see it fill to the brim with paying customers. These time lapse videos can then be shared across your company’s platforms, allowing you to better connect with your audience, driving engagement, and enhancing your brand image. Tell the story of your next event with this rich, short form content, and witness the benefits of a Reel Vision Studios time lapse video for yourself.

Events also allow us filmmakers to choose from a wide variety of angles and subjects to shoot. A Reel Vision event time lapse is sure to be dynamic and action-oriented, drawing every viewer into the magic of your hosted event. We will show you why we are the premier Toronto time lapse company.

How we create Time Lapse videos from still images...

When people who aren’t familiar with video watch time lapses, they often mistake the time lapse for a very long video. This makes sense and can be forgiven, as a technician’s goal when they are crafting a time lapse is to make it so smooth and well stitched together that it looks like a video. However, what we really do is shoot a series of images over a span of time, pick out the optimal images, and weave those images together to create something beautiful and mesmerizing.

How often we take photos of the subject depends entirely upon what kind of project is being filmed. For example, we can set up our cameras to fire every half an hour to capture the comings and goings of a construction site, or every 30 seconds if an important part of your project is being installed and its imperative to capture the process.

The freedom we have with shooting time lapses is unlimited, and we will tailor our shooting methods to best capture your project. Remember, your success equals our success.

Reel Vision Studios is available for time lapses in Toronto and anywhere outside the city. We are up for anything and want to help you succeed with your next project.

Cityscape time lapse projects

Reel Vision Studios creates great cityscape time lapse projects, as being able to capture the movement of large crowds and the flow of traffic allows us to create stunning final products. There is nothing more mesmerizing than the flow of time. Just imagine capturing a time lapse of your storefront over the course of a busy day. Viewers will see plenty of customers going in and out of your store, along with the visually impressive overall foot and automobile traffic of the street itself. This kind of promotional video can do wonders in attracting new customers to your store, as they will remember being impressed with both the stunning visuals of the video and the number of customers that trust and visit your store.

Construction Timelapes

Evolution of
construction projects

Time lapse videos really shine when the subject matter of the video undergoes a drastic change from beginning to end. Construction time lapses are a prime example of this.

The benefits of being able to show your current and future clients a time lapse video of your hallmark projects are enormous. Before and after pictures are nice, but clients often want to see the entire process, and construction time lapse allow you to do exactly that. We’re sure your company is proud of the work that goes into the projects you have accomplished, and Reel Vision Studios’ time lapse videos showcases that hard work in an entertaining, short, and accessible way.

Industrial Video Production

Production or assembly

Production or assembly projects also lend themselves well to time lapse productions, as they offer current and potential customers an intimate, insider’s view of how the products they use every day are manufactured. A time lapse production of your manufacturing process would be like letting the famous show How It’s Made shoot your operation for a day, except we package the video together into a piece of short, curated content that will lock in your customer’s attention. Your customers will appreciate your forthright transparency and reward you for it. Remember, your success is our success.

Online Video Production

Landscaping infrastructure

If you’re a civil engineer, architect, or landscaper, using time lapse videos to advertise your business is an easy way to pump up your marketing scheme and grow your brand. Our long-term time lapse services will allow your potential customers to see your unique processes and exceptional work for themselves. For example, an architect could be shot while they create a 3D model of their current project in their office. Allowing your potential customers into your creative process will allow them to put more trust in your abilities and give yourself an advantage over your competitors who hide their process behind closed doors. Build that trust and expand your client base.

Why construction time lapse videos are effective...

Having a time lapse video in your pocket will allow your sales and marketing team to better showcase your work – leading to an increase in brand exposure and sales for your company. Success for you means success for us, and we guarantee our team of skilled videographers will produce a time lapse video that both you and your clients will be amazed with. Once the video is finished, your company will be free to blast the video across your multiple social media platforms, giving yourself a leg up on the competition.

These videos give potential customers and clients an inside look at your projects, which will build their trust in you. Everyone on the planet desires transparency when they’re planning on putting their hard-earned money into something, and showing them time lapses of completed projects can sometimes be enough to push them to action.

You only get one chance to shoot a project being built, and you can trust us to turn your hard work into a beautifully produced video.

Another benefit of shooting a time lapse video of your project is your company will have immediate access to footage that clearly illustrates the project’s progress. If any of your stakeholders, engineers, or other team members are curious about how the project is going, you will have easy access to footage that shows exactly where the project is and its pace it is progressing.

Having the complete timeline of your project will also be able to help your company with health and safety incident disputes, progress management, contractor disputes, and other issues. If anything goes wrong, you will have video evidence that you can easily bring up and use to resolve any disputes.

No power? No problem. We have solar equipment to power our Time Lapse equipment if needed.

Reel Vision Studios can use a solar powered photoSentinel Mach II camera in case the area that is best to film your project from doesn’t have access to power, or if you are pursuing a green plan. This piece of equipment is efficient, low-power, and kept alive by a 13600 mAh lithium-ion battery that is charged by a 20W solar panel.

Weather also does not pose a problem for most projects, as we are able to keep our equipment within weather-proof housing. This allows us to take on any project you can throw at us and still deliver fantastic results. There is no better Toronto time lapse company.

Capture your long-term time lapse projects with our professional expertise and equipment...

Tell a clear, captivating story with Reel Vision Studios, and put your best footage forward.

An integral part of any time lapse video production is the stability of the camera. Using triple-axis tripods allows our highly skilled time lapse photographers to catch clear, stable footage from any angle. Neutral density lenses are applied to each DSLR camera used for our time lapse video productions. A neutral density lens gives the illusion of blurred objects, while not overexposing the shot to light.

A tremendous amount of value lies in post-production and video editing services when it comes to creating high quality time lapse video production.

Among the many post-production and video editing techniques used by Reel Vision Studios, none have quite the same degree of impact as compositing. It entails the combining of visual elements from separate sources into single images, often to create the illusion that all of those elements are parts of the same scene.

Time Lapses used in popular culture

Timelapse sample TV show

One of the most famous time lapses is the opening credits for Netflix’s political thriller House of Cards. According to Drew Geraci, the photographer who shot the amazing opening sequence, it took nearly six months of filming various sites in Washington, D.C. to complete the minute and 40 second intro. The sequence provides the viewer a powerful look at the base of the American federal government, and even though the series is not filmed in D.C., its stunning imagery sucks you in and convinces you otherwise.

Timelapse Video TV series

As visually appealing as time lapses are, it’s no surprise that they’ve made their way into the TV shows and movies we watch.

Planet Earth is another well known TV series that uses time lapse to stunning effect. Planet Earth filmmakers show remarkable variety in their time lapse videos, from insane city time lapses like this one to beautiful shots of a caterpillar undergoing its metamorphosis into a butterfly.