Recently, I watched a series of very good time-lapse videos and was struck at how entertaining they were. Some of the makers of these videos called their work short films and I don’t think they are wrong to do so. Although they do not have a traditional narrative, they can be totally absorbing.
In terms of duration of these videos, two to three minutes seems to be the perfect length. To be longer, they probably need a more traditional narrative. I’d love to see someone try to use time-lapses to tell a story that follows a character. It seems very challenging – you cannot do dialogue or a traditional scene. But, perhaps, in that challenge lies an opportunity.
Here is a selection of my favourite time-lapses (I especially liked those that used ambient sounds)
Also, Tom has posted a number of posts about time-lapses. Here are the links.
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