Walt Disney World TIME LAPSE

mikeymyk11

Earning My Ears
Joined
Jan 10, 2012
Messages
17
Hey everyone,

I am new to the site and am a fellow Disney World employee. I'm posting this video on here for all of you because I know its something you will certainly like. This video took a lot of time and hard work so any comments are extremely appreciated. I hope you all enjoy :D and make sure to watch in HD!

Here's the YouTube version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_7WxOYPlbM

Vimeo:
http://vimeo.com/34707146

Enjoy guys!
 
Really enjoyed your video very much. Thank you for all your hard work and dedication. You did a great job!

Did not, however, enjoy the music that went along with it. Personally, would have preferred music that would be pleasing and more familiar to all ages.

Again, thank you for sharing it with us.

Best wishes.
 
WOW...in the words of DGD's...that was totally awesome! :cheer2: My favorite part is the Characters in Flight! :thumbsup2 Excellent job! :tink:
 
Thanks for putting the time in to shoot such a great video! It was well thought out, well executed and a treat to watch...

~Marlton Mom
 

Great time-lapse video! I don't get many chances to visit WDW so anything featuring WDW always puts a smile on my face. Thanks for sharing!
 
Really cool video! I like the music but feel like some more traditional Disney tunes might fit better with this video.
 
Awesome video! I loved the music! Favourite parts were the Fireworks and Hollywood Tower.
 
Thank you all for all the feedback! Feel free to send this to your friends :D the more the see the better!
 
mikeymyk, that was without a doubt one of my favorite "home" Disney video's I've ever seen. Completely different from the norm and as MarltonMom said, well thought out and well executed.

I particularly enjoyed the music. It was the right pace or "energy" for the video and I appreciated that it WASN'T a Disney track. People tend to get caught up in music that they know and as a result, don't spend as much time on the focusing on the video that you're trying to showcase. I operate a haunted attraction and it's that exact reason that I don't use audio tracks that really anyone outside of the haunt industry knows. If I used audio that people knew, they would spend time focusing on that instead of focusing on getting scared. Likewise, with no audio, it's too quiet. You did it just right IMO.

I have some constructive criticism if you're willing to hear it. In both of the castle shots (@ 1:26 and 3:29), the castle isn't square with the frame, IE the castle is tilted (quite severely in the section starting @ 3:29). This is hugely distracting to me and I spend more time thinking "Why isn't the frame squared?" than "man, that's really cool!" Since they were all shot on a tripod, a quick batch crop could have quickly straightened them up.

Also, you have a few sections of the video that can get kind of boring, quickly. Things like the turnstyles, the first Spaceship Earth portion, Aerosmith, D-Street, etc. There isn't any major focus points, just lots of people quickly entering and exiting the frame. Since you can't really focus on anything other than static portions of the frame that don't move, like the D-Street sign for example, it's just kind of "meh". For example in the Dumbo section, you see people get on, you can watch a large focal point of the frame (the actual Dumbo ride) move and operate, watch people get off of the ride, etc. It's visually stimulating. The same goes with the parade, electric lights, etc. Lots of large moving objects that are a true focal point, the people in and out of those frames are just kind of like background noise; they need to be there but they aren't what you're trying to highlight.

IMHO, if you want to do shots like that, where it's nothing but people, I think spreading the lapse out over a much longer period of time might have a better effect. Over say, 8 hours, the lighting changes, the crowds change, the shadows from the sun change. I know that sitting in one spot for 8 hours for ~30 seconds worth of video isn't the most exciting thing, but I'm just offering suggestions.

Between the tilted castle and some slightly less exciting footage, those are my only 2 criticisms for the video.

I LOVED the wide shot of the fireworks @ 4:39. I have never seen a vantage point like that and it was just amazing. Where was that shot from? I'm guessing the Contemporary? Unless Disney has changed their show drastically since I was there last, I never noticed that they launch from multiple locations like that. Like I said, I really loved that part.

Also, what's the balloon at DTD all about? I don't recall that from prior trips (it will have been 6 years since I was there last). Thank god we're going back in March!

And for curiosity sake, how many total frames did it take to compile the video?

Again, great job! This is something I'm sure I'll watch over and over every now and then. I've already posted it to my Facebook feed for my friends to see.
 
Awesome video! My kids loved it too. I liked the music, but as others have said, something similar but Disney related would be the icing on the cake.

Loved the fireworks. I too didn't realize they went off from multiple places, unless that has changed within the last year. Amazing!

And as Lord Athens stated, I found several shots that were not level and it is distracting. Trees and the castle looked like they were curving. Was this due to an ultra wide lens or the tripod not being level?

Great job and I look forward to seeing more of your work! I just wish I could spend the time in the park and make such a fun video!

Finally, at Lord Athens, the balloon is at Downtown Disney. It's called Characters in Flight. I haven't been up in it, but my dad did and he said you get a great 360 degree view of the surrounding area/parks. You go up 400 feet for 8-10 minutes for around $18 (adults) for up to 20 people. It's been there since April 2009. Google it for more info, and there are You Tube videos from inside the balloon.
 
So, I presume you used an intervalometer; did you vary the intervals for different set-ups or were they the same in each? And was the zoom added digitally in post-production?

Gives me ideas for our next big department event here on campus -- the chairman was talking to me yesterday and praising my work on our Open House, but lamenting that there didn't seem to be a way to really get a sense of how many people showed up over the course of the day ...

Nice work!

SSB
 
mikeymyk, that was without a doubt one of my favorite "home" Disney video's I've ever seen. Completely different from the norm and as MarltonMom said, well thought out and well executed.

I particularly enjoyed the music. It was the right pace or "energy" for the video and I appreciated that it WASN'T a Disney track. People tend to get caught up in music that they know and as a result, don't spend as much time on the focusing on the video that you're trying to showcase. I operate a haunted attraction and it's that exact reason that I don't use audio tracks that really anyone outside of the haunt industry knows. If I used audio that people knew, they would spend time focusing on that instead of focusing on getting scared. Likewise, with no audio, it's too quiet. You did it just right IMO.

I have some constructive criticism if you're willing to hear it. In both of the castle shots (@ 1:26 and 3:29), the castle isn't square with the frame, IE the castle is tilted (quite severely in the section starting @ 3:29). This is hugely distracting to me and I spend more time thinking "Why isn't the frame squared?" than "man, that's really cool!" Since they were all shot on a tripod, a quick batch crop could have quickly straightened them up.

Also, you have a few sections of the video that can get kind of boring, quickly. Things like the turnstyles, the first Spaceship Earth portion, Aerosmith, D-Street, etc. There isn't any major focus points, just lots of people quickly entering and exiting the frame. Since you can't really focus on anything other than static portions of the frame that don't move, like the D-Street sign for example, it's just kind of "meh". For example in the Dumbo section, you see people get on, you can watch a large focal point of the frame (the actual Dumbo ride) move and operate, watch people get off of the ride, etc. It's visually stimulating. The same goes with the parade, electric lights, etc. Lots of large moving objects that are a true focal point, the people in and out of those frames are just kind of like background noise; they need to be there but they aren't what you're trying to highlight.

IMHO, if you want to do shots like that, where it's nothing but people, I think spreading the lapse out over a much longer period of time might have a better effect. Over say, 8 hours, the lighting changes, the crowds change, the shadows from the sun change. I know that sitting in one spot for 8 hours for ~30 seconds worth of video isn't the most exciting thing, but I'm just offering suggestions.

Between the tilted castle and some slightly less exciting footage, those are my only 2 criticisms for the video.

I LOVED the wide shot of the fireworks @ 4:39. I have never seen a vantage point like that and it was just amazing. Where was that shot from? I'm guessing the Contemporary? Unless Disney has changed their show drastically since I was there last, I never noticed that they launch from multiple locations like that. Like I said, I really loved that part.

Also, what's the balloon at DTD all about? I don't recall that from prior trips (it will have been 6 years since I was there last). Thank god we're going back in March!

And for curiosity sake, how many total frames did it take to compile the video?

Again, great job! This is something I'm sure I'll watch over and over every now and then. I've already posted it to my Facebook feed for my friends to see.

Thanks for the feedback! Some of the shots were tilted a little due to the fact I only had a mini tripod while I was there and had to place it on various spots. For the castle shot for particular I had the camera on an unleveled edge. Not having my full sized tripod down in Orlando made this a task having to consistently find trash cans in various spots that I thought would make a good shot. So most of the time, I had to choose where the best trash can location was for a shot, rather than the actual best location possible, which was frustrating in many aspects.

If I could have done them for 8 hours at a time, believe me I would! If only I had the time to do such a thing.

For the fireworks, which was brought up for a few people, you see the multiple launch points because these were actually the New Years fireworks at Magic Kingdom. & Yes, I was on the contemporary for one of those shots! I was able to get a shot from the Contemporary and the Polynesian Beach due to the fact they had the NYE Fireworks back to back nights, so I used the first night as a trail run.

& for the balloon, the balloon is located at Downtown Disney West-Side right before the bridge to get onto Pleasure Island. The reason for the multiple shots of the balloon and the one of D-Street was because I worked at D-Street and Candy Cauldron so it was a necessity for me to throw those in.
 
So, I presume you used an intervalometer; did you vary the intervals for different set-ups or were they the same in each? And was the zoom added digitally in post-production?

Gives me ideas for our next big department event here on campus -- the chairman was talking to me yesterday and praising my work on our Open House, but lamenting that there didn't seem to be a way to really get a sense of how many people showed up over the course of the day ...

Nice work!

SSB

Yup, I did use an intervalometer for these time lapses. I varied a lot of them due to trial and error since most of this video was more a learning experience being my first time ever shooting time lapses. In the beginning I was shooting 1 shot for every 8-10 seconds, but I would need to be at the specific location for much longer in that case since 30 pictures is only 1 second of film. So eventually I started bringing it down to 1 shot per every 3-4 seconds so I could get out of the location quickly as possible to go do the other.

The zoom was added in post production. I originally had the whole video without the zoom effect, but after doing it I felt like it gave it a nicer touch and better feel to the film.
 
Yup, I did use an intervalometer for these time lapses. I varied a lot of them due to trial and error since most of this video was more a learning experience being my first time ever shooting time lapses. In the beginning I was shooting 1 shot for every 8-10 seconds, but I would need to be at the specific location for much longer in that case since 30 pictures is only 1 second of film. So eventually I started bringing it down to 1 shot per every 3-4 seconds so I could get out of the location quickly as possible to go do the other.

The zoom was added in post production. I originally had the whole video without the zoom effect, but after doing it I felt like it gave it a nicer touch and better feel to the film.
Okay; cool. Even though I haven't done any of this yet, at least I apparently have some inkling of what to do.

On the one shot where it goes from daylight to evening, roughly how long did you stay in one place for that? I keep thinking I want to do a pair or trio of HDRs images of the castle, one in the late afternoon, maybe one at dusk and one after dark or close to it. Curious to know how long it took for you.

SSB
 
Okay; cool. Even though I haven't done any of this yet, at least I apparently have some inkling of what to do.

On the one shot where it goes from daylight to evening, roughly how long did you stay in one place for that? I keep thinking I want to do a pair or trio of HDRs images of the castle, one in the late afternoon, maybe one at dusk and one after dark or close to it. Curious to know how long it took for you.

SSB

I'm assuming your talking about the Tower of Terror one? That one took about 45 minutes to a hour. I went about 30-40 minutes before Sunset, then took an additional 10 minutes or so when it became night out
 
Very nice stuff! I keep meaning to go try some time lapse photography and this just inspires me to give it a shot.

The other cool part was seeing myself in your video, however briefly, talking to the guy in the cranberry bog at Epcot.
 


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