Time lapses - should I include a slight panning in my videos on Pond5

Hello all,

I'm new on Pond5, and just got my first video approved:



I often add a small panning movement to my time lapses (in After Effects) to make them a bit more "lively", but do you think that customers like it?
Don't they prefer to add these kind of effects themselves after purchasing my video, so it will really be customized the way they want?

Thanks a lot,

Kevin

Hello Kevin, and welcome!

My feeling on your question is that customers appreciate the art and character YOU bring to the clip. If you feel that adding in a pan or zoom motion adds to the clip's aesthetic, by all means, do it! If in doubt, do one static and another with a pan. I usually do not appreciate it so much seeing other artists do many variations of a single clip or look, as sometimes doing so dilutes the POnd with too many similar clips, but there are instances when I do it myself, like when rendering a 5K timelapse of vast Alaskan landscape clouds, rainbows, etc. I did a static at 4K, and for the HD versions a pan, and a zoom/pan, and feel that each brought out different details. My thinking is that the potential buyer might need motion (or not) depending on how their edit is going, so this gives them options.

Nice timelapse, by the way, and I think you could add some keywords.

Gene

Thanks a lot for the good advice!

my advice is that you do not add the pan after the video was recorded. I recommend providing videos as close to the original as possible.

however, you can do some testing, provide a set of vidos using both methods and see which one sells more, so the customers decide if they like it or not. or, you can the the 2 different methods at 2 different price points.

Kevin adding pans,tilts and zooms in/out to a time lapse in post is perfectly except able. There is equipment available on the market today which allows all of those movements while taking photo sequences (time lapse).

Here is an example of a panning shot done using a Syrp Genie last summer.

Always true - the value of creating dynamic motion controlled pans, tilts, focus shifts, etc. while shooting is much higher than when done in post, as the relation of objects in the foreground/background move in relation to each other, and the apparent depth is well, more apparent and more "real". Doing it in post past a certain point it becomes very obvious, and the scene has a certain flatness that cannot, without a lot of digital skullduggery, be overcome (See; Ken Burns Effect) as it is frequently overdone with stills. But there are no rules, really - if you do it in post because you can, and you like it, call it art, and someone besides you might appreciate it as such, and pay you for it. Since there is no real resolution loss unless you get crazy with it, especially if rendering down to HD, the only real issue is whether you are happy with it in the long run. Many people are not, and like myself right now, embark on long, increasingly expensive and frustrating but ultimately rewarding quests for motion control.

Jason, have you used that Syrp as a ropecam yet?

No not yet. If setup properly it is hard to tell if motion was done in post or on location.

I have a Syrp(its a New Zealand company so I gotta support it:-). I use the motion to pull it along a Konova slider.
Works well on timelapes. The trick with all sliders is to have something in the foreground to emphasize the movement.
I'm using it with my Sony PMW200 which has a timelapse function. Means I dont have to muck around with a whole lot of pics
and you get immediate feedback on whether the shot worked.
Syrp is faulty in video mode thou. Wont turn the required amount in the selected time. Syrp said they would update the software with a fix but that was months ago and still nothing. Found they are pretty crappy on after sales service.

Kevin, here is two examples of time lapse using Dynamic Perception Stage Zero motorized slider system.
I´m very happy with this system, even though they have a new system - Stage One, which cost a bit more.
I had to practice some to get it right, but after some trial and errors I think I get a grip on it!
This two examples show how you get a 3D view/effect with this kind of system, which you can´t do in any post production IMHO!