I’ve recently come into a bit of downtime, and this time NOT because some fool ran me over with their car, landing me on bed rest, but for old time’s sake, I spent today in my PJs searching for cool urban time lapse films to save you the time trying to find them.
And so I interrupt this 3-month radio silence to present you with these eight winsome videos right here:
- Toy Boats – A Sydney Tilt-shift Time-lapse (4:00)
In this fun little film, Nathan Kaso uses a tilt-shift lens to make the whole city look like it came from the set of Mr Rogers’ neighborhood for an episode about what grown-ups do all day. The innocence oozing from every pixel, though, hasn’t made me forget what Bill Bryson taught me about the land down-under, where every single non-human creature is trying to kill you (along with some of the human ones too, naturally). The people swimming in the water all look like adorable box jellyfish bait to me.[vimeo width=”600″ height=”330″]https://vimeo.com/53247454[/vimeo]
- Venice in a Day (3:23)
And if you’re dying for more Mr Rogers’ Aquatic Neighborhood action, look no further than just a tiny bit further down the page:[vimeo width=”600″ height=”330″]https://vimeo.com/40977797[/vimeo]
- Weathering Spring – Portland Time-Lapse (4:42)
I apologize for all the nature in this one, but between the dreamscapes, there is some fantastic urban footage with a decent helping of bridge and skyline porn. And it’s marginally better than that Finding Portland video at not completely omitting the active transportation element that has put Portland on the map as far as the world outside the Pacific Northwest is concerned. However, it does have some sleepy highway fixations in the middle and it does kindof ignore the beer and donuts angle. (coffee schmoffee.)[vimeo width=”600″ height=”330″]https://vimeo.com/44348000[/vimeo]
- 3 Years At the Same Place (3:22)
Watch an old piece of horrible modernist architecture get demolished and replaced with a brand new piece of horrible modernist architecture over the course of 3 years:[vimeo width=”600″ height=”330″]https://vimeo.com/15557177[/vimeo]
- Timelapse hoek Singel-Haarlemmerstraat, Amsterdam (3:09)
An intersection of beauty from your favorite city and mine:[vimeo width=”600″ height=”330″]https://vimeo.com/22608764[/vimeo]
- Kuala Lumpur Day-Night (2:36)
Finally, a video in which some actual skill went into the selection and execution of the soundtrack. Blow this one up to full screen and check out the ninja action from 0:40 to 0:45, the scooter bike-boxing from 1:34 to 1:40, and the meta-photography around 1:45. All around, this video features stunning production quality and, probably, budget:[vimeo width=”600″ height=”330″]https://vimeo.com/50922066[/vimeo]
- London Lights (2:21)
Yep these parts of London definitely do look better in the dark:[vimeo width=”600″ height=”330″]https://vimeo.com/37838032[/vimeo]
- This is Where We Live (2:47)
Time lapse, stop motion.. close enough. 4th Estate’s dreamy rendition of London contains zero cars! It’s almost enough to tempt me to move back there. I wonder how many of the animators complain about the availability of parking in London, and how many happily take the bus or ride a bike, realizing that much like a dream child, you can’t have your dream village and drive over it too.[vimeo width=”600″ height=”330″]https://vimeo.com/2295261[/vimeo]
It’s interesting – the Venice one makes me want to take a vacation there. The Kuala Lumpur had the exact opposite reaction, despite the better music pairing/timing with the visuals.
If downtime means you post more (without injury), all to the good.
Completely agreed! The Kuala Lumpur one makes me wonder if that city might be single-handedly causing global warming. Though it might be fun to ride the monorail to the night market.
The Venice one makes me want to move there.
And thanks! For the warm fuzzy. I just published a couple of really really really long posts, which I hope will help make up for some of the lack of frequency.