Time-lapse of graham cracker / candy house being built

[designguy79]

I wasn't sure if this was more appropriate in the photography or video forum...

If you enjoy time-lapse videos, or are fan of over-sized graham cracker/candy houses, check it out!

http://youtu.be/Vzz2JPXnlwE?hd=1

All questions welcome! Feedback, too, of course.

 

[h1r0ll3r]

Quite epic to say the least. Nice job. What became of the gingerbread house? You eat it or what?

 

[GoCubsGo]

Seriously amazing. I can't believe the cost of the candy alone!

 

[Bonch]

What software did you use to make it? It looks like you blended one frame to the next. How did you do this?

 

[Melizard]

aw the little furniture is my favorite!

Have you actually eaten it?

 

[designguy79]

Quite epic to say the least. Nice job. What became of the gingerbread house? You eat it or what?

Thanks! I actually just did the time-lapse setup and (rough, I know!) video editing.

They still have it altogether and usually leave it like that for a month or so and then throw it all out. What a waste of candy, in my opinion.

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What software did you use to make it? It looks like you blended one frame to the next. How did you do this?

I used Photoshop and Premiere. Photoshop has a "Image sequence" option when you go to File -> Open and select the first file of a set of files that is sequentially numbered. Then you go to File -> Export -> Render to Video (or something like that) to create the Quicktime. Then I used Premiere to splice the different angles together.

Next year I would like to get better lighting set up and a wider angle from the top.

 

[emorydunn]

Looks delicious. It's a shame they don't eat it.

With the video it looks good, it's kind of your standard "building something" time lapse. What I think would make it more interesting would be to have some more "artistic" shots. One that comes to mind is when they're coating the roof. If you were to frame the shot as if you were standing on the roof, looking down, so they added candy from the bottom to the top, far away from the lens building up towards to lens.

Really my only suggestion would be to look for interesting and more photographic angles.

 

[GoCubsGo]

Looks delicious. It's a shame they don't eat it.

With the video it looks good, it's kind of your standard "building something" time lapse. What I think would make it more interesting would be to have some more "artistic" shots. One that comes to mind is when they're coating the roof. If you were to frame the shot as if you were standing on the roof, looking down, so they added candy from the bottom to the top, far away from the lens building up towards to lens.

Really my only suggestion would be to look for interesting and more photographic angles.

Ever done time lapse? Your idea is great but for time lapse, yikes!

 

[emorydunn]

Ever done time lapse? Your idea is great but for time lapse, yikes!

I have done time lapses so i know it would be hard and much more involved. Instead of actually putting a camera on the roof I would use a telephoto to give the impression of being on the roof. I would also think it would be interesting to have some camera movements but that would be really hard on this scale. Maybe use an iPhone and one of those little dollies you can buy for them…

 

[designguy79]

Really my only suggestion would be to look for interesting and more photographic angles.

I like your ideas!

Unfortunately, the family who puts this together usually does it on Thanksgiving and works straight for 30 or so hours. It doesn't fit my family or work schedule to be as involved more than I am.

However, I have another friend who is photographer and a more skilled designer than I am, who might be able to help next year. We are also limited by space in their basement, and it's pretty dark. I will just have to talk with everyone and see if we can move it to a different location.

One idea I had was to get a local grocery store to sponsor it (the candy supplies) and people could watch and give a donation to a charity or something.