News A Look at Driving Time-Lapse

Driving time-lapse can capture surroundings and a different place in just a few minutes of video. From a hectic city to the wide-open landscapes, you instantly get a sense of the place through time-lapse.

There are many types of driving time-lapse. Those that focus on surroundings, those that focus on motion or others that are created based on the experience of driving. With clever editing, time-lapse smoothly pieces together the motion of driving as well as the overall journey. This makes something simple and every day become interesting and dynamic.

Night-Time Driving Time-Lapse

Compelling night-time videos tend to be most effective in bustling cities with plenty of general motion, energy, bright lights, and imposing buildings. Trailing light patterns and vehicles darting on busy streets in built-up, busy environments add to the vibrancy.

Driving Time-Lapse From Another Angle

Time-lapse of super busy roads often works best from another angle, such as above. Then the frenetic stop-starts or flow of traffic and blur of lights can be effectively captured. In a hyper-busy urban environment, if you shoot from the car all you see is the vehicle in front, which doesn’t make for the most exciting footage.

In this LA rush hour video, you get the feel of the continual movement of vehicles and a real sense of motion time-lapse.

Some overhead traffic time-lapse sequences show the quirks of chaotic travel and badly thought out road planning. The Arc de Triomphe in France is one of the ‘worst’ roundabouts in the world, and from a birds-eye view, you see vehicles nudging forward in a traffic muddle.

Traffic time-lapse can also show in a snapshot how different cultures vary. In a video from India, it appears to be complete urban chaos, but the cars, humans, and bicycles navigate one another without incident as this is their everyday environment.

Aerial time-lapse of night-time cityscapes use the motion of traffic to show the city is alive. The flow and blur of car lights add to the city’s energy. This compelling movement can be seen as Chicago is shot at night-time.

Motorcycle Driving Time-Lapse

To get a different perspective on a journey, capturing from a motorbike is rather effective. Some motorbike time-lapse videos are shot as if a passenger riding pillion. From this angle, the viewer feels very connected to the experience and the surroundings. Other videos are shot from the driver’s viewpoint so the viewer feels as if they are literally controlling a high-speed motorbike.