This unique stop-motion video has been going viral in the Disney fan community. ; What a post-processing project! [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3I9_32B8eQE[/youtube] For background, see their blog post: Epcot in 5,151 photos
I just remembered that I did something similar in my youth. ; I took a Super 8 movie camera and walked along an old interurban right-of way, taking one frame after each step. ; It didn't quite have the desired "riding a train" effect that I wanted (one frame every two or three steps would have been better), but it was a fun way to waste an afternoon.
I could totally see doing something like this, but I don't know if I have the patience or stamina to follow it through all the way...
The easy way to produce the same effect with a smoother picture is to do it with the following... ; ; 1) rollerskates ; ; ; 2) a movie camera ; ; 3) a person pulling you around by a rope The other option is to film the tour without the person, then "green screen" them in afterwards. ; Okay, so either method would not be as artistic, but still different. Was a very cool video though. brought to you by an (HTC) "Incredible" Guy.
Remember that these are all inside the gates, on property. 1) Rollerskates in Epcot? I'd like to see someone even trying to ask permission to do that! 2) True - but it would still take many hours to do this since one of the fun things about this is the feet not moving, so it would take about as much time as stop motion. With video you'd then have to go through and try to find the spots where the feet are aligned and stopped - and that would take days. For post, I think it would actually be faster to do it stop motion. 3) The rope trick would work of you were on a wheeled platform of some kind. In any case, I doubt you could do that unless it was a Disney production. I doubt very much you could do much more than what they did inside the park without having to involve guest services and a myriad of other headaches. The way they did it was the most practical from a guest-only project. Plus it just looks like fun. And in looking at it again, they did add in a few bits that I'd like to see more of, like camera angles around the subject and the subject turning but still traveling in a 'straight' line. I think having one or two people come in and out of the shots also in a stop motion manner to pose for one of his 'pictures' would be a lot of fun as well, maybe getting something to wear for each of the countries. Hmmmmmmm - sounds like another all-day project in the works... I've always been a sucker for doing non-composited pictures. Disney does too much green-screen/cgi as it is. I showed this to my daughter (who is working at DL in Anaheim) and she kept saying "Is that real?" I think that's part of the 'magic' in this one. Yup, and it got us thinking too, huh? Anybody else think they can do this??? (I've got an idea for Disneyland, just need to do it on a day where there's no repairs/construction going on and the crowds are lite...) I'd also be curious to see any tests they did. Would hate to reinvent the wheel.
Heck, why not just mount a video camera on an ECV? ; Perfectly legal, smooth and no work at all. ; Seriously, I'm amazed at the work they put into this. ; It seems simple: take a shot, move forward a couple of inches, take another shot, repeat. ; But check out his feet: ; they are always perfectly aligned. ; His body seems motionless. ; And when he does move, such as to take a photo, imagine what's really involved: ; the arms and head have to move only a little bit for each frame while moving the body forward. I wonder if they have any prior stop-motion animation experience, or if they just studied Wallace & Gromit and Robot Chicken and thought it looked easy?
That's a cool idea! ; It would be neat to try, but I don't think I would give up a day in the parks to do something like this.
