Timelapse Of Ealing Studios Redevelopment

For the last, what feels like two or three years, Ealing Studios has undergone a huge transformation. As you may know, I have been based at the studios since 1997 when we made Urban Ghost Story here, and I just never left.

I have seen huge staff turnover, with the exception of the legendary Lorraine on reception, and now the final phase of site redevelopment in complete and everything feels shiny and new.

Just before it began, I got into a chat with studio management and I offered to take on the timeplapse of the whole process. It was more work than anticipated, but when is that never the case? And it was one of those things on my filmmakers bucket list, a timelapse film.  

We used Brinno Time Lapse TLC300 cameras which were on the whole pretty good. We also got the weather proof housing for the cameras. Here’s what I learned.

1. Set the camera to shoot fast intervals. Every five mins was good. I originally did ever 30 mins and that was way too fast. You can also speed it up in post remember, but often the interesting stuff happens over a one hour period and you could blink and miss it if you shoot a framerate that compresses a day into a second.
2. Use lithium batteries and keep an eye on how quickly they run down. The tend to go from 100% to 0% suddenly which is not helpful.
3. The cameras shoot AVI uncompressed files which are HUGE. So you will need to archive and convert to more manageable MP4 files for editing. We tried to refresh the cameras every two weeks but often that lapsed into four or six weeks for logistical reasons. I would try hard to make it every two weeks to help fix problems that occur.
4. One camera did get pinched. Bummer.
5. We used cheap or old tripods to cable tie the cameras to railings, posts and fences rather than the attachments that came with the cameras. We even placed one just on a windowsill. 
6. Wind and rain can be an issue so if you can mount in a sheltered spot that is helpful.
7. There are massive stretches of nothing happening, overnights, weekends, public holidays. So don’t underestimate post production. It really is sifting through hours of footage for that one burst when it’s interesting and the sun is out.
8. If I could do it again, I would reposition the cameras regularly and shoot way more creative angles. There is a fear you will miss the main action, so there is a tendency to just move the camera back and shoot wide that captures it all. But over time, that gets a bit boring. I would be more creative.
9. More cameras mean more angles of course. We had three. At any given moment I would suggest at least one had failed. Be it a memory card issue, batteries or someone moving the camera.