Neat Tricks: Time Elapse Video

The view out my window here at Union Square in Phillipsburg is pretty neat. We look out onto the Northampton Street Bridge, also known as “The Free Bridge” (because it is a free alternative to the toll bridge). Because it is free it is awfully busy. The bridge crosses the Delaware connecting Easton, PA and Phillipsburg, NJ.

Add to that a gas station on the Jersey side (nearly 30 cents less than tax-heavy PA), and you have two-way traffic that never stops flowing.

I discovered a neat program called iStopmotion from Boinx for the Mac.

It specializes in stop-frame animation– claymation type stuff. But it also does time-elapsed videography as well. Set up a camera, and it will record stills to your hard drive automatically at whatever interval you set.

There are a lot of programs out there to do stuff like this, especialy on the Windows side, but this one seems particularly easy and elegant. Note however, that the price increases dramatically if you want to do Hi-Def. That kind of ploy can only last so long as high definition becomes the prevailing standard.

Anyway, here’s a little ditty I did out my window– a four hour stretch in the afternoon during the bridges peak hours. Note the freight train coming straight through the square and the sun moving across the top of the picture… and the slow lapse into night.

Union Square, Phillipsburg, NJ, 4:30 pm from brienlee on Vimeo.

Shot and edited by Brien Lee