So, as i own a pocket dolly and have shot some timelapses, and also am familiar with the Red Epic, the one shot that truly had me puzzled about as to how it was made, was the longer shot where the camera floats through the waterfilled canyon. It looks amazing! And what puzzles me is the seeming abrupt turning of the boat with the, i assume, gyro stabilized camera. It turns so fast and steadily that it looks computer generated, and it looks great! It is really showing something i have not seen before, at least not often.

I would really like to know more about this great shot, allthough it isnt the nicest in the film, its certainly the one who intrigued me the most as far as technique goes!

Me, Dustin Kukuk and Nilo Recalde did that shot in July 2011 at Lake Powell from a moving 26-foot deckboat (above), which we lived on for one week. The camera was fastened in place to the front of the boat, with no stabilizer. I used a Canon 1D Mark 4 modified with a PL mount and an Arri Master Prime 16mm. My exposure was 4/10 sec, with the camera shooting in rapid-fire mode. The moon was 83% and the water was very calm. I let the boat drive basically in idle, which was about 1 mile per hour. The shot probably took us 20 or 30 minutes to complete. I did use stabilization in post, mostly for the turns. About 90% of this shot did not stabilization at all.

Nice!

I must say, i am most impressed with your innovative work.

I have one other question: How did you operate your car when shooting timelapse off it? How did you get it running at an even pace? I know tons of great mountains here in Norway that could benefit from the same technique.

Well you need a 4x4 truck with a very low "4-wheel low" gear. Then try to find a flat place, or even better, a road that is just slightly inclined. Then let the car idle and try to keep the steering very straight

Wow! I want to try that this weekend. I have the 4x4 with low gear range, now I need a straight long road with little to no traffic. Hmmm?

Both these shots had me puzzled. Thanks for the info!

Guys, if you are going to try this, please be very careful. You need to have your headlights and running lights turned off, which is probably not legal, in any country. make sure you can pull off the road if any cars come along. I normally do this very late (2am) to avoid other cars. i don't want someone to get hurt, and then have that resting on my shoulders the rest of my life.

Call me stupid but which way is the incline up or down?

I take it your 4WD is automatic not manual drive?

When in low range you will be able to idle up steep hills with no problem. The low gear ratio gives the engine a big mechanical advantage. You can do this with a manual too. It won't kill the engine. Don't plan on getting anywhere fast when in low range.



I figured I would turn on my headlights if a car was to appear. I will have someone drive while I keep lookout.

I did this in Joshua Tree a little bit with an almost full moon. My Subaru has auto lights when in gear, so I had to pull the fuses and drive without lights. I found a little bit of a workaround when I figured out that the lights would go off when I had the parking brake slightly engaged.

Dry run in day time today, I clocked 1km in 20mins, so about 1 mile in half an hour. This will be fine for a 2 sec interval cloudscape TL but a starlapse would take a few hours on a dark empty road

Tom, I remember you talking about borrowing a gyro stabilized mount for the Powell shot, did you not end up using that? Anyway a friend is gonna take me up the Willamette river soon to try for a shot of all the bridges in Portland. Not expecting too much because his boats a piece of crap tiny aluminium thing, and the water is really rough there but thanks for the info

Very cool. I will have to try this weekend. I may actually use my moon roof for once.

I did use a Kenyon gyro rig at powell (which you can actually see the photo I posted above under a plastic bag) but that type of bungee rig is not useful for timelapse.

To clarify

You used the arri 16mm as its a fast lens for the extra light
You used the 1d mark 4 for higher ISO

Am I correct?

Thanks
Owen

Yes, a 16mm Master Prime f/1.2 with a PL mount Canon 1d4 at 5000 or 6400 ISO.