Minute Fourteen – Chipped from Rob Antill on Vimeo.

Here’s a quick process video showing how I put together this image. A friend work’s at a electronics factory here in Nelson, BC, Canada. They had collected a bag of parts that the machines miss-place. Usually these will just get chucked out or recycled. I tipped them out on the table and was fascinated by all the tiny bits (some the size of a grane of sand). It was new to see these separate components before they are soldered to a board.

Music: Flotsam – Tasty Morsels - (free track download)

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Camera set-up for the time-lapse shots over looking the laptop.

The final shot. I thought the little chips could represent the ants building the logo from the pile (anthill). I wasn’t entirely satisfied with how this looked though. I think its a bit too literal. Also the little ‘ants’ have what appears to be 8 legs (real ants have 6 legs). I thought the two front legs could get away with being the ants feelers.

Some close-up shots..

Here’s another shot of the final image. I prefer this simplified version.

So yeah, this was a fun little project to spend a couple of days on. I think theres some potential to take this idea further. If you really had the patience you could create an entire image with the parts, using different coloured bits as shading and high lights. It would also be better to have a flat dedicated screen for the job. Having the laptop perched up like this was highly unsettling for hours on end. I had to be so careful not to knock it over and ruin the piece. It would also be cool to create an animation in Aftereffects that corresponded to what was laid on the screen. Maybe something I can experiment with.. if I get the spare time.

Sony Music Timeline from Rob Antill on Vimeo.

Glad to finally get this project out! It’s been in development that past 5ish months and we’ve had to keep it strictly under wraps.

Check out www.sonymusictimeline.com for all the details.

Click below to see some behind-the-scenes snaps.

For most shots I used this mono pod. Originally I got the pole for gopro stuff.

Printers down near Portsmouth that had the laborious task of weeding (removing the negative vinyl) from 54, 2m tall columns.

DIY time-lapse GoPro Dolly in action.

Implementation weekend.

One of the biggest challenges of this project was carrying the ever increasing collection of gadgets around with me. For the implementation weekend I rammed two very large bags with nearly everything I own. Riding bikes 10 miles through London was interesting.

Make-shift track for the GoPro.

Had my old D90 set up capturing time-lapses of each wall. I was using the tripod for other things, so this construction made do.

You may have noticed some shots in the film pan down across the work. Well this was done by simply releasing the height adjustment clasp on the monopod enough to make the camera slide. Low-tech, but effective.

If you haven’t, already be sure to check out the time-lapse video we made using the left over footage that didn’t make it to the main cut.

Sony Music Timeline – Timelapse from Rob Antill on Vimeo.

Me, Alex (AlexFowkes.com) and Joseph worked together on the edit. Joseph (Avenue Beech) brought his mac round and produced the track to fit to the edit exactly. This was a luxury. Above is a shot of his project in Logic.

left to right: Audio – Design – Visual

We had a lot of fun over a couple of days getting the project wrapped up.

I’m super proud of this. It’s the cleanest project to date. Having the extra time to properly plan everything was a massive bonus.

If there’s anything you want to know more about just leave a comment below. Would be happy to answer any questions..

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GoPro Dolly – Motor Testing from Rob Antill on Vimeo.

I’ve got a big exciting project coming up which will involve a fair amount of time-lapse bits. So to make the shots look a bit more interesting I set out to make my own motorized time-lapse dolly. The above video was shot entirely with a GoPro Hero 2 and the little rig I built.

Click below to read how it was made…

So here is a pretty brief walk through on how to make your own time-lapse motor winch box thing.

Note: This is a real budget build. I know there are many ways to build a time-lapse rig, most of which are rather complicated and requite carrying around a fair amount of gear. The idea of this one was to be able to stick it in a back-pac and take it where ever. So if you’re looking just add a bit more depth to those time-lapses this might be the solution…

The pulley needs to be going real slow. This meant trying to figure out a way to gear down a motor. Luckily I managed to find the perfect thing..

I got most of the components I needed from maplins. Which were:

• One 1.5V Motor and multispeed gear box. (Google search)
• An on/ off/ on switch (allows for two speeds. More on that later)
• A plastic enclosure  (Something like this)
• Dual AA battery case
• 2 x 3A Silicon Rectifiers (Maplins 1N5401 Order Code: QL82D)
• Some thin cable (I used the cable from an old pc case fan)
• Some sort of drive wheel (I used a Lego wheel)
• Two rechargeable AA batteries (Regs ones would work to, just wanted to save on running costs)

Here’s most of the parts laid out ready.

Components placed in the box to see the best arrangement for them. It looks like it will be a tight fit.

Initial circuit testing. I got a two way switch. This allows you to switch between two different circuits. One loop is direct power from the battery to the motor (full speed) and the other has two resistors that slow the current, allowing for a reduced speed.

Once happy with the circuits I began soldering them in place.

It’s been a while since I last busted out the soldering iron. Not that bad of a job I would say :|

Testing the motor still runs. Yep.

Measured out a suitable place for the switch (in this case, between the motor and the batteries). I then drilled a small hole and fastened it in.

Another small hole at the front to allow the drive shaft through.

All the components in place in the box. Its was a super tight fit. Perfect fit you might say..

Mandatory stickers. You can also see the first test with a shoe lace attached to the sprocket. The sprocket it held in place with a generous blob of cool melt glue.

The shoe lace was far too thick. As it wound in, the sprocket got to bound up and the string just slipped off. In fact I had the same issue with the above test also. Even though the string is thinner, winching it in like this just doesn’t work. Tention builds up on the cable until the dolly shifts, usually too much, then the cable becomes slack again. This jolty motion just isn’t good enough.

I was going to make a dolly, but in the end I decided it would be easier to just buy one of these things. They work surprisingly well. Great for DSLR video work also.

After the failed first attempt I tried driving one of the wheels directly with the motor. This method works well, except when this wheel looses traction and the whole thing stops. I think adding an elastic band or something to this wheel would provide enough height difference to keep it on the ground the whole time.

Option two for the winch method is this. Im sure it has a technical name, but basically I created a loop of string with the dolly in the middle. This meant making a little wheel at the other end. This method keeps the string taught at both ends, so the dolly travels on a smooth path.

The smoother the surface the better.. Here Im using my snowboard.

Here I’ve also used the panning egg times on the dolly. This gives rotation as well as the pan.

Shot of the weir

Shot of the half pipe. Maples Street Skatepark, Notts

Clifton Skate Park, Notts

Shot under the rail. You may have noticed some jumps in the video on this section. This was due to the dolly getting caught on the gaps in the slabs.

The final shots in Market Square Nottingham.

So yeah, that’s about it. If you give this project a try, it would be cool to see what you come up with. If you have any questions just give me a shout.

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