Timelapse for Construction and Infrastructure projects

Timelapse footage, and long-term timelapse footage in particular, is becoming a regular fixture of major construction and infrastructure projects. Once created, it finds many uses:

• Progress review

  Review the progress of the project to date. Time-stamped footage allows technical stake-holders to scrub through the project at their leisure to review the details.

• Marketing and PR

  What would 15 seconds of prime-time footage be worth for your brand? We can edit your timelapse sequence to the exact resolution, length, frame-rate and format required for any broadcast or online publication covering your project.

• Staff education and best-practice review

  Use HD timelapse footage to inexpensively review every aspect of completed projects to analyse techniques and solidify best practice. Additionally, demonstrate best-practise compliance to auditors and stakeholders.

• Stakeholder relations

  Timelapse can be an inexpensive, effective, scalable and safe means of keeping a major project's stakeholders (investors, government agencies, auditors, local citizens and environmental advocates) in the loop.

• Insurance claims and sub-contractor disputes

  Long-term timelapse footage (with timestamped frames) allows easy and accurate determination of what happened and when. This can prove extremely useful in resolving contractual disputes such as insurance claims or sub-contractor disagreements.

Typical timeline

Each timelapse project is unique, however there are a few fundamental stages that every project typically goes through and we find it best when everyone knows what to expect from the outset.

Understanding legals

With dozens of successfully completed projects under our belt, we're experienced in dealing with the legal issues that can potentially halt a timelapse filming project.

We have a library of template contracts (drawn up in the course of previous projects) ready to speed up the 'legals' phase. We understand issues around insurance and have a comprehensive public liability policy in place. Our staff are also blue-card accredited and come prepared with a full set of site safety apparel and vehicle accessories to ensure the site induction process goes as smoothly as possible (minimising on-site delays).

Our surveyors work with you to ...

• Determine the output sequence(s) required.
• Choose an optimum camera position (including elevation) and field of view (up to and including 90°)
• Plan a filming schedule (intervals & duration) that will enable production of the desired output sequence(s).
• Draw up a maintenance schedule and ensure we can access the camera to maintain it.
• Organise sufficient installation security measures to ensure the camera is not tampered with
• Educate site-foreman to prevent and/or minimise occlusion.

Special Events: short-term changes to filming schedule

Throughout the course of a long construction or infrastructure project, there are often short-periods of intense activity (e.g. concrete-pours, span installations). With adequate notice, we are able to reprogram any existing camera installation to film such special events at an increased frame-rate in order to produce timelapse sequences of the event in addition to the regular long-term sequence the camera was already filming.

Long-term timelapse sequence (Brisbane Northern Busway Camera-2 days, left) with a related short-term sequence ()Brisbane Northern Busway concrete-pour, right) captured with a second camera

In some cases, the special event requires different framing to the existing sequence (different orientation, narrower field-of-view). In such cases we can organise a temporary camera so that the special event can be filmed without disrupting the ongoing sequence. An example of this 'B camera' approach can be seen at right, with a secondary camera organised to film an overnight concrete-pour in the middle of the construction of Brisbane Northern Busway project which was filmed over a period of years.

Extracts: unforeseen requests for footage already captured

In addition to the timelapse sequences requested ahead of time, we offer a "special extract" service for timelapse footage for which the need arises unexpectedly. In the past such extracts have been requested to enable construction management companies to demonstrate non-culpability in insurance claims, demonstrate sub-contractor negligence in contract disputes and to inspect the effect of extreme weather on ongoing projects.