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1. The Sandpit

6 months ago

A day in the life of New York City, in miniature.

Winner: Prix Ars Electronica Award of Distinction 2010

Original Music: composed by Human (humanworldwide.com), co-written by Rosi Golan and Alex Wong.

Please view in HD and full screen for best effect. For a description of the shoot, camera, lenses and workflow, please see here: bit.ly/aFmaPZ

Credits

11,781 Likes

Manuel W.
1 hour ago
Charlie FG
3 hours ago
Sean Fletcher
6 hours ago
Benjamin Charity
14 hours ago
Hüseyin Çetin
15 hours ago
*consonant
15 hours ago
Mohammed Obaid
18 hours ago
Cool79
18 hours ago
Filip Bongcam
21 hours ago
Gregor Knell
1 day ago

Tags

Sam O'Hare 6 months ago

I realise I left a thanks out - the guys at Brooklyn One for access to the penthouse balcony. Thanks!
Javier Frachi 6 months ago

Sam, what you´ve done is truly, truly amazing! Congrats!!!
gaz fox 6 months ago

Exellent
Sam O'Hare 5 months ago

Wow, I have been totally taken aback by the huge response, it is way beyond anything I expected! Thanks to everyone for all the kind words, and to those who blogged, tweeted, facebooked, and otherwise spread the word about the film.

To answer a few questions:

I was lucky to have friends, contacts and a some helpful people I'd never met but asked nicely allow me access to rooftops and balconies, they are all mentioned in the Thanks section. The rest was shot from public spaces, including the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges.

As for flickering, for the most part that wasn't a problem, with the camera on fully manual and the automatic vignette removal turned off.

The track hasn't been released I'm afraid, but this is being considered. If this happens, I will post it here.

Thanks,
Sam
michael merron 6 months ago

Loving this!
Sebastiaan basonova 6 months ago

Brilliant stuff!
Keri Friedman 6 months ago

One of the best time-lapse miniature-style films I've seen. Gorgeous work!
Ilya Malov 6 months ago

Same here!
Benjamin Athuil 2 months ago

same here too !
Joerg Niggli 6 months ago

Great shots and spots! I've noticed pan and focus movement (looks great). Did you film with a Video DSLR and changed the speed in the edit program later?
Dathan Manning 6 months ago

OK - This is THE best ever. You obviously have many friends in "high" places. Feel free to use my balcony any time for your next time-lapse. But really, how did you DO this?
Ken Ardito 6 months ago

Terrific Tilt shift! What lense and camera did you use?
Christoph Schaarschmidt 6 months ago

really nice. thumbs up.
Ogodei Khan 6 months ago

Excellent! Terrific editing and a great match with the music.
zao 6 months ago

Tilt shift, it´s really great, congratulations.
heyparker.tv 6 months ago

Awesome dude!! For some reason whenever I see tilt-shift like this I'm always waiting for a giant magnifying glass to pop into frame and fry some poor unsuspecting little human :)
Geff 6 months ago

really nice
Willem Rabe 6 months ago

this is beautiful, i love how the helicopters and construction equipment seem to be coming to life and the stop motion feel it has to it, and it feels so peaceful, even though it's the busiest city i know and you sped it up...

great stuff!
MILapse 6 months ago

wonderfully fun and beautiful work here!
UNLOCAL 6 months ago

Nice work !!!!! I like it
Rosemary Ragusa 6 months ago

Really cool!
Helge Johnsen 6 months ago

Amazing video. Thanks for sharing.
johannes bucher 6 months ago

I downloaded the movie, its an incredible quality, great job!!
by the way, what camera did u use?
Ben Thom 6 months ago

how'd you download it? i want that music.
Sam MacCutchan 6 months ago

This is really well done. The music fits perfectly.
Parker Wilson 6 months ago

This is awesome! Definitely one of the best tilt-shift videos I've seen. The construction site, in particular, really did look miniature. Also the night stuff (especially the last shot) was cool as I haven't seen much night tilt-shift video. Any camera/lens info?
System D 6 months ago

Absolutely awesome!
Виктор Виктор 6 months ago

Hoho!
Sam O'Hare 6 months ago

Wow, thanks for all the feedback everyone! This was shot on a Nikon D3 as a series of stills, and all the movement (except where we follow the digger, I moved the camera there) and DOF was done in post. Please see bit.ly/aFmaPZ for more information.
Steven Hale 6 months ago

Did this take you months and months? Or years??
Jef Samaroon 6 months ago

do you use editing suite like FCP or premiere to edit or just photoshop.
Steve Flanagan 6 months ago

inspiring stuff. really enjoyed it.
Rusty Rogers 6 months ago

Fantastic!
Why do we love this stuff so much?
Janelle Burdell 6 months ago

I was just thinking this.... lol.
It makes me smile!
Jef Samaroon 6 months ago

it make me open my small eye to bigger eye..
Cash Tilton 6 months ago

All those locations are very familiar, but you have let me see them again as if for the first time. Thank you.
Bill Fant 6 months ago

Lot's of cool shots! Dig the music.
Michael Pavel 6 months ago

Best tilt shift video I have seen!!! Nice job!
Eric Teran 6 months ago

Very nice...inspire me to do the same.
Courtney Allison Brown 6 months ago

Gorgeous! Excellent work.
David Sweeney 6 months ago

This is simply stunning!! LOVE IT!
Jurriaan Hos 6 months ago

nice one!
Wolfgang Gaebler aka gogo6969 6 months ago

Toycity!
Johann Renner 1 month ago

That was exactly what I thought when I saw the very first seconds of this video. It is a great job! Congrats Sam and thank you for sharing this!
andrew tomlinson 6 months ago

beautiful !
Severnaya 6 months ago

Very, very nice. Well crafted all around.
BEN Holroyd 6 months ago

Loving this Sambo! Cracking! Love to all. SB
mungkey 6 months ago

awesome! Love the miniature
William Leue 6 months ago

Whoa! This is stunning! It took me a couple of minutes to fully realize that I was looking at a real scene. The miniature effect was very strong.
Talita Emmanuela 6 months ago

Speechless.
Dablbabl 6 months ago

Brilliant! Magic city! I love it!
Mike 6 months ago

The "rivers of light" section near the end gave me goosebumps. Lovely.
fred slobodin 6 months ago

WOW!
Just WOW!
Murielle Ungricht 6 months ago

Love it Sam! What a wonderful clip. Humanity in film = art!
Anthony Carrino 6 months ago

Amazing work man! really enjoyed it! Thank you.
Robert Caplin 6 months ago

great work!
Anson Burtch 6 months ago

Awesome! Nice job guys.
Jesse Salto 6 months ago

Amazing! Congratulations on a beautiful piece.
Frederic Vercammen 6 months ago

Splendid !!!!
bittergas 6 months ago

Awesome!
John Matthews 6 months ago

fantastic!
Jesse Brauning 6 months ago

The Night Time street scenes are some of the most beautiful video I've ever seen.
Chris Walter 6 months ago

I think in 5minutes and 30s you just become my hero. This was awe inspiring. I wanna be just like you when I grow up! :D
Bjoern Amherd 6 months ago

very nice!
peter sennhauser 6 months ago

Sam, congrats on that movie, which is stunning because of the technique, but not any less because of the outstanding quality of almost each and every shot: perspective, composition, lighting - these are great photographs, not even needing the video and fake T/S, though it certainly makes it even more impressive.
Mirko Faienza 6 months ago

absolutely beautiful! I love these miniature stuff.
i like a lot your focus points in the shots.great job
Andrew Humbley 6 months ago

Very well conceived and beautifully shot, making optimum use of your location(s). An inspirational work. Time for me to dust off the cameras and experiment. Thanks also for the insight as to cameras, lenses and post production at bit.ly/aFmaPZ
Joaquim Bel 6 months ago

Fantastic!

I've done some tests also with tilt shifting but you really pushed it faaar away!

Keep it up!
Simon Owen 6 months ago

Amazing video - really beautiful images! Do you know if it's possible to create that 'toy-look' using a Nikon D90, and if so what lens would be needed? Cheers and congrats on some great capturing.
Jason Rhodes 6 months ago

1. This is probably one of the best things I've ever seen in my life.

2. Can I please buy an .mp3 of this song somewhere?
Craig Mansfield 5 months ago

Download Goldwave and use "record what you hear" option.
Sent the artist some money via Paypal if you want to support them.
Peace and love.
William McNeal 6 months ago

WOW! Time lapse combined with tilt shift is incredible. Great sound track choice too.
Found via twitter link by @shutterstock.
Sarah Sherman 6 months ago

This is incredible! Outstanding! If only I were that talented!
ciara leeming 6 months ago

breathtaking work
Stephen SetteDucati 6 months ago

Excellent Tilt Shift Work, Well Done!!
Love the Nacerima and Testa Demolition Heavy Equipment. I do all the photography and video for Testa. See my channel The Wrecking Machine!!!!
D.J.Granger 6 months ago

This is really incredible!
Diogo Carmo 6 months ago

Awesome stuff, good work dude!
Dear MaMa productions 6 months ago

amazingg!!! nice job!!
Janelle Burdell 6 months ago

Wow! Gotta find out about this "Tilt-SHift" referral y'all keep talking about! BAM! BAM! Ha! Really dig the music too. Thanks for sharing.
Robert Baxter 6 months ago

Sitting on roofs in the middle of a hot summer taking 4fps with a still camera(without a tripod) does not sound like my idea of fun. It was worth it though, it turned out beautiful. I especially enjoyed the night shots.

You did the tilt shift effect post production!? You're crazy! I'm loving this video!
theibrahims 6 months ago

That is an excellent tilt shift movie. you are talented. Like the soundtrack and wanted to know who is it by? Thank you so much for sharing.
luiztap 6 months ago

The best use of timelapse that I have ever seen!

Just brilliant!!!
Becky Mitchell 6 months ago

A friend just posted it on facebook. Mike showed me it a month or so ago n I loved it. Very clever and alot of work...Excellent stuff Sam!!!
Phil Harnett 6 months ago

Reminded me of that great movie Koyaanisqatsi. Great work. Loving it.
Dan Valentine 6 months ago

Terrible. Worst thing I've ever seen.

Not.
Simon Egleton 6 months ago

This filled me with joy, I love your work. Thank you Sam. As a NYC resident for 27 years, I also liked your unusual location choices.
Corax Incarna 6 months ago

Wondrous... just spectacular.
Mike Petrucci 6 months ago

Amazing. Really.
inkblotch 6 months ago

awesome!!!!!!!!!
Sergei Lassyi 6 months ago

Very Impressive!!!!
kyxaoviet 6 months ago

Very Impressive
What you use camcoder?
Dane Deasy 6 months ago

Amazing. Una furtiva lacrima.
Ariel Tagliacozzo 6 months ago

very nice!
Rimas Sadauskas 6 months ago

Excellent work! Would love to have .mp3 version of this song :)
Joshua Burcham 6 months ago

This is one of those things that is so well done it almost seems magical. Love it!
The Captured [visitor] 6 months ago

Beautiful collection of moments. Nice work!
josef novak 6 months ago

Paráda :D
Jem Moore 6 months ago

Really beautiful,this is such an interesting combination, intimate and objective at the same time. Kudos to the musicians, they grabbed the emotion of the piece perfectly.
Gilly 6 months ago

Awesome!
Kurt Rummel 6 months ago

Great work! Always dig the tilt-shift.