Hello Tokyo: How the Edits Were Done

I recently came across this video by Christoph Galep and was very impressed by the editing thereof. The transitions between shots and the slowing down and speeding up of the time-lapse provided a good energy to the video, something a simple cut edit isn’t able to do.

Galep notes: "It requires using motion blur, keyframe easing in/out and a lot of patience."

How to Do the Time-Lapse to Slow-Motion Progression

Twixtor is a plugin you can buy for Adobe After Effects and Adobe Premiere. The magic it brings is that it inserts frames into the footage based on the frame before it and the frame after it. Time-lapses and normal video can be slowed down without losing quality or frame rate, so this can lead to a unique style of editing that you can use to add rhythm to your video. It comes with a free 30-day trial.

Transition Edits That Looks Like the Scene Scrubs to the Next One

This style of transition adds a unique and powerful energy to your video and gives a great professional touch that you can share with your clients. I was able to find a YouTube tutorial that provided a good walkthrough of how to do it. It’s mainly done with keyframes in Adobe After Effects.

Galep told me the video was shot at 50 fps and took planning ahead to shoot a scene twice: a time-lapse and a slow motion shot that were then integrated with each other. This seems quite difficult to do with people walking around and getting the drone in exactly the same spot, a testament to his skill.

The gear he used:

Canon 5D Mark III
Tamron 24-70 f/2.8 Di VC
Samyang 14mm T/3.1
Edelkrone Slider and Action Module
Adobe After Effects
Twixtor
Lightroom
LR Timelapse