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Building Construction Progression Videos HELP...

topdrone

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Building Construction Progression Videos...

I've been doing weekly (nearly every week) orbit videos of two building sites over 3 months and have 10 to 12 videos of each one.

Tried putting the clips together to make a buttery smooth transition at a 5 second duration between each week but I was under the impression that it would match near enough but some clips the position of fixed objects (roads, lamp posts and buildings) are out by up to 10 or 15 foot?? I want to make a promotional video to show to potential clients.

I've attached a screenshot showing two clips and this was after moving one clip to match the other, you can see by the lamp posts and road markings the difference? Other clips only need a bit of correcting but most are out a fair bit...

I've been using litchi for the P4P and waypoints on my Anafi and they are both out quite far out on most clips. I understand wind and GPS accuracy would have been a factor but was only expecting a few feet deviation between points...

Using FCPX to edit I can move clips on the X and Y axis to match but it's still a fair bit off on some clips and will have to crop a fair bit of the finished video when done.

Has anyone got experience on getting the weekly videos to match up better or is this the way to do it? Thanks guys for any tips?
 

Attachments

  • construct progess.png
    construct progess.png
    9 MB · Views: 64
Building Construction Progression Videos...

I've been doing weekly (nearly every week) orbit videos of two building sites over 3 months and have 10 to 12 videos of each one.

Tried putting the clips together to make a buttery smooth transition at a 5 second duration between each week but I was under the impression that it would match near enough but some clips the position of fixed objects (roads, lamp posts and buildings) are out by up to 10 or 15 foot?? I want to make a promotional video to show to potential clients.

I've attached a screenshot showing two clips and this was after moving one clip to match the other, you can see by the lamp posts and road markings the difference? Other clips only need a bit of correcting but most are out a fair bit...

I've been using litchi for the P4P and waypoints on my Anafi and they are both out quite far out on most clips. I understand wind and GPS accuracy would have been a factor but was only expecting a few feet deviation between points...

Using FCPX to edit I can move clips on the X and Y axis to match but it's still a fair bit off on some clips and will have to crop a fair bit of the finished video when done.

Has anyone got experience on getting the weekly videos to match up better or is this the way to do it? Thanks guys for any tips?
I cant determine from the photo but it does appear that the sizes of the items vary, meaning you may be closer to some objects in one of the shots. That makes it difficult to match the shots unless the camera is pointed in exactly the same direction from the same exact location and tilt is exactly same.
You may consider a different "treatment", or production plan. Quick transition may help or a cut even better.
If you need to do this a few ideas might be to zoom the shot in in post and try adjusting size to match items left to right eg. lamp post on right matched up in both videos then expand or contract to match road on left , possibly adjusting z axis if camera angle is different.
It will be much work and you not be able to nail it because of camera position.
--Years ago I did a car ad that required the car to be in the same spot every take over a week period. The car was moved after the shoot and I had to position it again next day.
1 inch off was all it took to loose the effect.
 
The purpose of construction progression video is to see the evoluotion/changes taking place on the job site from grading to finish build. Unless you are doing a timelapse type clip, I doubt anyone will notice slight differences in light poles position from frame to frame. I just did one recently with a few different twist to it, to give a personal feel to the builder.

Here is the rough copy, I still need to add the final phase of the project (paving & vegetation), then edit it down to about 5min.
 
@Recoveryone hit the nail on the head. At least from my experience, my clients aren't looking for an Award Winning cinematic experience from Construction documentation. They are looking for DATA and not an "Experience". You need to make sure you're selling what your client is buying.
 
I'm not sure how accurate re-flying the same programmed Orbit and point of interest is, considering the wind factor. I don't think it takes much wind to blow an orbit path off slightly, causing items and angles not to line up. In the future, I would consider setting up the flight as a way point mission with multiple POIs as you fly around the site. I don't think a small amount of wind will affect that type of a flight as it might a simple Orbit. Another suggestion with re-flying this type of way point mission would be to try to build in a little extra room into the framing of the scene. Post-production editing programs like DaVinci Resolve (free) lets you overlay, zoom, and shift each video so you can align them better during their transition. But I agree with the others. A client is not looking for a perfect blend as long as the change in the site is obvious. On the other hand, I'd probably strive for a "perfect" blend if the video was going to be used for marketing purposes.
 
In my opinion, if you can't make it perfect, then make the transitions obvious so that they know that time has elapsed. Then it looks like its done on purpose. If done right, it can still look great.
 
I cant determine from the photo but it does appear that the sizes of the items vary, meaning you may be closer to some objects in one of the shots. That makes it difficult to match the shots unless the camera is pointed in exactly the same direction from the same exact location and tilt is exactly same.
You may consider a different "treatment", or production plan. Quick transition may help or a cut even better.
If you need to do this a few ideas might be to zoom the shot in in post and try adjusting size to match items left to right eg. lamp post on right matched up in both videos then expand or contract to match road on left , possibly adjusting z axis if camera angle is different.
It will be much work and you not be able to nail it because of camera position.
--Years ago I did a car ad that required the car to be in the same spot every take over a week period. The car was moved after the shoot and I had to position it again next day.
1 inch off was all it took to loose the effect.
Thanks Jack, great tips?
 
The purpose of construction progression video is to see the evoluotion/changes taking place on the job site from grading to finish build. Unless you are doing a timelapse type clip, I doubt anyone will notice slight differences in light poles position from frame to frame. I just did one recently with a few different twist to it, to give a personal feel to the builder.

Here is the rough copy, I still need to add the final phase of the project (paving & vegetation), then edit it down to about 5min.
Thank you recoveryyone, nice video...
 
Thanks everyone for all the tips, advice and your experience doing these types of flights, much appreciated...yeah theres no way I can get some clips matching just gotta get more creative with the editing?

Will get back to you when I finish the editing...
 
Here's what I do - and the client LOVES it!

That's a fantastic video Len :)

What drone do you use and do you use litchi to set up the flight plans?

Thanks for the reply and video...

This is what I did so far but progress has been slow due to Covid.
 
Yes - Litchi Waypoints - see attached image. Mavic Pro. We have more advanced drones now, but I am locked in to using the Mavic because every other drone shoots a slightly different field-of-view / focal length, so the footage would not match.
BTW: In the image, the home on the right of the frame was the long time home of Katherine Hepburn. Most homes in Beverly Hills has some history.
 

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  • BG-Waypoints.jpg
    BG-Waypoints.jpg
    1.2 MB · Views: 15
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Thanks again Len.

Kathrine Hepburns home, interesting.
Keep up the good work Len.

Cheers
 

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