The Project
Passive homes are much more numerous in Europe than they are in the U.S., but awareness is growing. The passive home Adams + Beasley is building in Acton, Massachusetts was designed by architects at ZeroEnergy Design.
A passive home must be built to rigorous standards. They are airtight living spaces that generate their own energy and recycle hot and cool air throughout the home. A passive home is built from the ground up to be energy efficient and it can save a significant amount of money in heating and cooling costs.
A range of unique technologies and building materials are used in a passive home. The use of time lapse photography gives CamDo customer, Andy Riley, Creative Director at Adams+Beasley Associates, an interesting way to show all those materials being installed. He has prepared a six-month time lapse and plans to continue filming during the one-year project. Riley's goal is to document the build process and show the changing environment surrounding the home as it is being constructed.
Riley decided to use time lapse photography for the project because it’s a great tool to visually show a slow transformation in a short time. Riley said, “I think time lapse has a unique ability to capture peoples’ attention in a powerful way.”
The Equipment Set Up
Riley used a GoPro HERO5 and a CamDo SolarUp kit along with a mobile wireless hotspot. The biggest challenge in filming the project is that the site has no power or internet, so he relied on solar panels and the mobile wireless hotspot.
Everything is running on batteries that are charged by the solar panels. The camera is set to take one photo every five minutes during times when work was taking place.
Forest Passive Home - 6 Month Timelapse from Adams + Beasley Associates on Vimeo.
Tips and Tricks
Riley recommends that when you pick a project, try to capture a dramatic change, and make sure that the changes are included at the center of your scene. If a viewer can’t see a big transformation, they may lose interest fairly quickly.
Also, learn how to edit the video down to reduce its length. For this filming, there were days and weeks with no activity. Riley found that time lapse is very forgiving if you need to make a large number of cuts, and he was easily able to remove stretches of the time lapse video where there was no activity. The six-month video Riley produced started at 15 minutes, but he trimmed it down to three minutes.
About Andy Riley
Andy Riley is a graphic designer and photographer who enjoys documenting moments and telling stories through photos and video. Riley graduated from Rochester Institute of Technology and is Creative Director at Adams + Beasley Associates.
About Adams+Beasley
Adams + Beasley Associates is a custom residential and renovation construction firm located near Boston in Carlisle, Massachusetts.Ready to start your own time lapse project?
