Ever wondered what it’s like in one of the busiest airports in the world? With a flight landing and taking off almost every minute during peak hours, it can get pretty insane.
Maker Milton Tan zegt er zelf over:
Shoot a timelapse of that, and you get transported to a sci-fi world with shooting stars breaking into the atmosphere.
This was shot mostly in the restricted runway area of Singapore’s Changi Airport and the surrounding public areas for some scenes. I was so close to the planes that my cameras literally got shaken by the rumbles from the jet engines – Which actually produced a pretty neat effect. (See 2:12)
The guys from Changi Airport reached out to me to shoot in the restricted runway area of Changi Airport after they saw my first film from The Air Traffic series which was shot at Changi Beach. It was a thrilling experience as you don’t usually get to enter the restricted runway area, let alone shoot in it.
Even after doing this the second time, I’m still amazed at the results of timelapsing airplanes flying at night.
Technical stuff
The shots were taken at 4-10 second exposures and at 0 second intervals. So immediately after the shutter closes it opens again to take the next shot. This ensures that the lights from the planes move smoothly through the frame. The long exposures are what produces the streaks of light, which means that the longer the exposures the longer the streaks of light.
All shots were taken with my Canon 5D Mark III and 7D. Lenses used were: Canon 16-35mm, 24-70mm, 70-200mm, 50mm and 18-135mm.
I shot a total of 11,000 photos and about 7,000 made it to the final cut. The photos were processed in Lightroom and the final footage edited in Premiere Pro.
