Beautiful time lapse background music brings your film to life!
-Time Lapse Background Music-
Finish your footage with some sweet sounds!
Creating even a short time lapse film is an incredibly cool feat of filmmaking without a doubt. With its fascinating ability to give us a glimpse into how things work on a grander scale, it’s obviously been a staple of documentary films for ages. Though on the whole, with video becoming more and more a part of our everyday lives, time lapse is increasingly in popularity as a videographic artform generally. And it is unquestionably stunning. So how can you turn your spectacular footage into an audience sensation? Add some excellent time lapse background music, of course!
The visual sets the tempo
The thing about time lapse video is that it’s basically a study in extreme contrast. It’s footage of something that normally is very slow being shown sped up to an extreme extent. To put it unelegantly, it’s fast forward, in essence. As a result, it can be tempting to put the soundtrack on fast forward as well, like a comedy chase theme tune. But does up-tempo time lapse background music really work?
As a matter of fact, it can work great, if the visual is right. For urban hyperlapse footage, for example, As an illustration, check out a gorgeous film of Singapore’s skyline, Lion City II – Majulah, by Keith Loutit. It uses a mix of filming techniques to create a vision of a futuristic city that’s practically robotic in its forward drive. The visual is hypnotic and undeniably busy, like a metallic bee hive. The soundscape certainly matches this landscape. It’s a buzzing, driving, electronic beat. It’s not extremely fast, but it has a relentless feel to it, just like Singapore’s notorious work culture.
Look at the big picture
Unlike the busy go-go-go of the city, a natural process in time lapse, like a flower blooming, poses a different paradox. One minute the flower buds are closed, and then the next, they’re open. Contrarily, in time lapse, this process appears like a slow and graceful ballet. In fact, the speed at which it’s shown in the time lapse is the natural world’s equivalent to a thumping rave. But whereas that push for electronica worked perfectly for an urban view, a natural vista is usually paired with something calmer and more relaxed.
The reason has to do again with the visual. One Green Planet has a collection of ten beautiful nature films nearly all follow this principle. They show rarely-seen moments unfolding with an organic ebb and flow—almost like the picture is breathing—that is certainly very different from the city footage. Overall it feels right that the time lapse background music should match that sense of breath. Compared to the electronic cityscape music, classical, ambient and similarly structured tracks seem more suited to this aesthetic.
Time Lapse Background Music to choose from:
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But don’t be afraid of playing around. Just because lots of nature footage goes with classical doesn’t mean you have to. There are loads of tracks out there that achieve that same cool sense of inhale and exhale in other genres, to be sure. Conversely, a city doesn’t have to feel robotic. Above all, listen to lots of different tracks before you choose, and go with what clicks for you. You can’t go wrong with Yummy Sounds!
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