WHO AM I?

I live in Lausanne in Switzerland and I am currently working as a brand manager for a luxury hotel school (Les Roches) I am also working as a freelance visual designer. I previously worked in a publishing house in Lausanne (JPM Publication S.A).

I have an artistic background thanks to my applied arts studies in the Université Cantonale d’Art de Lausanne (ECAL), I also received a Bachelor of Science in Business Management at Sierre. Consequently, not only am I creative in my approach but I also have an entrepreneurial vision.

WHY THIS PROJECT?

Being passionate about visual communication, I always had a great interest for the new media. I like to discover new technologies and use them to express myself differently. I always look for the innovating aspect and remind myself of this famous quote « Think out of the box »: think beyond what already appears like a given fact.

I was constantly surfing the web and thoroughly looking for things that will feed my creativity, until some few years ago, when I discovered the time-lapse. This photography technique, which was once unknown to the wider public, is now democratized. We see it everywhere, up to the TV ads. My aim was to go beyond this technique, which is why I became interested in the hyperlapse. This new technique, somewhat experimental, requires patience and rigorousness and allows to get an effect which normally requires a more substantial equipment. You will have the impression of flying like if you were taking unending traveling shots.

Living in Lausanne for many years, I always thought that there was a lot of potential in the field of video making. In fact, on the web, there is almost nothing that can make you come and discover or rediscover this city. Therefore, it was a very interesting market to seek out.

THE CONCEPT?

The main goal of this video is to allow people to discover the city of Lausanne in a different way. I wanted to give the impression of « flying » through the city streets.

THE FILMING STEPS

After several days of an on foot reconnaissance through the city, I draw the full itinerary on my personalized Google Map. I then imagined the entire video, that is, each shot, each transition, each sound… and that was even before the filming. I then made some rounds through the city with a tripod and a camera. I took one photo, then advanced one step, and took another photo and advanced one step again and so forth. Finally, I uploaded the thousands of photos (more than 3600) that I took to a software (After Effects) which allowed me to consecutively put them together, as well as stabilizing each sequence, image by image.

THE GOOD TIMES

I did enjoy the company of some people who took the time to stop and ask me some questions. I fondly remember an elderly person who told me the whole Flon story one day when I was taking shots from a footbridge.

THE DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED

Some people reacted badly. In fact, they didn’t comprehend what I was doing, I took my share of verbal assault, often because they did not want to appear on my photos. There was no way for them to know that it was not possible to be recognized by the naked eye on the photos since I was creating video sequences by scrolling 24 photos per second.

THE EQUIPMENT

For this project, I used a 5dmark III SLR camera, with different lenses (24-70mm 2.8, 70-200mm 2.8, fisheye Samyang, 18-200mm 4.5-5.6). I also used a tripod to move step by step, as well as an interval remote which allowed me to take photos at regular time intervals.

FINDING A REPRESENTATIVE

I intend to use this video as a « showcase » to negotiate with some of the professional actors of the region. In fact, it is hard to find a representative for an already made and published video. I have contacted Lausanne Tourisme which initially showed interest. In the end, they pulled back not wanting to allocate a budget for a product that is already finished and not adapted to their specific needs, which I somewhat understand.

In the future, I would ideally like to work with Genève tourisme, the city of Fribourg or any other Suisse city interested in making an innovating and dynamic video with this specific technique.

BLOG ARTICLES

I am currently writing a series of tutorials « How to successfully shoot a hyperlapse video». If you want to learn more about this technique, here is the link to my first two articles:

In French

In English:

BIOGRAPHIE

To learn more about my career, please come read my biographical page on my website at: https://www.sylvainbotter.com/about-me/

PORTFOLIO

If you want to discover my work you can find me here:

Portfolio : https://www.sylvainbotter.com

Linkedin: https://ch.linkedin.com/in/sylvainbotter

Behance: https://www.behance.net/sylvainbot15b7

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/sylvainbotter

Pinterest : https://www.pinterest.com/sylvainbotter/