Building the Marvel universe with Brinno time lapse cameras

Jacinta Leong is an Art Director based in Australia who has been working in the film industry for over 25 years. Her impressive resume includes many Hollywood films such as The Matrix, Star Wars - Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and most recently Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. As the Art Director for Shang-Chi, Jacinta oversaw the creation of set designs that balanced traditional Chinese architecture and design with fantastical elements from the Marvel Universe.

For the past few years Jacinta has been using Brinno time lapse cameras to document the construction of her film sets. Some of her past time lapses include the sets for San Andreas, Pirates of the Caribbean, Pacific Rim: Uprising, and Alien: Covenant. Naturally, she set up her Brinno cameras to capture all the behind-the-scenes magic that went into bringing Shang-Chi’s story to life. 

Jacinta shares some of her tips of how to use time lapse cameras to capture the construction of film production set designs:

1. Safety first

My first tip for setting up the camera is safety first. It sounds basic, but yes, it is the first thing. Check your surroundings and make sure the camera is not in anyone's way; I ask the construction manager, foreman and riggers if the camera can be close to the set or on a lighting truss. From there, manage card space, battery, and monitor what you are capturing.

 

2. Start beforehand 

If you have a chance to pre-light and run the camera the day or moments beforehand, do, because you can check lighting and intervals.

 

3. Right accessories are a must have

The right accessories make the shots achievable, so make sure that you have everything you need easily accessible from magnets to pocket knife, torch, screwdriver, gaffer tape and batteries, SD and micro-SD cards. And remember, one Brinno is never enough.

 

4. Have fun!

Most important of all - have fun with your Brinno time lapse camera!