Amish Barn Raising

You can sell time lapse video just as you would any other business service.

Chances are you have the right gear to make time lapse videos, or if not, you could rent the gear easily enough. This is a business service you could offer.

It’s simple to sell time lapse videos. Collect a few links of time lapse videos that could apply to a business. They don’t have to be yours as long as you don’t claim to have produced them. People are used to seeing time lapse shots in commercials as well as feature films. And when presented with the idea that it could document or highlight some aspect of their own business, many will be intrigued.

Like a testimonial, a time lapse video can easily stand alone. This is one of its virtues. It doesn’t take much of a conversation to explore how it might be used. It can be a bit of eye candy for your client’s website.

Here are some time lapse videos to give you ideas:


Mung Bean Germination.


Building a Swimming Pool.

And how about a time lapse of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream as seen on this page.

Do a YouTube search for Time Lapse and you will find many more ideas you could use.

Time Lapse Cameras

Some of the cameras that support time lapse capture with built-in intervalometers:

Canon EOS DSLR cameras with Magic Lantern third party application.
Canon EOS 7D MK II
GoPro cameras (HD Hero 4, HD Hero 3 & 3+, HD Hero 2, HD Hero, HD Hero 960)
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH3,
Canon PowerShot digital cameras with CHDK third party custom script installed onto the memory card.

There are numerous time lapse apps for iPhone and Android phones. Just do a simple search. Of course, any camera can record time lapse just by speeding the video up in post. If you don’t own the gear to make time lapse, check the nearest camera rental house.

Market and Sell Time Lapse Services

You might write individual emails to local businesses or buy small ads in your local business publications. You could offer a free show of various time lapse videos to digital marketing groups or business associations. Builders are one likely target market since a time lapse is such a natural for any kind of building. But you can’t think of all the possibilities so plant the seeds and see what great ideas business owners have for using time lapse to promote their businesses.

You will find that producing a time lapse video for a local business will often lead to a larger promotional video. “We could also shoot some testimonials for your business.” For more information on selling business videos, see Professional Video Producer.