Concerned about the fact that the national capital, more often than not, finds itself in the news for wrong reasons, Ayush Dinker decided to undertake a project to prove that Delhi ranks as one of the best cities globally. So he grabbed his camera and set out to capture the beauty and spirit of the city and after a month of shooting made Go Delhi Go - a hyperlapse video that showcases the best of Delhi.
“Delhi is always in news for bad reasons. It has lost a good amount of credibility in last few years. I just wanted to do something which can tell the world that Delhi is one of the best (if not the) best cities in the world. From the reactions that I have got, I am glad that people have identified with that purpose,” says Dinker, who originally hails
from Kanpur.
The video, which comprises of about 5,000 images of places like Humayun's Tomb, Lotus Temple, Qutub Minar, Sacred Heart Cathedral, Jhandewalan and Agrasen Ki Baoli, was shot during early mornings and evenings as it offered better light.
The description of the video on YouTube reads: “From the ancient city of Indraprastha to the seven cities during Muslim rule and now to the Lutyen’s Delhi, Delhi has seen thousands of years of being a capital. And years from now, no matter how we humans do as a species, Delhi will remain alive in some form.”
Elucidating, the self-learnt film-maker tells Metrolife that he moved to Delhi in August 2014 but never got a chance to explore the city, owing to his work schedule.
“So, I made a pact with self that I would spend one month exploring and filming the city.
Also, there are some really good hyperlapse videos done outside the subcontinent and I figured it was really a brilliant way of showing Delhi in two minutes. That's why I narrowed down on doing a hyperlapse. I am sure many people would have thought about doing it but it's a fairly hard thing to execute,” he says.
Explaining the technique, Dinker says that a film or a video usually has 24 frames in a second, which are recorded and combined by the camera. He adds that the viewer just does not notice the transition as it is really fast.
“In a timelapse, these photos are taken after specific intervals (say, five seconds) and when 24 such shots are stacked together in a second, it gives really fast motion effect. Hyperlapse is an advanced form of timelapse. Each shot is taken after moving the camera (with reference to its last position) a specific distance and when these images are stacked together, you get a highly dynamic video,” he says, adding that one needs a lot of patience to shoot a hyperlapse.
“One shot of five seconds can take up to half an hour sometimes but you need to keep pushing,” he says.
Dinker shares that he visited most of the places for the first time while shooting the film, adding that while all of them were striking in their own way, he personally loved Lutyen's Delhi for its calm and greenery. “ There is not much available from Indraprastha, so I was left with the other two (Muslim rule to Lutyen’s Delhi). I created a Google map of the city and marked the locations I felt I could cover. I then divided the city into different zones according to directions and feasibility. I avoided places like Akshardham Temple due to security reasons,” he says.
So, were there any challenges? “A lot of the video was shot when August 15 was closing in. I had people asking me if I was a terrorist on a recce as I was taking so many photos. I would then take out my id card and calmly answer them,” he shares.