A Stop Motion Film of Dancing Light Made From Hundreds of Long-Exposure Photos Taken at Night

Filmmaker Daniel Barreto used hundreds of long-exposure photos to create the short, stop-motion experimental film Ignite that focused on the subject of dancing light. Because Barreto filmed outdoors at night, he sometimes found it challenging to get the shot he wanted due to unforeseen circumstances.

This stop motion film was made with hundreds of long exposure photographs at night with LED lights (PixelStick). By using Photoshop, Lightroom and After Effects I was able to developed the final piece as desired. The challenge was to find the right spot to set up at night and being super aware of the surroundings. Sometimes the lights attracted drunk weird people walking at night. You just need to feel safe to be able to work well specially in this case that most of the times just one friend was helping me and I had to run far away and start dancing around with the lights. With the use of flashlight my friend was able to tell me when the camera was shooting a new long exposure.

images by Daniel Barreto