Jiří Baják - Specialist in time-lapse photography
I specialize in time-lapse cinematography, landscape, commercial, documentary and scientific in 4K and 8K resolution with maximum attention to detail and beauty of nature...and also dark and unserious humor.
The first official project from Timefocus Films was a short film and it couldn't have come from anywhere else but the beloved Jeseniky Mountains, called Jeseniky 4K.
The filming took 2 years and I spent over 2500 hours on the project learning how to shoot individual photos, edit, then stack those photos together, find out I did it all wrong and start over, edit and stack again, make final corrections and finally create a final video that would be flawless.
The beginnings were probably the same as anyone starting out, first some photos for fun, then some videos and finally a time lapse. The first timeshots sucked, but at the time I thought they were decent...so I took my time and sent my sample work to a few places, but no one responded except for one email.
The harsh and unforgiving truth was told in the one and only email that came in. Almost everything wrong, lots of mistakes and missed details that I hadn't seen and didn't know at the time. On one hand it was great to hear from someone who understands and makes a living on what their opinion is and what exactly needs to be improved, on the other hand hearing straight up that your work sucks is not easy. Either way, this email communication was the best thing that could have happened to me in the world of time-lapse and it pushed me forward.
Luckily they didn't just see the bad in me, but something good as well, and a few years later this email allowed me to work on projects all over the world for big names like the BBC, National Geographic, Vizio and Microsoft.
These projects also bring a lot of chance encounters and one of the most interesting for me was on the almost deserted or completely deserted islands in the Celebes Sea a few kilometers off Borneo. The tour companies don't go to these islands, no locals wanted to sail there and everyone, even the online tourist guides, warned us that sea gypsies live on the islands and contact with them is dangerous. A clear signal that this would be a great destination without tourists...and it was! We bribed a local boat owner who drove us around the islands for a week. On the very first island, Maiga, we met a kid of about 8 years old with a six-foot machete, he waved it around happily and showed us around the island, even climbing up to get us coconuts and inviting probably all the other kids on the island who had never seen white people.
The next adventure was from the rainforest in Gunung Mulu National Park, where we wanted to see as many animals as we could in the daylight, but almost all of them were hidden...I thought to myself, this jungle is somehow dead and has no potential. Another mistake! A local tipped us to get a guide and go at night, we would see a lot more. I didn't really believe it, but we put on our headlamps, didn't get a guide, and headed out to explore the jungle. The light from the headlamp attracted insects, insects attracted predators and it so happened that a predator ate its prey on my forehead ...OK, a headlamp on your head is not a good idea and belongs in your hand! Moving on, we encountered a "darling" chewing on a hornet. A beautiful spider as big as your palm that deserved to be passed around. A few metres further on we met a slightly smaller and more colourful one that hadn't yet trapped its prey...and that was the time to bravely shit our pants and head back.
The fear and discomfort I would have definitely had in a 5 star hotel where I would have had to stay in one place for 2 weeks.
Due to the time commitment, I am only able to produce 4-6 major projects a year.
Jan Barančík - Cameraman, editor, drone operator
Baják talked a lot, so I won't bother you again. In short.
Jirka calls me Captain Vrtulka, grandma Honzík, mom Jendo, cousin Gonzo, but otherwise others know me as Baran.
Under the name "Baran production" I act as a video producer and I am currently starting a branch of Dronista.cz
I find the things that fulfill me in nature, alternative, laughter and at the bottom of every beer. And if I find a double meaning hidden in a word, I'm a little happier.
