Shanghai is a city on the move, always in motion, always in a rush, a city that never sleeps.

And to capture its glittering, frenetic character and dynamism, a Canadian city-image promoter and noted British filmmaker have produced a city portrait in time-lapse photography.

The spectacular and visually lavish two-minute film, "This is Shanghai," was shot by filmmaker Robert Whitworth, who is known for his portraits of big Asian cities, and J.T. Singh, a 28-year-old Toronto native who cofounded the company "Thrilling Cities."

Composed of more than 20,000 photos filmed at all hours, mostly from tall buildings, at night when the city sparkles, the elevated highways glow, the vehicle lights in gold and red swirl around, making loops around buildings pulsing with multicolored lights. Traffic zips along the Huangpu River against iconic Pudong New Area backdrops. People seem to move at triple-time.

The video can be viewed at dashburst.com/video/shanghai-urban-time-lap.

Singh, who calls himself an urban strategist and explorer, recently spoke to Shanghai Daily about his coproduction and work, which is advising cities on how to promote themselves. He makes videos and always tries to find what is unique and not pedestrian.

Logos and slogans are generally ineffective, he said. The problem with most modern Chinese cities, he said, is "sameness" as they develop and build steel and glass skyscrapers, touristy commercial "old towns," and lose touch with their unique Chinese qualities.

As for the Shanghai film, it's mostly a breathtaking, gorgeous Shanghai of tall buildings and magnificent vistas. Mostly it's illuminated elevated roads, streets, Nanpu Bridge, the Bund, neon, tall buildings and never-ending traffic.

There's just the tiniest, sneak peek at a less-than-modern lane and a quick zoom at a woman making steamed dumplings and an old woman selling flowers.

"At first the tourism authorities tried to convince us to remove the lane parts, saying they thought they would do harm to the city image," Singh said. "But I persuaded them to retain those shots because it's what the city is and tourists love it. Every city, like New York and Toronto, have those sides."

They agreed.

The video has been praised. CBS News posted the video for free, and blogger Will Goodman posted, "Grab your (imaginary) passport and click ... for a vicarious vacation to Shanghai that is an absolute visual wonderland of sights and sounds."

The video spread widely in China and many people called in the best such promotion ever.

"People don't just say 'wow,' but also say 'my friends need to see this,' and this is the best way to spread the video," said Singh.

Singh said the key to shoot a compelling video is to explore a city: walk, walk, walk. He has lived in Shanghai since late January. He and Whitworth spent around three weeks exploring before they started to shoot.

"Before coming to China, my impression of China was about the same as other foreigners: a huge factory," Singh said. "But it's very different, creative and fascinating." He cited M50, the artists hub and Red Town as intriguing creative areas but said he found the Lujiazui financial district "soulless and very boring."

"Many tourists go there because they assume it's interesting, but they are instantly disappointed," he said.

Singh added that Lujiazui has enormous potential to become an interesting activity hub and iconic location for Shanghai's global image. He said he encourages tourism authorities to consider enhancing the experience of Lujiazhui through "creative place making."

Singh wanted to avoid cliches in earlier tourism videos, such as tea ceremony and traditional opera. He said he wanted make a video that wasn't "fake" and didn't "boast."

Thrilling Cities aims to engineer cutting-edge identities for cities on the rise. Its clients include London, Rio de Janiero, Dubai and Toronto.

Singh started to travel around the world when he was 20 and today has visited around 200 cities. The experience in Katmandu, Nepal, was especially surprising. It was one of the first cities he visited and he had imagined mountains and countryside, however, he found it was very urban and fashionable.

He realized that without identity promotion, people would have false images and old ideas.

When he visits a city, he doesn't go to the usual tourism spots, but talks to ordinary people, experts and government officials about the city's economy, development, social issues and goals.

These days he is focusing on Chinese cities that he says need to find their identity and share with the world. He has visited more than 20 cities since he arrived in January, including Foshan and Dongguan in Guangdong Province and Changzhou in Jiangsu Province. He plans to visit cities in the north and west.

"Some people make the mistake of coming up with a logo or slogan, but in fact these things don't make sense," Singh said. "What they should do is grasp its uniqueness with skills, such as cuisine, dialects and culture that affect people's images."

Singh said he was always curious about Shenzhen, the first city developed since the economic reforms of 1978, and finds that it "has the potential to become a globally renowned, powerful city."

Many foreigners know only Beijing and Shanghai, he said.

"I found Shenzhen economically successful with amazing transport and headquarters for successful companies like Tencent and Huawei. The city is incredibly beautiful with great greenery, especially roof greenery."

When he talked to government officials, they were unaware of the beautiful scenery, he said.

One problem in China's urban development is the "sameness" of cities everywhere, he said.

"They literally build a 'Xintiandi' in every city, commercializing the old town and neighborhoods basically," he said. "Some cities have fake European icons, including an Eiffel Tower in Shenzhen."

Cities should develop their own style and maintain the value of China, Singh said, adding that he expected to work on more identity projects with local governments in China.