Time-lapse cinematography is a film technique in which frames are shot much more slowly than their normal rate. Usually at regular intervals. For example, one frame every minute, or one frame every 24 hours. Thus, this allows action to take place between the single frames.

When the processed film is later played at normal speed, events and actions appear to be taking place much faster. In this way, the viewer can witness events that have been compressed from real-time (hours or days) into a few seconds or minutes.

Time-lapse cinematography is often used in filming nature, i.e. to show the blooming of a flower, a sunset, or clouds moving across the sky. Time-lapse cinematography can be regarded as an extreme form of fast motion.