Time-lapse photography is a method of recording events over long periods of time that can later be played back in much shorter periods of time. Instead of shooting film frame-by-frame as a continuous movie, time-lapse works by shooting a single frame of film, then waiting for an interval of time before shooting the next frame. The longer the intervals between shots, the faster time will appear to pass when the final film is played. For example - to go 1 meter by snail would take 20 minutes. A time-lapse film could show this snail-walking in 15 seconds.

The origins of time-lapse photography probably date back to the 1870s, when San Francisco photographer Eadweard Muybridge began a series of motion studies at the request of Leland Stanford.
Stanford, who owned a stable of thoroughbred race horses, was determined to understand every scientific fact he could about his prized animals, including whether all four feet ever left the ground simultaneously.
Muybridge used a series of 12 stereoscopic cameras installed in a 50-foot shed abutting Stanford's race track, and recorded the horses' movements as they galloped past. Each frame was shot at 1/1000 of a second. The end result was a series of cards - which could be animated by flipping through them - and which showed that all four feet did indeed leave the ground at once.
The series was published in 1878 as "The Horse in Motion."