Hyperlapse or moving time-lapse (also stop-motion time-lapse, walklapse, spacelapse) is a technique in

time-lapse photography Time-lapse photography is a technique in which the frequency at which film frames are captured (the frame rate) is much lower than the frequency used to view the sequence. When played at normal speed, time appears to be moving faster and thus ...

for creating motion shots. In its simplest form, a hyperlapse is achieved by moving the camera a short distance between each shot. The first film using the hyperlapse technique dates to 1995.

Technique

Regular time-lapse involves taking photos at a regular interval with a camera mounted on a

tripod A tripod is a portable three-legged frame or stand, used as a platform for supporting the weight and maintaining the stability of some other object. The three-legged (triangular stance) design provides good stability against gravitational loads ...

or using a motorized dolly and/or pan-and-tilt head to add limited motion to the shot. Hyperlapse relies on the time-lapse principle, but adds movement over much longer distances. This technique allows using long exposures to create

motion blur Motion blur is the apparent streaking of moving objects in a photograph or a sequence of frames, such as a film or animation. It results when the image being recorded changes during the recording of a single exposure, due to rapid movement or lo ...

. The resulting image sequence is stabilized in

post-production Post-production is part of the process of filmmaking, video production, audio production, and photography. Post-production includes all stages of production occurring after principal photography or recording individual program segments. The ...

. The camera can also be mounted on a hand-held gimbal to achieve smooth motion while walking. A "walking hyperlapse" is a special hyperlapse technique that requires a person in the frame to walk at a specified interval. When played back, the person will appear to be walking at normal speed, while everything else appears to move quickly through the scene. For example, a hyperlapse recorded at 1 frame per second while a person is walking at 124 beats per minute, will capture a frame on every other step. When the hyperlapse is played back at 24 frames per second, the person will appear to be walking at normal speeds.

History

The first film using the hyperlapse technique seems to have been ''Pacer'', shot on

Super 8 film Super 8 mm film is a motion-picture film format released in 1965 by Eastman Kodak as an improvement over the older "Double" or "Regular" 8 mm home movie format. The film is nominally 8 mm wide, the same as older formatted ...

in Montreal in 1995 by Guy Roland, after experiments during the 1980s and 1990s. It has been suggested that the term "hyper-lapse" itself was first used in 2011 by American filmmaker Dan Eckert, and sustainably coined by Shahab Gabriel Behzumi´s ''Berlin Hyperlapse'' in 2012. Films made from images derived from

Google Street View Google Street View is a technology featured in Google Maps and Google Earth that provides interactive panoramas from positions along many streets in the world. It was launched in 2007 in several cities in the United States, and has since expa ...

and

Google Maps Google Maps is a web mapping platform and consumer application offered by Google. It offers satellite imagery, aerial photography, street maps, 360° interactive panoramic views of streets ( Street View), real-time traffic conditions, and rou ...

have also been called hyperlapse videos. Software that can help produce hyperlapse-style videos include

Hyperlapse Hyperlapse or moving time-lapse (also stop-motion time-lapse, walklapse, spacelapse) is a technique in time-lapse photography for creating motion shots. In its simplest form, a hyperlapse is achieved by moving the camera a short distance betwee ...

from

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

and a similarly named program from

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

Unmanned aerial vehicle An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controller ...

s have been used to create aerial hyperlapses since at least 2015. Subgenres of hyperlapse are flowmotion and hyperzoom. Flowmotion was developed in the 2010s by British filmmaker Rob Whitworth. It combines hyperlapse, timelapse and regular film shots to create the suggestion of a story proceeding in one long, almost uninterrupted take. Hyperzoom was developed by Geoff Tompkinson and uses film and post-production techniques to create a seamless flight through diverse locations.

References

External links

{{film-term-stub Photographic techniques Cinematic techniques Articles containing video clips