Apple Training Series: iLife 06

While it sounds like a film you'd see in a seventh-grade science class, a time-lapse video is just a small variation on what you do anyway with a video camera: that is, compress real time into something more convenient and interesting. Officially, a time-lapse video is one shot of a slowly changing event, such as a flower blooming, that you speed up through photographic or editing tricks. This lesson will show you the elements involved in making a cool-looking time-lapse video, which you can apply to the most unscientific kinds of personal projects.

Studio owner Jennifer uses the time-lapse video technique all the time. There's nothing more satisfying than seeing a blank canvas (a ceramic piece) evolve over an hour or so into a finished product. Whenever a familiar customer pops into the storeone whom she happens to know paints in an interesting styleJennifer makes a time-lapse video for the in-store display, for the fun and education of other customers.

Charlie creates another variation on the time-lapse theme. He uses an iSight camera to keep a daily video journal for a class project. Because the iSight is attached to the Mac, it works nicely for doing time-lapse photography as well as other projects, as you'll see in the second part of this lesson.