FILMMAKING
Create an Animated Image Make Your Own Thaumatrope and Experience Persistence of Vision
• A bird and a birdcage
A film is made up of many individual still pictures. When they pass by our eyes very quickly on the screen, our brain holds one image and blends it with the next one. Objects in the pictures appear to move! This is called Persistence of Vision. You can trick your brain into blending two pictures by making a Thaumatrope, an optical toy popular in the 19th century.
• You and your best friend
YOU WILL NEED TWO 3” X 5” INDEX CARDS AND TWO 2” RUBBER BANDS. 1. Think of two images that you would like to see combined. Here are some examples:
16 2020 Wisconsin Film Festival Big Screens, Little Folks Study Guide
• A dragon and someone riding on its back 2. Hold the two cards together and make a hole on each side. You can use a hole punch or ask someone to help you. 3. Draw one of your pictures on the first card. • For example, to create the illusion of a bird in a birdcage, draw the cage on first card (See Example A) and the bird on the second card (See Example B) 4. Hold the second card on top of the first with the holes lined up. If you cannot see the picture on the first card through the top card, hold both cards up a window or to the light.
