'Playing with static and motion'


what is a ZOETROPE?
A Zoetrope is a device that produces an illusion of action from a rapid succession of 
'static' pictures. the term Zoetrope when translated, zoe;"life" and 
trope;"turn". It may mean "wheel of life".
It consists of a cylinder with slits cut vertically in the sides. beneath the slits of the inner surface of the cylinder is a band which as either individual frames from a video/film or images from a set of sequenced drawings or photograph's.As the cylinder spins the user looks through the slits at the pictures on the opposite side of the cylinders interior. The scanning of the slits keeps the pictures from simply blurring together so that the user sees a rapid succession of images producing the illusion of 'motion', the equivalent of 'motion picture'.cylindrical zoetropes have the effect of causing the images to apper thinner than their actual sizes when viewed in motion through the slits.



1st zoetrope build
This video shows my first concept of the zoetrope made around late june/early july 2010note: the final version will not contain cardboard or dancing stick figures =).
My zoetrope consists of 32 frames total.

-The base is made from an old broken record player without is housing (only the mechanism of the record player was used)  
-The barrel was made from a cardboard sheet wrapped around an MDF base and nailed on
-The slits were measured equally and then cut out with a stanley knife (note this is done before you apply the sheet to the round cut MDF base



This is a small collage of the work that was put into the zoetrope...


NOTE: this collage contains images from before the 2nd Zoetrope build (cardboard zoetrope being the 1st) and after the 2nd stage (being the painting and near finishing of the Zoetrope)...


 

2nd zoetrope build

This video shows one of two zoetropes made around late september/early october 2010
note: the final version will be painted and detailed and will have photos instead of drawn dancing stick figures =).
zoetrope consists of 32 frames total.

-The base is made from an old broken record player without is housing (only the mechanism of the record player was used), the whole mechanism is attached to a thick MDF Base for stability.  
-The barrel is comprised of narrow (equally measured strips of Ply/wood) strips
which are nailed to a round MDF base and MDF rim to give rigidity
-The slits are made by using a template to draw out the slit and then cut/filed out 



'The photos for the Zoetrope'



'The first sequence'....


shots taken at 3 frames per second... 



'The second sequence'....


 shots taken at 3 frames per second... 




Pictures cut to size and mounted on black backing board(project paper/cardboard)...