Behind the Scenes
- Return of More Than Meets the Eye
- More Monsters, Motion, and Mechanics!
- Mysterious Makeup and Preposterous Props! - II
- Higher-Tech Reality
- More Monsters, Motion, and Mechanics!
Paper Plate Animation
Like the movies, animated cartoons are a series of still pictures. When we look at something, our brains retain the image for a fraction of a second. If the same image follows immediately in a slightly different position, our brains interpret the change as movement. Animated cartoons and movies use 24 still pictures per second to create the appearance of a single moving image. Your zoetrope works best at that speed, too.
More Middle School Activities
The Shadow Knows
The shadows are shorter at noon and longer at 3 p.m. because the sun's position in the sky changes as the earth rotates on its axis. When a movie is filmed outdoors, shadows are adjusted and controlled with special lighting and scrims-black or white cloth stretched over a frame and held up to block the sun. The black cloth absorbs light and the white cloth reflects light. Special lighting and materials are also used to make special effects like sunsets on other worlds. Filmmakers use visual cues like shadows to make even an other-worldly scene seem real, but they have to be careful. We easily sense if something is not right, such as shadows that are too long, too short, or going in several directions.
More Middle School Activities
- Return of More Than Meets the Eye
- More Monsters, Motion, and Mechanics!
- Mysterious Makeup and Preposterous Props! - II
- Higher-Tech Reality
- More Monsters, Motion, and Mechanics!
Shoebox Studio
Generally, we are able to look at what's around an object and perceive that objects don't change size based on how close or how far they are from us. However, when we limit what we can see around an object, then objects close to us appear larger than when they are farther away, even though they don't change size. This difference is called perspective. You should be able to make yourself bigger than the monster by moving "you" closer to the eyehole.
More Middle School Activities
- Return of More Than Meets the Eye
- More Monsters, Motion, and Mechanics!
- Mysterious Makeup and Preposterous Props! - II
- Higher-Tech Reality
- More Monsters, Motion, and Mechanics!
What Did You Expect?
Our brains are good at noticing patterns and drawing conclusions from a few basic features. "Redundant" features that repeat information or add detail can be removed from what we see to make a very simple pattern (like the triangle and square for a house) and we can still identify the object. If too many of these features are removed, we make a guess based on the context. Filmmakers know that if they show us just enough of the shape of something in the context of their story, we'll see it as they want us to see it.
More Middle School Activities
- Return of More Than Meets the Eye
- More Monsters, Motion, and Mechanics!
- Mysterious Makeup and Preposterous Props! - II
- Higher-Tech Reality
- More Monsters, Motion, and Mechanics!