For LCC 2730 Constructing the Moving Image at Georgia Tech.

1. The Moving Image & Immersion
LCC 2730 Constructing the Moving Image
Spring 2011
Nettrice R. Gaskins

2. What makes an image move?
Moving images are actually illusions (of motion). One second of film/video
is made up of several still images.
Early experiments showed that a minimum of about 10 - 13 separate frames
must be projected every second to give the illusion of movement.

3. De-mystifying “persistence of vision”
Why, when we look at a succession of still images on the film screen or TV set,
are we able to see a continuous moving image?
The term „persistence of vision‟ can be found in most explanations of apparent
movement, but in itself is a very loosely defined term. It essentially refers to after-
images, that is, the retention of an image on the retina of the eye for a fraction
of a second, claimed to be responsible for the illusion of motion in film.

4. Optical Toys
The stroboscope or 'wheel of life,'
zoetrope, praxinoscope
thaumatrope, phenakistoscope,
and flip book are early
animation devices that used the
"persistence of vision" principle to
create the illusion of motion.

5. Moving Image Pioneers
The first cinematographers were the Lumière Brothers, Georges Méliès,
Eadweard Muybridge, Étienne-Jules Marey and Ottomar Anschütz in the
late 1880s; they created devices that were able to produce moving
images, as was Thomas Edison's Kinetoscope, that premiered in 1891.

6. Making the connection
Series: a group of separate items related to one another by a collective
title or theme applying to the group as a whole; or similar images placed in
order or happening one after another.
Sequence: a succession of related shots or frames that develop a given
subject in a movie.

7. Immersion
Diminishing critical distance to what is shown and increasing emotional
involvement in what is happening in real or artificial space characterize
immersion. Virtual worlds and machinima are part of a long history of
immersion in film, as we will explore.

8. Train Pulling Into The Station
The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat
(US), or Train Pulling into a Station
(UK) is an 1895 French short black-
and-white silent documentary film
by the Lumière brothers.
Supposedly, the audience was so
overwhelmed by the moving image
of a life-sized train coming directly
at them that people screamed and
ran to the back of the room.

9. A Second Reality
Andrei Tarkovsky characterized film as "emotional reality," which allows
viewers to experience a "second reality"; traditional cinema was intended
for direct power over the feelings of the audience. Tarkovsky and others
wanted to extend the illusion of film beyond the visual to include other
senses...the medium of film advanced beyond 2D screen projection in
order to intensify it's suggestive effect on the audience.

10. The Lumière vision fulfilled
3D film making involves filming two images simultaneously, with two
cameras positioned side by side, generally facing each other and filming
at a 90 degree angle via mirrors, in perfect synchronization and with
identical technical characteristics. When viewed in such a way that each
eye sees its photographed counterpart, the viewer's visual cortex will
interpret the pair of images as a single three-dimensional image.

11. Coming Full Circle
Modern computer technology also allows for the production of pseudo-3D
films using CGI and without the need for dual cameras. Machinima is a film
making technique whereby computer-generated imagery (CGI) is created
using computer and online technologies.

12. It‟s your turn...
Within the virtual 3D world, you can create almost anything: from
characters (avatars) to the environment in which these virtual selves live. It's
a place where people come to escape, find better or more transcendent
versions of themselves, learn universal truths, and explore outrageous
dreams and fantasies. But while it is a place where people can be anything
they want to be, there are boundaries - just like in the real world.