In my trip to the Museum of the Moving Image I saw a variety of interesting things whether they were props for movies or old interactive video games. Not only does the museum allow for a hands-on experience but I learned a few things in the process.
The Museum of the Moving Image takes just that and really breaks it down. When we are watching television and movies what we are really seeing is a bunch of still images, or frames, moving quickly. For television it’s 30 frames per second and 24 for movies. Television and movies have a lot more to do with the biology of the brain and eye than I thought before I went to the museum. The idea of visual persistence applies because it tells us that we retain an image shortly after we see it. Visual persistence is the basis of optical illusions.
They have great examples online but there was one that really stuck out to me at the museum. The demonstration with the strobe light looked like a clay-mation. However, it was actually the different pieces that were spinning rapidly. The human eye makes it into a fluid motion because of the strobe light. This process is called the phi phenomenon. This is the idea that our brain fills in the gap between the images and creates the illusion of movement. In other words if we see two still images blinking, one on the right and one on the left, we assume they are moving in either direction.
The museum taught me about the progression of media production simply based on these concepts. Earlier, with the kinetoscope, movies were hand cranked so they weren’t able to create an entirely fluid motion as they do today.
