The Kid Should See This

A zoetrope bowl, experimental animation meets pottery

Watch more with these video collections:

Pottery meets zoetropes: Experimental animation meets pottery is a short film by Jim Le Fevre, Mike Paterson, and RAMP ceramicsRoop and Alice Johnstone, commissioned by the Crafts Council. How does it work?

preparing the clay

“The film is based upon the principles of the Zoetrope – the difference being that instead of the slits that one would have in the drum around the side of the Zoetrope, it uses the shutter speed of the camera instead.”

measuring and masking

“Jim used 19 ‘frames’ on the pot – a good balance of space per frame (about 4 cm at the outside of the bowl) and amount of animation (0.7 of a second per loop).

“To get it up to speed it was simply pressing the floor lever gently until it was perfect in-frame for the camera (essentially it would be 78rpm and so therefore would work on a traditional 78 deck).”

the bowl in motion

We’ve seen Le Fevre’s work here before: The Phonotrope.

Plus, there are more videos of amazing optical toys in the archives, including this gem on Pixar’s 3D zoetrope.

via It’s Nice That.


Get smart curated videos delivered to your inbox.