Phenakistoscope

A phenakistoscope is a spinning disk that is divided in to sections (this is variable) and a photo is drawn on to each section. Each photo follows on from the previous one however it moves slightly, similar principal to making clay animation I guess, in order to promote an illusion of motion. The creator then spins the disk whilst looking at its reflection ib a mirror through the splits created in order to create the effect of a continuous motion.

We then went on to make our own. We decided to keep it quite simple as we had never done one before and some of the ideas the popped up on google were very difficult. So, as shown below, we created a disk with photos of ballons which would create the illusion of the ballon flying away. It was difficult to get each ballon looking exactly the same shape as the previous one and we were unsure of how much to actually move the ballown up for the next section although we gave it our best shot. We were please with how it turned out although when we tested it through the use of a mirror, me Stacey and Rhiannon all agreed that it was very difficult the get the right angle looking at the reflection in order to see the motion effectively. Never the less we all enjoyed doing it and it was so hands on and allowed us to just get stuck in!!



Here is also a video of the illusion that can potentially be created through the use of a Phenakistoscope that I found on YouTube.