Art and Culture Center/Hollywood Distance Learning

Transcription

1 Art and Culture Center/Hollywood Distance Learning Integrated Art Lesson Title: Multiplicity + Simplicity: The Zoetrope Description and Overall Focus: This project will allow students to learn how to create a machine that creates the illusion of motion from static images. Students will learn a brief history of the precursor to motion pictures (film/movies) and animation, the zoetrope (zō-uhtrope), and the optical phenomenon, persistence of vision that notably links art with science. Length of Lesson Grade Range Objective(s) Materials: PLEASE NOTE - Some materials must be acquired prior to this lesson. or 45 minutes Upper Elementary School Middle School Students will learn to combine imagery, paper, and cardstock with rotation, to create the very simple hand-operated machine called a zoetrope. Teacher Supplies: Printed image sheets (1 per student) on page 4 Cylinder Templates (1 per 3-4 students) on page 4 Whole sheets of DARK cardstock or construction paper DARK colors: black, brown, purple, dark blue or green, etc. Paper plates (strong like Chinet) or foil pie plates Student Supplies: Scissors Tape Stick glue Pencil (wooden pencil) Introductory activity Students will begin by learning a brief lesson about the 19 th century zoetrope and how it helped to

2 shape the digital world of today. Students will also learn what is necessary to create the optical phenomenon of moving pictures or persistence of vision. Core activity Closure activity Assessment Teacher follow-up idea Student follow-up idea Students will learn how orienting a white image sequence within a dark ground creates contrast and aids in the illusion of movement when spun. Students will complete their creations making sure that the components are secured together and operating properly. Several students will then share their work to have a fun and constructive art critique! Students will have learned about the workings of a kinetic device called a zoetrope, its impact on scientific motion studies and role as predecessor to a new art form called film. Students will have also learned how to merge single still images in sequence to appear as fluid animation. The classroom teacher can use the websites below to present more of the information surrounding elementary machines, illusion, and other related arts and sciences. Students can continue to create progressively more realistic moving pictures, incorporating color and/or photography. Book/Web references Magic Moving Images: Animated Optical Illusions by Colin Ord ebook: Animation Lab for Kids by Laura Bellmont & Emily Brink Art and Culture Center/Hollywood Lesson prepared by Traci Petersen, MFA

3 Student work Motion study sequences of static imagery Q: What is a ZOETROPE? A: The zoetrope (zow-uh-trope) is an optical toy that produces an illusion of motion from a rapid succession of static images." The zoetrope was invented in the early 19th century. Pierre Desvignes, a French inventor, brought the concept to France and gave the device its name formed from the Greek words zoe, meaning life, and tropos, meaning turning. The word zoetrope therefore can be taken to mean wheel of life or living wheel. The traditional zoetrope consists of a cylinder with slits cut vertically in its sides and a series of sequenced images on its inner surface. As the cylinder is spun, the viewer looks through the slits to the opposite side of the interior. When viewed in this way, the images are seen by the eye in such rapid succession that they produce the illusion of motion. This illusion is created by an optical phenomenon called persistence of vision. Persistence of vision refers to the fraction of a second that the eye s retina retains an image after it has disappeared from view. Persistence of vision is a stroboscopic effect meaning the images you are viewing must be separated by moments of darkness. The concept of the zoetrope is related to other optical devices like the flip book, the

4 thaumatrope. Page 4 (below) Print one sheet for each student. Designs 1 & 2 move, Design 3 works with COLOR. (Colourbox horse vector # )

5 Tab (glue or tape) Tab (glue or tape) Tab (glue or tape)

6 Tab (glue or tape) Tab (glue or tape) Tab (glue or tape)