Scanimation

Kinegrams, which are now popularly reffered to as Scanimations are a special form of animation containing six frames. I came across this technique as I was researching into different forms of illusions. It creates not only the illusion of movement but a whole animation which appears to make the image move. In other words, it's using papers specially designed to create an animation instead of it being shown digitally which I think is not only amazing but exciting to watch more so than a digital animation.

This works by placing and alligning an acetate overlay which is usually black and containing vertical stripes over a specially prepared image and moving the acetate paper from right to left.
The most beautiful thing about these Scanimations are the mesmerising animated illusions and how complicated it can look before the black acetate is placed over the image to create the illusion. It reminds me of seeing a flipbook as a child and watching as the pages were turned quick enough to create the illusion of an animation. In that sense, these Scanimations are not only an highly advanced form of those flipbooks we saw as a child but also bring back that excitement and feeling of being astonished.

Here is an example of a Kinegram (Scanimation) in action. As you can see, the animated effect is simply wonderful.

Click Here to learn more about the technique of Kinegrams and a more in depth explanation.