Zoetrope

The photostrip has an inescapable relationship to the motion picture. Film captures 24 frames per second (fps) to acheive the illusion of motion. The photobooth captures 4 frames in the span of 15 seconds, or .27 fps. I thought I would make the relationship more explicit by creating a series of zoetropes, each using 4 uncut photostrips.

The strips are sewn together, affixed to the inside of a section of sonotube, then played at 33 rpm which averages to 8 frames per second - roughly one third the speed of film, but enough to produce the illusion of motion.

I started with 10" Sonotubes, cut them into 4-inch sections, and sawed 16 equally spaced slits into the top 2 inches of each ring. Then I spray painted each ring black and affixed the 4 photostrips end-to-end on the inner surface of the ring.