Art Central
Movie Magic
A film is really thousands of still pictures, and the crunch of footsteps in snow might come from cornstarch squeezed in a pouch! Let's step behind the movie screen.
Did you know?
A film is made of many still pictures called frames. Most films show 24 frames every second. They flash by so fast that your brain sees smooth movement!
Raja Harishchandra (1913), made by Dadasaheb Phalke, is recognised as India's first full-length feature film. It was silent! No women came forward to act, so a man, Anna Salunke, played Queen Taramati.
Toy Story (1995) was the first full-length film made entirely on computers. Pixar's computers worked day and night, yet they could finish less than 30 seconds of the film each day!
Try this: Make a Flipbook
Take a small notepad or a stack of sticky notes. On the last page, draw a small ball near the bottom. On the page above it, draw the ball a little higher. Keep going, moving the ball up and then down, for about 20 pages. Now flip the pages quickly with your thumb. Your ball bounces! You have made an animation.
Go further: The Sound Wizards
Many sounds in films are not recorded during filming. They are added later by Foley artists, named after Jack Foley, a sound-effects artist. They use everyday objects in clever ways. Cornstarch squeezed in a leather pouch sounds like footsteps in snow. A pair of flapping gloves sounds like a bird's wings. What sound could you make with a newspaper?