Perceiving and understanding cinematic motion

Résumé 0

Since its inception in the 1830s, the cinematic motion of animated images has been achieved through the rapid succession of still images, creating a peculiar effect that shows motion, or different kinds of motion. Almost two centuries after its discovery through graphic methods, drawings and animated engravings, its principle has remained yet diversified through its applications in the fields of photography, electronics and digital technology. Therefore, its status has shifted from that of mere optical illusion in the 19th century to a universal technique used in the 21st century to show animated images of all kinds and in every setting. Nowadays, it is fixed somewhere between an artifact and the authenticity of the motions that it reveals. The evolutions of this status are analyzed in relation to a dual shift: on the one hand the shifts in the notions of illusion and perceptive effect of synthesis to its representations, including through photographic cinema; on the other hand, the various statuses ascribed to the cinematic synthesis of motion, in relation to its different cinematic uses or modes: representative, illusionistic, animation, experimental.