The perception of motion is partly due to a psychological effect called the phi phenomenon. In the projection of traditional celluloid films, a rotating shutter causes intervals of darkness as each frame, in turn, is moved into position to be projected, but the viewer does not notice the interruptions because of an effect known as persistence of vision, whereby the eye retains a visual image for a fraction of a second after its source disappears. The individual images that make up a film are called frames. Some films have become popular worldwide attractions through the use of dubbing or subtitles to translate the dialog into other languages. The visual basis of film gives it a universal power of communication. Film is considered to be an important art form, a source of popular entertainment, and a powerful medium for educating-or indoctrinating-citizens. They reflect those cultures, and, in turn, affect them. Contemporary films are often fully digital through the entire process of production, distribution, and exhibition, while films recorded in a photochemical form traditionally included an analogous optical soundtrack (a graphic recording of the spoken words, music and other sounds that accompany the images which runs along a portion of the film exclusively reserved for it, and is not projected).įilms are cultural artifacts created by specific cultures.
Traditionally, films were recorded onto celluloid film stock through a photochemical process and then shown through a movie projector onto a large screen. If the film is an animation of any kind, the widely separated in time images are planned to be seen at the standard speed. When the images are viewed at the same rate the illusion of motion is the result of what is called persistence of vision, the fact that the mind cannot process individual images at that speed, so the images merge together to produce the illusion of motion within the image.
The moving images of a film are created by photographing actual scenes with a motion-picture camera, by photographing drawings or miniature models using traditional animation techniques, by means of CGI and computer animation, or by a combination of some or all of these techniques, and other visual effects.īefore the introduction of digital production, film was a physical strip of film consisting of a series of static or still images of live action photographed at the rate of 24 frames or images per second. The word " cinema", short for cinematography, is often used to refer to filmmaking and the film industry, and to the art form that is the result of it. These images are generally accompanied by sound, and more rarely, other sensory stimulations. A film, also called a movie, motion picture or moving picture, is a work of visual art used to simulate experiences that communicate ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere through the use of moving images.