Theme:
Play & Force
Context:
The idea was inspired by zoetrope and phenakistoscope. As a technique of animation, zoetrope is the oldest method to present animation. Because phenakistoscope is worked on the record disc usually, so I assumed that If I combine windmill and animation, the animation could be an adornment of a windmill or a functional signal machine. There are links below as references.
https://www.ted.com/talks/eric_dyer_the_forgotten_art_of_the_zoetrope?language=en
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rzwdRqsuVM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqwkdlwmHig
Method:
To create a simple windmill model, and then draw frames of a short looped animation on each blade of the windmill model.
Response:
The first prototype was not satisfied because of the structural flaw. The foundation of the windmill was built by a plastic cup and the blade was wood chips glued on the outer wall of the cup. Due to the gaps between each blade was too narrow, the animation cannot be exhibited clearly. Phoebe had a similar idea on the windmill, so we decided to work together. The iteration process is shown in the video above. Eventually, the windmill still has defects which cause the animation cannot be delivered clearly. However, the animation can be played at some specific timing. I guess the biggest issue is causing by the number of blades. In our prototype, the windmill only has 8 blades, while phenakistoscope contains more than 24 clips usually. Another issue is that the wind of the testing day was not strong enough, which the wind could not maintain the windmill spinning at the same speed.