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There's Something Refreshing About This Analog Short Film

This phenakistoscope illusion harks back to the days before traditional filmmaking.
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A swirling short depicts old phenakistoscopes, proto-cinematic devices that spun to create the illusion of a moving image. Motifs of dancing frogs, farmers, people in powdered wigs, and various other intricate symbols remind viewers of the early days of film, telling a humorous story of classicism. Directed and created by Pask D'Amico, a.k.a., Mr. Plesha, and scored by Al-Maranca, it honors Joseph Plateau, a Belgian physicist who eventually played a part in developing the phenakistoscope.

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The film begins and ends on a stop-motion created with a 19th century paper toy set. Says D'Amico, "Virtual reality, 360-degree videos, social networks, video games that look like movies and movies that resemble video games: I think that most of the entertainment's world nowadays has become monstrous and it is no longer just eyes' illusion, but often illusion of the mind." Free yourself with a little blast from the past in L'illusion de Joseph:

L'illusion de Joseph from Khlesha Production on Vimeo 

Find more of D'Amico's films on Klesha Productions' Vimeo page, here.

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