The Slow Zoetrope

The Slow Zoetrope

“The Slow Zoetrope” is a stop motion animation and zoetrope created by Mark Simon Hewis. The piece was created in 2015 and it is currently touring art exhibitions from 2015-2017 which has been funded by the art council. The piece has been at the Civic Barnsley “Animotion Exhibition” since January.

"The Slow Zoetrope" at the "AniMotion" exhibition

The piece is a unique Zoetrope as it shows irregularity because it makes the visitor wonder if it’s moving at all. A wheel moves at intervals throughout the day and is captured by a tie-lapse camera which gives a scene of a family walking past a landscape. Whilst the wheel is moving throughout the day, the landscape grows, blooms, flourishes and dies naturally throughout the course of the exhibition. The Zoetrope wheel was designed by “Aardman Animation Studios” and it is driven by 3 motor controller boards. All of the motors are programmed to move every 5 minutes from 9.30am until 4.30pm. Also a computer is independently programed to take a HD image every 5 minutes. A new film is created on the screen at 12pm and 4pm with the images that have been taken which creates a stop-motion animation. The characters outside the zoetrope are placed onto a ring that gradually moves which gives the impression that they are walking through an endless landscape. 3D printers and software have been used to create the characters and each individual piece that has taken 7 hours to make. These individual characters are joined up as a film of single frames. All 3 zoetrope’s move at different speeds to create a realistic landscape.

When the work is viewed far away, the piece looks like an art sculpture that resembles a realistic landscape. However, as you walk closer to the piece it reveals detail and makes the visitor realise that real plants are used to create the landscape. Also as you look closer to the piece, it reveals character detail and how they are placed onto the piece. As you look at the piece far away and close, the visitor is curious to find out how the piece relates to different animation processes. When the piece is viewed at different angles it reveals how the piece works by the computer screen which presents a short, stop-motion animation of the work. The computer allows the visitor to understand how the piece creates an animation piece and it invites you into wonderful landscape world.

The time-based piece is preserved by the HD camera capturing the scene rotating every 5 minutes and creating a film at 12pm and 4pm. This is used to preserve the zoetrope’s actions and movements to create a stop-motion animation piece. Also, the piece is preserved naturally by the plants growing, blooming and dying whilst being placed at the gallery. This allows the piece to be preserved naturally and presents how plants grow in a natural landscape.



Characters on the "Slow Zoetrope" piece.
Collected from Mark Simon Hewis Website. 

If I could speak to Mark Simon Hewis I would ask him where he collected inspiration from to create the landscape because I think it is a beautiful, natural landscape. Also, I would ask Hewis how the plants are placed and removed because they grow naturally in the exhibition. Finally, I would ask Mark Simon Hewis where he collected inspiration for the characters he has created.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-Db7iCQZTo -Video of the Stop-motion animation piece that has been collected from the official Mark Simon Hewis YouTube Channel.

 

Overall, I would describe the “The Slow Zoetrope” as a unique, beautiful, natural, engaging and colourful piece.

http://www.marksimonhewis.com/