Stroboscopic Motion and Movies The perception of smooth movements in a movie is due to stroboscopic motion. Much like this image composed of superimposed, still photographs of French gymnast Yann Cucherat performing a complex move on the horizontal bar, a motion picture is actually a series of static photographs that are projected onto the screen at the rate of 24 frames per second, producing the illusion of smooth motion.
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n-Marc FavreE/vandystadt/Science Source