Analyzing moving images

Today almost anyone can make a video and post it to YouTube. The opportunity is fairly new, however; before the web and digital cameras, much of the video seen in an everyday context was “professional grade”—television shows, television ads, and movies, for instance. Today’s composing tools allow users to craft moving images that can range from animated GIFs to moving type to digital video; the technology for making video has changed, and the term moviemaker is broader than it used to be.

In 1887, Eadweard Muybridge created a sequence of images that simulated movement in the horse and rider being photographed. To create the sequence, Muybridge placed a series of cameras in a row, with strings attached to the shutters. As the horse’s legs hit the strings, a photo was snapped. In sequence, the photos show the physical movement of a galloping horse. This example is not necessarily a “moving image” as we think of it today, but it is the first photographic representation of a sequence of movement. What started out as a bet between friends—Does a galloping horse ever have all four hooves off the ground at the same time?—led to the birth of a new technology.

Sequence of still images representing movement

Today moving images entertain us, inform us, teach us, and encourage us to spend money. The questions in the chart can help when you start to look critically at moving images.

Analyzing moving images

Related topics:

Genre: What kind of moving image is it?

Features: Perspective, composition, and editing

Purpose and audience: Why and for whom are the moving images created?

Meaning: What effect do the moving images have on the viewer?