A film by Jim Le Fevre, Mike Paterson and Roops and Al Johnstone (RAMP ceramics), commissioned by the Crafts Council. Jim Le Fevre is one of the makers featured in the Crafts Council touring exhibition Real to Reel: film as material in making. Real to Reel presents makers’ films which are artworks in their own right. Jim Le Fevre presents ‘Turntable’ and ‘Heavy Pencil’, which use a digital camera and record deck to clever effect to create contemporary incarnations of the zoetrope, a traditional method for creating animation dating back to the 1830s. For more information on the Real to Reel tour visit http://www.craftscouncil.org.uk Help us to support other makers like Jim, Roops and Al across the UK. Give the next generation of makers the change to animate their dreams by donating £10 today! http://www.craftscouncil.org.uk/donate How it Works The film is based upon the principles of the Zoetrope - the difference being that instead of the slits that one would have in the drum around the side of the Zoetrope, it uses the shutter speed of the camera instead. Jim used 19 'frames' on the pot – a good balance of space per frame (about 4 cm at the outside of the bowl) and amount of animation (0.7 of a second per loop). To get it up to speed it was simply pressing the floor lever gently until it was perfect in-frame for the camera (essentially it would be 78rpm and so therefore would work on a traditional 78 deck).