Zoetrope

A zoetrope vinyl carries a pattern printed across the face of the disc, a ring of near-identical frames. Spin the record at playing speed and those frames pass a fixed point one after another. Your naked eye won't catch it under normal light. You need a shutter: a strobe, or a phone camera filming at the right frame rate. Then the frames lock in and a short looping animation shows up. This is all about the object, the visible side of the record. The grooves and the sound are a separate matter.

Records — Zoetrope

See also