Frames of Reference | |
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Directed by | Richard Leacock |
Written by | Professors Patterson Hume and Donald Ivey |
Produced by | Physical Science Study Committee |
Starring | Professors Donald Ivey and Patterson Hume |
Cinematography | Abraham Morochnik |
Release date |
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Running time | 27 minutes |
Country | Canada |
Language | English |
Frames of Reference is a 1960 black-and-white educational film directed by Richard Leacock, written and presented by Patterson Hume and Donald Ivey, and produced for the Physical Science Study Committee. [1]
The film was made to be shown in high school physics courses and humor is employed both to hold students' interest and to demonstrate the concepts being discussed. In the film, University of Toronto physics professors Patterson Hume and Donald Ivey explain the distinction between inertial and noninertial frames of reference, [1] while demonstrating these concepts through humorous camera tricks. For example, the film opens with Dr. Hume, who appears to be upside down, accusing Dr. Ivey of being upside down. Only when the pair flip a coin and it floats up does it become obvious that Dr. Ivey — and the camera — are indeed inverted. [1]
In classical physics and special relativity, an inertial frame of reference is a stationary or uniformly moving frame of reference. Observed relative to such a frame, objects exhibit inertia, i.e., remain at rest until acted upon by external forces, and the laws of nature can be observed without the need for acceleration correction.
Kirlian photography is a collection of photographic techniques used to capture the phenomenon of electrical coronal discharges. It is named after Soviet scientist Semyon Kirlian, who, in 1939, accidentally discovered that if an object on a photographic plate is connected to a high-voltage source, an image is produced on the photographic plate. The technique has been variously known as "electrography", "electrophotography", "corona discharge photography" (CDP), "bioelectrography", "gas discharge visualization (GDV)", "electrophotonic imaging (EPI)", and, in Russian literature, "Kirlianography".
The Patterson–Gimlin film is an American short motion picture of an unidentified subject that the filmmakers have said was a Bigfoot. The footage was shot in 1967 in Northern California, and has since been subjected to many attempts to authenticate or debunk it.
In physics, the special theory of relativity, or special relativity for short, is a scientific theory of the relationship between space and time. In Albert Einstein's 1905 paper, On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies, the theory is presented as being based on just two postulates:
In physics, the principle of relativity is the requirement that the equations describing the laws of physics have the same form in all admissible frames of reference.
The Lunar Orbiter program was a series of five uncrewed lunar orbiter missions launched by the United States in 1966 and 1967. Intended to help select Apollo landing sites by mapping the Moon's surface, they provided the first photographs from lunar orbit and photographed both the Moon and Earth.
Slow motion is an effect in film-making whereby time appears to be slowed down. It was invented by the Austrian priest August Musger in the early 20th century. This can be accomplished through the use of high-speed cameras and then playing the footage produced by such cameras at a normal rate like 30 fps, or in post production through the use of software.
Bullet time is a visual effect or visual impression of detaching the time and space of a camera from that of its visible subject. It is a depth enhanced simulation of variable-speed action and performance found in films, broadcast advertisements, and realtime graphics within video games and other special media. It is characterized by its extreme transformation of both time, and of space. This is almost impossible with conventional slow motion, as the physical camera would have to move implausibly fast; the concept implies that only a "virtual camera", often illustrated within the confines of a computer-generated environment such as a virtual world or virtual reality, would be capable of "filming" bullet-time types of moments. Technical and historical variations of this effect have been referred to as time slicing, view morphing, temps mort and virtual cinematography.
Absolute space and time is a concept in physics and philosophy about the properties of the universe. In physics, absolute space and time may be a preferred frame.
The Nature of Things is a Canadian television series of documentary programs. It debuted on CBC Television on 6 November 1960. Many of the programs document nature and the effect that humans have on it, although the program's overall scope includes documentaries on any aspect of science. The program "was one of the first mainstream programs to present scientific evidence on a number of environmental issues, including nuclear power and genetic engineering".
High-speed photography is the science of taking pictures of very fast phenomena. In 1948, the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) defined high-speed photography as any set of photographs captured by a camera capable of 69 frames per second or greater, and of at least three consecutive frames. High-speed photography can be considered to be the opposite of time-lapse photography.
Classical mechanics is a physical theory describing the motion of objects such as projectiles, parts of machinery, spacecraft, planets, stars, and galaxies. The development of classical mechanics involved substantial change in the methods and philosophy of physics. The qualifier classical distinguishes this type of mechanics from physics developed after the revolutions in physics of the early 20th century, all of which revealed limitations in classical mechanics.
In photography and cinematography, headroom or head room is a concept of aesthetic composition that addresses the relative vertical position of the subject within the frame of the image. Headroom refers specifically to the distance between the top of the subject's head and the top of the frame, but the term is sometimes used instead of lead room, nose room or 'looking room' to include the sense of space on both sides of the image. The amount of headroom that is considered aesthetically pleasing is a dynamic quantity; it changes relative to how much of the frame is filled by the subject. Rather than pointing and shooting, one must compose the image to be pleasing. Too much room between a subject's head and the top of frame results in dead space.
The Physical Science Study Committee (PSSC) was inaugurated at a 1956 conference at MIT to review introductory physics education and to design, implement, and monitor improvements. It produced major new physics textbooks, instructional movies, and classroom laboratory materials, which were used by high schools around the world during the 1960s and 1970s and beyond.
Donald G. Ivey was the principal of the University of Toronto's New College from 1963 to 1974.
Live and Learn, original title Course of Knowledge, was a Canadian educational television series which aired on CBC Television from 1959 to 1965.
The Hands of Orlac is a 1960 horror film directed by Edmond T. Gréville, starring Mel Ferrer, Christopher Lee and Dany Carrel. It was written by Gréville, John V. Baines with additional dialogue by Donald Taylor. It was based on the novel Les Mains d'Orlac by Maurice Renard, which had previously adapted into silent film and as a Hollywood film production.
Two for Physics is a Canadian science television series which aired on CBC Television in 1959.
A heliospheric imager is a wide-field camera that is designed to image the solar wind in interplanetary space, far from the Sun itself.
James Nairn Patterson "Pat" Hume was a Canadian professor and science educator who has been called "Canada's pioneer of computer programming". He was a professor of Physics and of Computer Science at the University of Toronto, and he served as the second Master of Massey College from 1981 to 1988.