Sometimes you come across books that you read in a flash. Literally. Recently I was given a few flipbooks as a gift. Little books with photographs by Eadweard Muybridge: The man who invented moving pictures. Born out of the question of whether galloping horses lift all four hooves off the ground at once (spoiler: yes), Muybridge developed a new photographic technique that ultimately gave rise to an extensive series called Animal Locomotion. Photographs of animals taken in rapid succession. A leaping cat or a galloping horse, revealing in precise detail exactly how the animal moves. Frame by frame the movement is frozen, but viewed in quick succession… ffffrrrr (flick through the flipbook), the cat leaps and the horse gallops! Your eyes see photographs, but in your mind it becomes movement, it becomes: film!
That fascination with how extraordinary film is, I rediscovered not long ago. I stumbled upon old tins containing reels of rolled-up film bearing old nature footage. Strips of three hundred metres of photographs, tightly wound, ready to spring into motion. Run twenty-four of them per second through a projector with a lamp behind it, and a moving image takes shape. Curiosity got the better of me. And after a long search and a great deal of research, I managed to play the films again – using a large 16 mm film projector – after decades of quietly waiting on their reels. The projector made a constant ffffrrrr sound, not unlike that of a flipbook, and the effect was precisely the same. Flickering on the wall, the images came to life, and it felt as though I were watching film for the very first time. Wide-eyed, I sat beside the clattering projector and gazed in wonder at what appeared before me!
Strips of three hundred metres of photographs, tightly wound, ready to spring into motion
Film is now utterly ubiquitous, and every phone shoots video: from 4K to slow motion. The internet is awash with recorded footage. So much is uploaded to YouTube each day that it would take you fifty years to watch it all. Moving images have become so normal that you might easily forget the magic of how truly remarkable film actually is. There is so much to see – where do you even look?
But amid the sheer volume of imagery there are genuine gems. Recordings so extraordinary that they make you see things in a new way, films that move you and footage that inspires – including in the world of nature. Here in the Netherlands we can be proud to have a dedicated film festival specifically for nature films! The Wildlife Film Festival Rotterdam (3–9 November) is a celebration of what Muybridge and his horse once set in motion. Recordings of moving animals taken to the point of perfection. Breathtaking productions that draw you in completely. I was proud to serve as a jury member on a previous occasion, and I promoted the festival on a talk show – temporarily crashing their website in the process. This year I am hosting the special Bird Bird Bird programme, a whistle-stop tour through the finest bird films back to back. The power of film lies in what it unlocks, and in its ability to move people to action. Nothing else comes close to moving images when it comes to getting people moving. So – at a gallop into the movies! You’ll just have to supply the ffffrrrr sound yourself these days.
Auke-Florian Hiemstra studied biology in Leiden, conducts research into animal architecture, and is currently seeking funding for a postdoctoral position. His research can be followed on BlueSky @aukeflorian