A visual illusion in 5 mins from stationery (and a film container)

Step 2 Make the Slits

The plastic of film canisters is soft enough to cut with regular scissors.

Never put your fingers between the blades, however tempting it is to hold the canister firm in this way. You can hold it with your hand over the outside scissor blade, or not hold it at all.

I made 8 slits, which was a simple number to cut. You simply cut a slot about the width of a matchstick (two scissor cuts next to each other), and then bisect the remaining can wall with a similar cut, then bisect the remaining two parts, then bisect the remaining 4 parts. You end up with 8 matchstick-size slits and 8 pinkie-width black wall sections, assuming you still have your pinkies.

The exact number depends how many images you have in your sequence. A lot of the muybridge ones are 12s, but they ended up REALLY small that way, so I made sequences of 8 images.

I found it was easier to get the cuts straight if I held the top blade of the scissor flush with the outside of the can wall. Then you can get the matchstick-slit nicely perpendicular to the base, and nicely consistent in its width.