What does it mean to describe cinematic effects as “movie magic,” or to say that the cinema is all a “trick”? To answer these questions, Colin Williamson situates the cinema within a long tradition of magical practices and devices of wonder that combine art and science, involve deception and discovery, and evoke both awe and curiosity. Hidden in Plain Sight shows how, even as they mystify audiences, cinematic illusions also encourage them to learn more about the technologies and techniques behind moving images.

Acknowledgments
Introduction: Watching Closely
1          (De)Mystifying Tricks: The Wonder Response and the Emergence of the Cinema
2          Quicker than the Eye: Science, Cinema, and the Question of Vision
3          Second Sight: Time Lapse and the Cinema as Seer
4          The Enchanted Screen: Performing the Cinema’s Illusion of Life
5          Digital Prestidigitation: The Eclipse of the Cinema’s Mechanical Magic
6          Through Digital Eyes: Reanimating Early Cinema
Conclusion: Other Obscurities and Illuminations
Notes
Index

COLIN WILLIAMSON is a visiting assistant professor of film and media studies at Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.