The Best Optical Illusion of the Year contest has chosen the winners of 2023. A curious tribute to Harry Potter, it has won the first prize.
The optical illusion Platform 9 3/4screated by the British Matt Pritchard, has been chosen Best Optical Illusion of 2023 in the popular contest Best Illusion of the Yearcreated by the Neural Correlation Society.
It is a non-profit organization that aims to promote scientific research on the neural mechanisms of perception and cognition. It is made up of perception scientists, ophthalmologists, neurologists and artists.
The best optical illusion of 2023, Platform 9 3/4s, is inspired by one of the most beloved scenes from the Harry Potter books and movies. You can see the opening video of the news.
The best optical illusion of 2023
If you have seen the first movie of the wizard with the scar on his forehead, surely you remember the scene of platform 9 and 3/4 of the station, to catch the train to Hogwarts. Magician apprentices are “introduced” by a column, crossing it, to reach the real platform that leads to the magic school.
The film makes it clear that it is magic. But what if it was an optical illusion? Matt Pritchard has been inspired by this idea to create his optical illusion Platform 9 3/4s.
As the video looks, there is a brick wall, with various LEGO characters. We see how first a car, and then a motorcycle, They go through the wall as if by magic.
It’s actually a classic anamorphic optical illusion, which explains the video itself. The wall has a hole in it, but a pattern of bricks painted on the floor, seen from the correct perspective, looks like it’s part of the wall:
Creating this “magic trick” is very simple. You only need to illuminate the wall with a lamp, so that the shadow of the hole reveals the silhouette that you have to paint on the ground.
there is only left position the camera at the correct angleso that the floor pattern “fits” into the hole in the floor.
It is a known optical illusion, so we assume that the first prize is because it is very well done, and it is difficult to see the trick.
Platform 9 3/4sinspired by Harry Potter, has been chosen Best Optical Illusion of 2023 at the awards Best Illusion of the Year. You can see the rest of the candidates on the contest website.
