Stop trick
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A stop trick is one of the simplest film special effects. It occurs when an object is filmed, then while the camera is off the object is moved out of sight of the camera, then the camera is turned back on. When the film is watched it thus seems to the viewer that object disappears.
Georges Méliès accidentally developed the stop trick when his camera had a misfunction and dropped a few frames. When viewing the film, he realised that the moving object he filmed disappeared where the camera stopped working. He used this technique to do magical tricks. For example, he would film a magician and a girl; the magician would make a gesture and Melies stopped the camera. He told the girl to go out of sight and started the camera again. When viewing the finished film, it looked like the girl disappeared suddenly after the magician's gesture.
This technique is not to be confused with the stop motion technique.