A Harry Potter-Themed Moving Picture Frame

When you look at a picture on the wall, you expect it to capture a moment in time, the people inside staring motionless back at you with the same pose forever. This Harry Potter-themed frame, however, takes things to a different level, with the people inside “magically” moving from their fixed position and back when someone gets close enough.

The device is both a clever use of technology and a great video/photographic setup. To produce the frame, several people were filmed in a Hogwarts-esque scene. To get the moving image, people move around the scene naturally, and return back to their original positions. The initial image is used for the still photograph, then when an infrared sensor is tripped by someone nearby, the video is played, looking quite seamless.

A Raspberry Pi controls the still frames/video on the device, and software is based on the much scarier “Possessed Portrait” build found on Hackster. The monitor is stripped down to fit inside of a decorative picture frame, though instructions for the frame itself are notably missing. The reason for this omission has something to do with Little Hangleton and the Dark Lord, though if you’re in a pinch you might just find an old picture frame that can accommodate your monitor.