Synopsis: Animation techniques elucidate the illusional art of anamorphosis, a method of visual distortion whereby an image is presented in confused and distorted form. When looked at from a different angle or in a curved mirror, the distorted image appears in normal proportions. Using a puppet as master of ceremonies, the animators demonstrate the basic effects of anamorphosis and reveal the hidden meanings that lurk within. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the practice of creating anamorphic images was an outgrowth of artists' experiments with rendering perspective. Artworks featured here include a chair by Jean Francois Niceron (c.1638), two wooden puzzle pictures by Erhard Schon (c.1535), an anonymous painting of saints (c.1550), the fresco Saint Francis of Paola (1642) by Emmanuel Maignan in the cloister of Santa Trinita dei Monti in Rome, and the painting The Ambassadors (1533) by Hans Holbein the younger. A film by animators Timothy and Stephen Quay and art historian Roger Cardinal. Project adviser: Sir Ernst Gombrich.