Slow Movie Player

My buddy Bruce came across the Slow Movie Player (git hub repo) and we decided to build our own. (Also see the Instructable). The project uses an eInk display and a Raspberry Pi to show movies at one frame a minute instead of 24 per second. Watching a movie on this device could take six months!

Rather than a frame a minute, I wanted to show a random frame from a random movie every minute. This would be ever changing wall art. When friends are over we can look to see the displayed image and remember some great scene from an excellent movie. Much to my surprise, the project already had command options to run in just this way. Sweet!

Let me also say that the remote installation process documented in the Git Hub project worked like a charm. Easy as can be. Kudos to the folks that made this so simple.

All of it fits in an IKEA picture frame, but how to mount it? Using Fusion 360 and my Prusa 3D printer, I whipped up a bezel to hold the eInk display in place and a back mount for the RPi. It made the assembly a breeze. I'm sharing the files with you so you can do the same.

I'm planning to keep my Slow Movie running with a few of my favorite videos: Pulp Fiction, The Birds, A Star Trek episode, Apocalypse Now, Citizen Kane, and The Man Who Would Be King.

What movies will you put in your Slow Movie Player?

• 3D printer
• IKEA Ribba picture frame
• m3 screws, 4 of them
• A Slow Movie player that you have made

Use the attached files to 3D print the two parts: eInk bezel and the RPi mount. I've included STL files that you can slice and print, as well as the STEP files so you can modify the design if needed. I printed mine in PLA on a Prusa 3MKS at 0.3mm draft mode.

Use a screwdriver to unbend the little tabs holding the cardboard in place. Remove the cardboard backing, the white mat, and the acrylic panel.

Remove the protecting plastic from BOTH SIDES of the acrylic. Be careful from now on, the acrylic scratches very easily.

Put the paper mat that came with the picture frame into place. Add the eInk bezel into the frame.

Remove the plastic protection from the front of the eInk display.

Place the eInk display into the bezel with the eInk ribbon connector at the break in the bezel.

Use some cutting device to remove part of the IKEA frame cardboard backing to make room for the eInk display ribbon wire.

Put the eInk display in the matte and place the cardboard backing on top of it.

Carefully bring the RPi mounting piece into the frame and use a screwdriver to bend over the little black metal bits of the frame to hold the stack of stuff securely in place.

Thread the eInk display ribbon cable around the back of the cardboard stand.

Mount the RPi using 4 m3 screws.

When I did this the first time I added the eInk controller board after mounting the RPi. It worked but was tricky to do. The second time (isn't there always a second time?) I put the eInk controller on the RPi before screwing in the RPi to the mounts. This made inserting the screws more difficult, but I think it's less error prone than the other way.

That's it. Your eInk display and Raspberry Pi are neatly held in the frame. Start your slow movie player and enjoy.

I'm sure you can't guess the movie image shown on my display in this photo ...