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A mouse explores a clear Plexiglas enclosure, initially staying close to the walls but eventually venturing into the centre. This is known as the "Open Field Test", a measure of the tension between two contradictory drives in most rodents -- they need to explore their environment versus the fear of open, exposed spaces. However, over the course of the ten-minute test, nearly all subjects will venture into the centre with increasing frequency, and for longer periods of time. The test is often videotaped and converted into digital files for later analysis. In this case, however, the footage was discovered to have been corrupted during capture or digital conversion. Each time it was played back, new and violently unexpected visual artefacts appeared. This film recomposes the open field test out of over 4000 individually-captured frames of the corrupted video. The mouse, doubtless, remained unaware of this unforeseen dimension of its test session.
