The screen is blanked to a background color, such as black. Then, a goat is drawn on the right of the screen. Next, the screen is blanked, but the goat is re-drawn or duplicated slightly to the left of its original position. This process is repeated, each time moving the goat a bit to the left. If this process is repeated fast enough, the goat will appear to move smoothly to the left. This basic procedure is used for all moving pictures in films and television.

The moving goat is an example of shifting the location of an object. More complex transformations of object properties such as size, shape, lighting effects often require calculations and computer rendering instead of simple re-drawing or duplication.