Our amazing capacities of micro perception - is this a photo or someone sitting still?

I've at various moments in the editing, wanted to have a long fade of the portrait image between sections of the film. Often I time the cut with a moment where there is a natural pause so that the fade out is of the person taking a reflective moment without talking.

But where I've wanted to fade out and the person is still talking, I've attempted at using a still image / free-frame. But it screams out as being totally a out of place...the rigidity is too marked.

I was led therefore to a real interest in how we are able to perceive the micro-movements of any image. For example, in the video below, you kind of feel that it's not a photo, but it's very difficult to actually point out the movement (until the slightest mouth movement appears).

I feel this is a good way of highlighting the power of filming as a medium, and ask further questions as to understanding how we communicate, and future innovations in media.