Unit 23 - Early Animation Inventions - Post 2

Early Inventions

Phenakisticope:

Joseph Plateau invented the Phenakisticope in 1832 with his sons – this consisted of two wheels spinning in opposite directions to imitate movement.

Adjacent is a drawing of the movement needed for the animation to take place.

Often the images would consist of small cartoons of people walking, planets and stars and much more.

Zoetrope:

Invented by William Horner, who initially called it a Daedalum which meant ‘wheel of the devil’ invented the Zoetrope which was one of several pre-film animation machines. These showed progressive phases much like the last one where the device was spun, it imitated movement. Often marketed as toys for children, depicting images of people walking or dancing and often animals such as horses running. Opposite is a modern version of the device with extra inserts to change over the images depicted inside.

Thaumatrope:

John Aryton Paris is usually credited to have invented the Thaumatrope which came about in the 19^th century. It is a very simple device which consists of two imaged printed on each side of a paper disc with string on each ends so you can twist the string to reveal the image on the other side – rapidly rotating such gives the illusion of the image moving.

They are very simple to make which made them appealing in primary schools as you could make them in under an hour.

Flip Books:

Another very simple animation technique which has been suggested to have been around much longer than any other animation device however the first account was in 1868 by John Barnes Linnett under the name of a ‘kineograph’ which means moving picture. They don’t always simulate a story but usually has some form of motion.

Flip books are not always self contained books as lots of children's magazines and books had them in the corner of pages as an added feature in the book.

Example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3q9MM__h-M

Praxinoscope:

Commonly referred to as the sucessor to the Zoetrope, this takes the same idea as the zoetrope as it rotates rapidly – however this animation device utilises light to give the animation a projected look to the animation. Light goes through the slit projecting the image onto the surface in front.

This was revolutionary for the time – invented by Charles-Émile Reynaud in 1877 in France – the projected nature of the device didn’t come out until 1889 so it could be used in theaters. These were not devices for children though, these were for projecting more sophisticated images.