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The Magic Lantern
The magic lantern is an image projector developed in the 17th century. The inventor of the magic lantern is widely believed to be Christiaan Huygens but there are theories of other people inventing it. It was mostly used by magicians to project things and make them appear and disappear and move to different places. Eventually the magic lantern came to America and there have been uses of it in the 1920's to show pornographic material. It was also used in the 1960’s to “summon ghosts” in spiritual -
Thaumatrope
The thaumatrope is a popular toy from Victorian times. It was two images on a circular disk, one image on one side another on the other, and a string on both sides, when spun it appeared to be one image due to persistence of vision. Examples of these images are a dog chasing birds, or a tree with leaves on and off. The thaumatrope was invented by either John Ayrton Paris or Peter Mark Roget. The thaumatrope is a simple device that used persistence of vision to make it appear animated. -
Phenakistoscope
The phenakistoscope was invented by Joseph Plateau in 1831. It was a disk that had multiple slightly varying images on the sides, when spun on a handle it appears that the images are animated. Examples of the images on the phenakistoscope are a deer or other animals running or a couple dancing the waltz. This devices uses the technique of persistence of vision to make the images appear to be moving. -
Zoetrope
The zoetrope was invented in 1834 by William George Horner. It is a cylindrical device with slightly varying images on the inside of it, when spun the images appear to move. An example is a man riding a horse round and round as you spin the device. The zoetrope uses the PHI technique to make it appear as if it is moving rather than a series of still images. The Praxinoscope is an improvement of the Zoetrope invented in 1877, it was improved by replacing the small vieving slots with mirrors. -
Flipbook
The flipbook was first patented in september 1868 by John Barnes Linnett. It was a book which had a slightly varying image on each page, so when the book was flipped quickly it appeared as if the image was moving, it relies on the technique of persistence of vision to make the image appear animated. Flipbooks are still commonly used and are popular among todays society; in 2004 the first international flip book festival was held in Germany. -
Praxinoscope
Charles-Emile Reynaud invented the successor to the zoetrope; the Praxinoscope, in 1877. Like the zoetrope, it used a sequence of images placed on the inner surface of the cylinders, but the viewing experience was improved through the use of mirrors. The user just looked at the mirror to see the mirrored moving images. Reynaud created the Theatre Qptique in 1889, which was capable of projecting images on a screen. This feature was mainly used for presenting cartoons for much larger audience. Ver -
Kinetoscope
The Kinetoscope was a device used for presenting animations. Kinetoscope designed for use by one person at a time, through a small visor on top of the device. It created the illusion of motion by conveying a strip of perforated film containing the sequences of images over a light source with high-speed shutter. The employee of Thomas Edison, William Kennedy Laurie Dickson, developed the Kinetoscope. The device was in development between 1889 and 1892. -
Projected Animation - Pauvre Pierrot
The first known example of projected animation was a 500 frame long projection made by Charles-Emile Reynaud of France. This was the beginning of motion pictures. As with all motion pictures the technique of persistence of vision is used to make images appear animated. -
Disney - Mickey Mouse
Disney's first major breakthrough was "Steamboat Willie" the third in the series of Mickey Mouse which was the first cartoon ever to feature voice and sound effects on the film. It used synchronisation to link the pictures to the sounds correctly. Since then Disney has skyrocketed in popularity and Mickey Mouse is a worldwide mascot for the Walt Disney corporation. -
The Flinstones
The Flintstones was the first ever animated cartoon to be featured on prime time television it was first broadcast on 30 September 1960. It used the persistance of vision, PHI and synchronisation. -
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is a popular cartoon that was first broadcast on 17th of December 1989. Since then it has become a global phenomenon and one of the most popular examples of 2D animation ever. It uses PHI, persistence of vision and synchronisation. -
Wallace and Gromit
Wallace and Gromit is a clay cartoon that released it's first episode in 1989. It features a man and his dog going on adventures. The technique that is used id stop-motion, it is when you shoot one frame of the film and then move some objects and do anther frame and so on. It also used synchronisation.
