Friday, 20 September 2013

'History Of Animation'

Introduction

In this blog post I will be talking about the 'History of Animation' which will involve the animation devices of the past which are the, THAUMATROPES, PHENAKISTROSCOPE, ZOETROPE, PRAXINOSCOPE and the KINETOSCOPE. I will be explaining the credited creators and briefly explaining how this raised issues as some creators were not credited.

Persistence Of Vision

The theory of the 'Persistence Of Vision', is that a strip of images can give the effect of animation and can be in any order. If viewed  by the human eye at a certain rate the viewer can successfully obtain the effect of animation. Images can appear and then disappear giving the illusion that the image is moving. This applies to all animated devices and all animations. Toy Story is a good example. The persistence of vision was not created by anyone in particular, however it was illusion toys which lead to the discovery. A phenomenon states that one twenty-fifth of a second persist in the retina of the eye. When a series of images are shown at high speeds the subject will remember one image for one twenty-fifth of a second while being shown another image. This then pieces the images together creating, what looks like, movement.






Thaumatropes

A Thaumatrope works with the illusion of the eye. Two pictures will be drawn on a small disk, with two bits of string attached either side. This disk would then be span at a certain speed giving the illusion that the two pictures are one. The credited creator of this device was Dr. John Ayrton Paris and was created in about 1826, being sold in London as the first animated toy. The name Thaumatrope comes from the Greek language and translates 'wonder tuner'. Some of the most popular images from the Thaumatrope is the bird in a cage, circus performers and the dog and cat encounter.

Here is an example of an Thaumatrope:







Phenakistoscope

Another device that gives the illusion of animation is the Phenakistoscope. This device was made by Joesph Plateau, a man fascinated by physics and their experiments. Joesph Plateau was really into his experiments that one day he decided to stare at the sun which later in life affected him. Being fascinated by eyes and the retina of the eye, he began looking into mathematical science which in the end allowed him to create the first device to give an illusion of a moving image. The device works by drawing a set of images, roughly the same, on a average size disk. Slits would then be cut either side each picture and then placed on a stick shaped object. After the disk would then spin. When the viewer looks through the slits, while the disk is spinning, it gives the illusion that the images are moving.

Here is an example:

  







Kinetoscope

The Kinetoscope was created by a man called Edward Muybridge. It works on a mechanism where a series of images, maybe photos are placed on a roller where the viewer can look through a view finder and see these series of images being played over again at a certain speed. This gives the illusion of moving image, like a short video. The credited person for the creation is Edward, however his assistant Edison was the original individual that perused the idea. However different stories have been heard and no one knows the actual creator of the Kinetoscope. Muybridge is known as the 'motion picture farther' and created the 'Horse In Motion' illusion. This was created by a series of cameras aligned along a horse track, which when the horses ran passed, triggered the cameras off, taking a series of pictures. 50 pictures were taken with 50 cameras. This was done to prove an argument that a horse, at one point of running, is floating in mid air.

Here is the finished 'Horse In Motion' picture:












Here is a link that shows the mechanism of the Kinetoscope in detail:
This device also gives the illusion from static pictures just like the previous devices shown. The first modern Zoetrope was created in 1833 but it origins come from China 180AD. Just like Phenakistocope, static pictures a drawn, quite similar to each other, and are folded into a cylinder shape. As the cylinder spins the viewer looks through the slits of the cylinder giving the illusion of motion. Willian Honor was the first man to create the Zoetrope and was influenced by the Phenakistiscope.

Here is an example of a Zoetrope:








Praxinoscope

Charles-Emile Reynaud (born 8th December 1844, died 9th January 1918) was the creator of the Praxinoscope (1877) and it works on a mechanism similar to the Zoetrope however mirrors are involved in creating the illusion of animation. Mirrors shaped rectangular are inserted into slots which are placed onto a circular disk (a bit similar to the Zoetrope). The drawings on these circular disk are then spun round allowing the viewer to look at the rectangular mirrors which reflect the drawings spinning. This gives the illusion of animation. The first animated film was created by Reynaud and was called Pauvre Pierrot, which was premiered in Paris.

Link to Pauvre Pierrot
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDKWNOeN5CQ

Here is an example of a Praxinoscope:







References

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1 comment:

  1. EllieB12 June 2014 at 23:54

    Ollie,

    The amount of work you have put into these posts is astounding - well done you! Can you please make a few changes/additions to this post but be proud that it is already at a distinction (just solidify it).

    1. mention retaining an image in your mind for persistence of vision and say how long we supposedly hold that image for
    2. For part 2, say exactly what type of animation each person is famous for working with and then list and show lots of examples
    3. In part 3, say who each type of product is aimed at, eg, an animated music video - who is that made for? and then say why you think that.

    Great stuff Ollie, very well done.

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