BDM106, Animation history notes, 13 July

paleolithic cave painting
earliest drawings into run cycles
multiple legs drawn onto bison to explain "running"
Iranian vase 5200 BC, goblet with short "handle", deer with horns "runs" when vase is spun
Ancient Egypt, burial chamber 3000BC, a fight shown in sequence
Greek vase decorations
running and walk cycles common depictions to represent pictorial ovement circa 400BC
studies of movement and storytelling
The Magic lantern
invented somewhere between 1640-1655 by either Christian Huygens, Giovanni Fontana or Athanasius Kircher
project images by putting sol epicture between lens and lantern
victorian animation toys, the Thaumatrope,first used in classical Greek times, reinvented by the Victorians
two frames- one side of the disc a bird, one side a cage.  when spun, the bird appears in the cage
zoetrope, first seen in 180 AD China invented by Ting Huan
modern version 1834 produced by William Horner
"chocolate spinning cake will make your day" youtube video
phenakistoscope 1831, flat wheel that animates when spun and viewed through a slot
praxinoscope 1831
same thing, but with a mirror instead of a slot to view the animation through
kineograph
Charles-Emile Reynaud, praxinoscope mark II (1877), wind up tools with mirrors that were then projected onto a screen
theatre optique.  october 28, 1892.  500 frames projected onto the wall.  it meant animation could be projected onto a mirror, then onto a wall for the public in a short film
done as art pieces
done around the same time as the Lumiere' Brothers were doing their short films of trains and factory workers
"Autour Dune Cabine" 1894
This went out of favour because they believed it wasn't commercially viable as movies started being produced.  He died penniless.
Characters are animated and projected onto a wall that has been painted with the set.
James Stuart Blackton
The Enchanted Drawing 1900, USA, Edison's studios
"Humourous phases of funny faces" 1906, done on film, chalk drawings stop motion animation
www.loc.gov
now that it's on film, more than 500 frames can be done, but it must be done in black and white
These films were curiosities and not seen as big money making deals
Fantasmagorie 1908 Emile Cohle
The Cameraman's Revenge (1912) Ladislas Starevitch (or Ladislaw Starewicz?) (Russia)
The most searing indictment of bourgeous values pre-October Revolution.  As acted out by adulterous beetles, grasshoppers and dragonflies.