Camera-less Animations!

Animation has a history which dates back to as early as the 19th century. Before the invention of camera and film, people used their artistic ability to draw and paint images depicting figures in motion to create the illusion of movement which intended to amuse; entertain and even frighten people.

Throughout our seminar we looked at a number of different devices that have been used throughout history to create an animation or the illusion of movement.
Some of which were:

 The Magic Lantern (1650)

The Magic Lantern is a pre-cinematic invention that sometime had "animated" slides. It is a precursor to the projectors, and was very popular in Victorian times. 


A Thaumatrope (1824)

A thaumatrope is a small disc, held on opposite sides of its circumference by pieces of string.  An image is drawn on each side of the disc, and is selected in such a way that when the disc is spun, the two images appear to become superimposed.  To spin the disc, one string is held in a hand, and the disc is rotated to wind the string.  Then, both strings are held, and the disc is allowed to rotate. Gently stretching the strings will ensure that they continue to unwind and rewind.  This motion causes the disc to rotate, first in one direction and then in the opposite.  The faster the disc rotates, the greater the clarity of the illusion.



Phenakistoscope (1831)

The phenakistoscope uses the persistence of motion principle to create an illusion of motion.  

The phenakistoscope consisted of two discs mounted on the same axis.  The first disc had slots around the edge, and the second contained drawings of successive action, drawn around the disc in concentric circles. A phenakistoscope's discs spin together in the same direction.  When viewed in a mirror through the first disc's slots, the pictures on the second disc will appear to move.  

Flip book (1868)

A flip book is a collection of combined pictures intended to be flipped over to give the illusion of movement and create an animated sequence from a simple small book without machine.

As part of this seminar, we firstly were given the task of creating our own thaumatrope.
This is what I came up with:

It's a magician with a rabbit popping out of his top hat. One side has a top hat without the bunny and the other side shows the bunny popping out.


We then worked in groups of 3; each group was given a type of camera less animation device to try and make. Our group was given the phenakistoscope. We searched on youtube to find videos like the one below to help show us how to make it. 

Below are some photos of our finished product. Although it looked pretty and the drawing of a flowers life-cycle was good; it didn't actually seem to work very well. We thought that if we made the slits in the paper a little bit bigger then it would have worked.

References

http://courses.ncssm.edu/gallery/collections/toys/html/exhibit06.htm
http://courses.ncssm.edu/gallery/collections/toys/html/exhibit07.htm
http://www.flipbook.info/history.php