The history of animation - Part 1

"The desire to animate is as old as art itself.  The early man who drew picture on his cave wall depicting spear-waving hunters in pursuit of a wild boar attempt to convey the illusion of movement by showing the beast with multiple legs. The cases of anvient greece with their gods and heros, and the friezes of Rome with their battling warriors and galloping steeds, also sought to capture, in static images, the dynamics of action. Stories of pictures that came to life can be found in folklore and fairy tale, but it was not until the 19th century - in the years leading up to the invention of the motion picture - that animated pictures became a real possibility.

Among the many pioneers in Europe and America who explored ways of capturing images of real life, and attempted to analyse and replicate movement, where Britains William Henry Fox Talbot, who devised a photographic method for recording the images of the 'camera obsura' and English -born American, Eadweard Muybridge, who, in 1872, began producing a series of studies of human and animal life, photographed in front of a plain, calibrated back drop. The photographs, shot every few seconds, revealed what the human eye cannot register : the true complexity involved in the mechanics of physical locomotion.



In 1880 Muybridge conducted one of his most sophisticated experiments when he photographed a running horse using 24 still cameras set up alongside a race track and triggerd by a series of trip wires.  muybridge's photographes of horses, dogs and the naked human form would become an indispensable aid to later ganerations of animatiors. Indeed, while Peter Lord was working on some of the models such as the baseball player, Muybridge's book was a constant source of refernce.

"independent animator says animation began long before film, film was an engine that let animation come out" - George Griffin

The Invention of the first Zoetrop was developed in China in 180 AD. A mechanism to view moving image that was spun at great speed to reveal a sequence of images and for them to appear to move. firstly names Chao hua Chich Kuan which ment the pipe which makes fantasies appear was invented by Ting Huan. Later in 1833 English mathemcatician William George Horner created a modern Zoetrop but failed to become popular until the 1860's. The name Zeotrope was given by William F. Lincoln ment the "wheel of life" as opposed to the earlier name for it "Daedalum" by George Horner. Here is a version Cartoon Network have made using their own characters



Later versions like the Kissdacope were developed in Belgim and the sterscope and Phenakistocope there were experimentaion within the photographic and optical techniques. The video below is of the steroscopic Voyeur, these series of moving images create a 3D person inside an area of the page. I really like these, as creepy and wired as they seem. I love the effect they give and the use of these poses and the women create a really dark, odd and almost scary feel about animation.

These really old ways of creating moving images are really inspiring. I like the processes and the basic fundamentalism  I also think when people look and see these kind of things, there is more an aspect of the process that people can make more sense of and see how it works. With the Zoetrop the viewer has to spin it themselves, thus creating a connection from the animation to the audience, giving them control or the speed and being a part of it. I would like to explore on how to make my own and different techniques like this.