This article lists some notable events inanimation, and also lists of animated films and live action animated films from 1946 to 1990s and shows from 1854 to the present day.
1855 – In 1855, the Austrian-GermanphysiologistJohann Nepomuk Czermak published an article about his Stereophoroskop and other experiments aimed atstereoscopicmoving images. He mentioned a method of sticking needles in astroboscopic disc so that it looked like one needle was being pushed in and out of the cardboard when animated. He realized that this method provided basically endless possibilities to make different3D animations. He then introduced two methods to animate stereoscopic pairs of images, one was basically a stereo viewer using two stroboscopic discs and the other was more or less similar to the laterzoetrope. Czermak explained how suitable stereoscopic photographs could be made by recording a series of models, for instance to animate a growingpyramid.[3]
1857 – In 1857, the earliest known illustration of a vertical biunialmagic lantern, probably provided by E.G. Wood, appeared in the Horne & Thornthwaite catalogue.[9] Biunial lanterns, with two projecting optical sets in one apparatus, were produced to more easily projectdissolving views.[10]
1858 – In 1858, thephysicistJoseph-Charles d'Almeida published descriptions of two methods that he had successfully developed to projectstereoscopic images. The first was ananaglyph method with red and green glasses, the second used thestroboscopic principle to alternately present each picture to the corresponding eye in quick succession. D'Almeida had started work on combining this method with the principles of thephenakistiscope.[11]
1859 – On April 7, 1859, the Belgian civil engineer and inventor Henri Désiré du Mont filed a Belgian patent for nine different versions of his Omniscope, of which most would showstereoscopic animation fromstroboscopic discs or fromcylinders with pictures on the outside. One version was built inside a peep-box and had a lens focusing a light-beam to project the image on afrosted glass screen. Another design combined twozoetropes withCharles Wheatstone's reflecting stereoscope in between.[12]
1860 – On 27 February 1860,Peter Hubert Desvignes received British patent no. 537 for 28monocular andstereoscopic variations ofcylindricalstroboscopic devices, much like the laterzoetrope. His devices included a version that used an endless band of pictures running between two spools which was intermittently lit by anelectric spark.[13] Desvignes'Mimoscope later received an honourable mention "for ingenuity of construction" at the1862 International Exhibition inLondon.[14] It could "exhibit drawings, models, single or stereoscopic photographs, so as to animate animal movements, or that of machinery, showing various otherillusions."[15]
1861 – In 1861, the American engineerColeman Sellers II received US patent No. 35,317 for thekinematoscope, a device that exhibited "stereoscopic pictures as to make them represent objects in motion". In his application he stated: "This has frequently been done with plane pictures but has never been, with stereoscopic pictures". He used three sets of stereoscopic photographs in a sequence with some duplicates to regulate the flow of a simple repetitive motion, but also described a system for very large series of pictures of complicated motion.[16][17]
1862 – The English inventorPeter Hubert Desvignes received an Honourable Mention "for ingenuity of construction" at the1862 International Exhibition inLondon for hisMimoscope.[18] He had created several monocular andstereoscopic variations ofcylindricalstroboscopic devices, much like the laterzoetrope.[19] His device could "exhibit drawings, models, single or stereoscopic photographs, so as to animate animal movements, or that of machinery, showing various otherillusions."[20] Desvignes "employed models, insects and other objects, instead of pictures, with perfect success." The horizontal slits allowed a much improved view, with both eyes, of the opposite pictures.[21]
1864 – According to the 1864 narrative of the British mathematicianCharles Babbage, thethaumatrope was invented by the Irish geologistWilliam Henry Fitton. Babbage had told Fitton how the astronomerJohn Herschel had challenged him to show both sides of a shilling at once. Babbage held the coin in front of a mirror, but Herschel showed how both sides were visible when the coin was spun on the table. A few days later Fitton brought Babbage a new illustration of the principle, consisting of a round disc of card suspended between two pieces ofsewingsilk. This disc had aparrot on one side and acage at the other side. Babbage and Fitton made several different designs and amused some friends with them for a short while. They forgot about it until some months later they heard about the supposed invention of the thaumatrope byJohn Ayrton Paris.[23]
1866 – The inventor William Ensign Lincoln applied for aU.S. patent for hiszoetrope,[25] as an assignor to theboard gamemanufacturing companyMilton Bradley and Co.. The patent was granted to him in April 1867.[26] Lincoln had invented the definitive version of the zoetrope in 1865, when he was about 18 years old and asophomore at theBrown University inProvidence, Rhode Island. Lincoln's patented version had the viewing slits on a levelabove the pictures, which allowed the use of easily replaceable strips of images. It also had an illustrated paper disc on the base, which was not always exploited on the commercially produced versions. On the advice of a local bookstore owner, Lincoln had sent a model to Milton Bradley and Co. in an attempt to market the animation device.[27]
1868 – ThephysicistJames Clerk Maxwell had an improvedzoetrope constructed.[28] Instead of slits, his version used concavelenses with a focal length equaling thediameter of thecylinder. Thevirtual image was thus seen in the centre and appeared much more sharp and steady than in the original zoetrope. Maxwell drew several strips that mostly demonstrated subjects relating tophysics, like thevibrations of aharp string orHelmholtz's vortex rings threading through each other. An article about the "Zootrope perfectionné" was published in the Frenchscience magazineLe Cosmos in 1869, but Maxwell never marketed his animation device.[29]
1869 – Thomas Ross developed a small andtransparentphenakistiscope system, calledWheel of life, which fitted inside a standardmagic lantern slide. A first version, patented in 1869, had a glass disc with eight phases of a movement and a counter-rotating glass shutter disc with eight apertures. The discs depictedice skaters,fishes, agiant's ladder, a bottleimp, and other subjects. Ross introduced an improved version of his animation device in 1871.[30][31]
1870 – ThePhiladelphia-basedengineer Henry Renno Heyl presented hisPhasmatrope to 1500 persons at a church entertainment evening at thePhiladelphia Academy of Music. This modifiedmagic lantern had a wheel that could hold 16 photographic slides and a shutter. The wheel was rotated in front of the light source by an intermittent mechanism to project the slides successively, probably with a speed of 3 fps. The program contained three subjects: All Right (a popular Japaneseacrobat),Brother Jonathan, and awaltzing couple. Brother Jonathan addressed the audience with avoice actor behind the screen and professed that "this art will rapidly develop into one of the greatest merit for instruction and enjoyment." The pictures of the waltzing couple survived and consist of four shots of costumed dancers (Heyl and a female dancing partner) that were repeated four times in the wheel. The pictures were posed. The waltzing animations were screened with an appropriate musical accompaniment by a 40-personorchestra. Heyl's only known other show was a screening on 16 March 1870 at theFranklin Institute.[32][33]
1871 – During theSiege of Paris (1870–1871) by thePrussian Army, the inventorRené Dagron proposed to the French authorities to use hismicrofilming process to carry the messages bycarrier pigeons across German lines.[34][35] Dagron photographed pages ofnewspapers in their entirety which he then converted into miniature photographs. He subsequently removed the collodion film from the glass base and rolled it tightly into a cylindrical shape which he then inserted into miniature tubes that were transported fastened to the tail feathers of the pigeons. Upon receipt the microphotograph was reattached to a glass frame and was then projected bymagic lantern on the wall. The message contained in the microfilm could then be transcribed or copied.[36] By 28 January 1871, when Paris and theGovernment of National Defense surrendered, Dagron had delivered 115,000 messages to Paris by carrier pigeon.[37]
1872 – In 1872,Leland Stanford, a businessman,race-horse owner, and formergovernor of California hired the photographerEadweard Muybridge for aportfolio depicting hismansion and other possessions, including his race-horse Occident. Stanford also wanted a proper picture of the horse at full speed. He was frustrated that the existing depictions and descriptions seemed incorrect. The human eye could not fully break down the action at the quick gaits of thetrot andgallop. Up until this time, most artists painted horses at a trot with one foot always on the ground; and at a full gallop with the front legs extended forward and the hind legs extended to the rear, and all feet off the ground.[38] There are stories that Stanford had made a $25,000bet on his theories abouthorse locomotion, but no evidence has been found of such a wager. However, it has been estimated that Stanford spent a total of $50,000 over the next several years to fund his investigations on animal locomotion.[39] Stanford would initially fund Muybridge's experiments withchronophotography, an important step in the development ofmotion pictures.[40][41]
1874 – In 1874,Jules Janssen made several practice discs for the recording of the passage ofVenus with his seriesPassage de Vénus, which he intended to record with hisphotographic revolver. He used a model of the planet and a light source standing in for theSun. While actual recordings of the passage of Venus have not been located, some practice discs survived and the images of one were turned into a short animated film after the development ofcinematography.[46][47] The images were purportedly taken inJapan by Janssen himself and the Brazilian engineerFrancisco Antônio de Almeida by using Janssen's photographic revolver.[48][49][50] The revolver could take several dozens of exposures at regulated intervals on adaguerreotype disc.[51] The Janssen revolver was the instrument that originatedchronophotography, a branch of photography based on capturing movement from a sequence of images. To create the apparatus Pierre Janssen was inspired by the revolving cylinder ofSamuel Colt's revolver.[52]
1875 – thephysiologistSigmund Exner showed that, under the right conditions, people will see two quick, spatially separated but stationary electrical sparks as a single light moving from place to place, while quicker flashes were interpreted as motion between two stationary lights. Exner argued that the impression of the moving light was a perception (from a mental process) of the motion between the stationary lights as puresense.[53] This is an explanation of theoptical illusion ofillusory motion known as thebeta movement. The illusion of motion caused byanimation andfilm is sometimes believed to rely on beta movement, as an alternative to the older explanation known aspersistence of vision.[54]
1877 –Charles-Émile Reynaud patented thepraxinoscope, an animation device that improved on thezoetrope.[42][43] Like the zoetrope, the praxinoscope used a strip of pictures placed around the inner surface of a spinningcylinder. The praxinoscope improved on the zoetrope by replacing its narrow viewing slits with an inner circle ofmirrors that intermittently reflected the images.[56][57] The praxinoscope allowed a much clearer view of the moving image compared to the zoetrope, since the zoetrope's images were actually mostly obscured by the spaces in between its slits.[58] Reynaud mentioned the possibility of projecting the images in his 1877 patent, but did not complete his praxinoscope projection device until 1880.[59][60]
1879 –Charles-Émile Reynaud registered a modification to thepraxinoscope patent to include thePraxinoscope Théâtre, which utilized thePepper's ghost effect to present the animated figures in an exchangeable background. Later improvements included the "Praxinoscope à projection" (marketed since 1882) which used a doublemagic lantern to project the animated figures over a still projection of a background.[58]
1880 – TheZoopraxiscope ofEadweard Muybridge was introduced in 1880 at theCalifornia School of Fine Arts.[61] Muybridge did project moving images from his photographs with his Zoopraxiscope, from 1880 to 1895, but these were painted on discs and his technique was no more advanced than similar earlier demonstrations (for instance those byFranz von Uchatius in 1853).[62] The first discs were painted on the glass in dark contours. Discs made between 1892 and 1894 had outlines drawn by Erwin Faber photographically printed on the disc and then colored by hand, but these discs were probably never used in Muybridge's lectures.[63]
1881 –Eadweard Muybridge first visitedÉtienne-Jules Marey's studio in France and viewedstop-motion studies before returning to the United States to further his own work in the same area.[64] TheChronophotography of Muybridge and Marey was a predecessor tocinematography and the moving film. It also had a profound influence on the beginnings ofCubism andFuturism. Chronophotography involved a series or succession of different images, originally created and used for the scientific study of movement.[65][66]
1884 – Opening of the amusement centerEden Musée inNew York City. It featured a changing selection of specialty entertainment, includingmagic lantern shows andmarionettes.[70] The magic lantern was not only a direct ancestor of themotion picture projector as a means for visual storytelling, but it could itself be used to project moving images. Some suggestion of movement could be achieved by alternating between pictures of different phases of a motion, but most magic lantern "animations" used two glass slides projected together — one with the stationary part of the picture and the other with the part that could be set in motion by hand or by a simple mechanism.[71]: 689–699
1885 – From spring 1884 to Autumn 1885,Eadweard Muybridge and his team produced over 100,000 images,[72] mostly at an outdoor studio on the grounds of theUniversity of Pennsylvania's northeast corner of 36th and Pine, recording the motions of animals from the veterinary hospital, and from humans: University professors, students, athletes,Blockley Almshouse patients, and local residents.[73]Thomas Eakins worked with him briefly, although the painter preferred working withmultiple exposures on a single negative, whereas Muybridge preferred capturing motion through the use of multiple cameras.[74] Since 1879, Muybridge was working on thezoöpraxiscope (animal action viewer), a projection device that created cyclical animations of animal movement, incorporating technologies fromphotography, themagic lantern and thezoetrope. The photographer created painted sequences on the glass zoöpraxiscope discs that were based on his motion-study photographs to produce an early form of animation. Muybridge used these to illustrate his lectures that were presented to audiences in the U.S. and Europe, marking his contribution to photography and film in relation to the "experience of time within modernity."[75][68]
1886 –Henri Rivière created a form ofshadow theatre at theChat Noir under the name "ombres chinoises". This was a notable success, lasting for a decade until the cafe closed in 1897. He used back-lit zinc cut-out figures which appeared assilhouettes. Rivière was soon joined byCaran d'Ache and other artists, initially performing d'Ache's dramaL’Epopee. From 1886 to 1896, Rivière created 43 shadow plays on a great variety of subjects frommyth,history and theBible. He collaborated with many different artists and writers, but made the illustrations for only 9 of the productions himself. He concentrated on improving the technical aspects of the production by usingenamelling and lighting to create extremely delicate effects of light and colour.[76] TheOmbres evolved into numerous theatrical productions and had a major influence onphantasmagoria.[77] The technique is considered a precursor tosilhouette animation.[8]
1887 – Publication ofAnimal Locomotion, achronophotographic series byEadweard Muybridge. It comprised 781collotype plates, each containing up to 36 pictures of the different phases of a specific motion of one subject (over 20,000 images in total).[78] The series is a result of Muybridge's interest in motion studies and his work on thezoopraxiscope.[69] Historians and theoreticians have proposed that Muybridge's work on animal locomotion influenced a number of other artists, photographers and filmmakers, includingMarcel Duchamp,Thomas Eakins,Walt Disney, among others.[79][80][81][82]
1888 – On December 1,Charles-Émile Reynaud files a patent for his animated moving picture systemThéâtre Optique. The patent was issued on 14 January 1889.[83][84][85] Reynaud in the 1888 patent: "The aim of the apparatus is to obtain the illusion of motion, which is no longer limited to the repetition of the same poses at each turn of the instrument, as is necessary in all known apparatus (Zootropes, Praxinoscopes, etc.), but Having, on the contrary, an indefinite variety and duration, and thus producing real scenes animated by unlimited development. Hence the name of Optical Theater given by the inventor to this apparatus" (translated from French).[60]
1891 –Charles-Émile Reynaud creates the filmPauvre Pierrot (Poor Pete). The film consists of 500 individually painted images, and originally lasted for about 15 minutes. It would not be exhibited to an audience until 1892.[86]
1892 –Charles-Émile Reynaud signed a contract with theMusée Grévin, allowing him to start regular public screenings of his films at the museum. The first public screening took place on October 28.[83][84][85] Reynaud received 500 francs (equivalent to $2,234 in 2022) per month and 10% of the box office. The contract disadvantaged Reynaud, as he paid for the maintenance of the system and was required to oversee all of the daily showings.[90][84]
1893 –Eadweard Muybridge produced a series of 50 different paper 'Zoopraxiscope discs' (basically a version of thephenakistiscopes), with pictures drawn by Erwin F. Faber. The discs were intended for sale at the 1893World's Columbian Exposition inChicago. They seem to have sold very poorly, and surviving discs are quite rare. The discs were printed inblack-and-white, with twelve different discs also produced aschromolithographed versions. Of the coloured versions, only four different ones are known to still exist (with a total of five or six extant copies).[91]
1895 – Release of the filmThe Execution of Mary Stuart, directed byAlfred Clark. It is the first known film to usespecial effects, specifically thestop trick.Stop motion is closely related to the stop trick, in which the camera is temporarily stopped during the recording of a scene to create a change before filming is continued (or for which the cause of the change is edited out of the film). In the resulting film, the change will be sudden and a logical cause of the change will be mysteriously absent or replaced with a fake cause that is suggested in the scene. The technique of stop motion can be interpreted as repeatedly applying the stop trick.[94][95][96]
1896 – Auguste Berthier published an article about the history of stereoscopic images in French scientific magazineLe Cosmos, which included his method of creating anautostereogram.[97]
1897 –The Captain and the Kids is created byRudolph Dirks and debuted December 12, 1897. ;William Harbutt developedplasticine in 1897. To promote his educational "Plastic Method" he made a handbook that included several photographs that displayed various stages of creative projects. The images suggest phases of motion or change, but the book probably did not have a direct influence onclaymation films. Still, the plasticine product would become the favourite product for clay animators, as it did not dry and harden (unlike normal clay) and was much more malleable than its harder and greasier Italian predecessor plasteline.[98]
1898 – The German toy manufacturerGebrüder Bing introduced their toy "kinematograph",[99] at a toy convention inLeipzig . Other companies soon start production of toycinematographs and production of cheaper films by printinglithographed drawings. These animations were probably made inblack-and-white. The pictures were often traced from live-action films (much like the laterrotoscoping technique).[100][101]
^Newsletter of the Illinois State Archives & The Illinois State Historical Records Advory BoardArchived 16 May 2008 at theWayback Machine Jesse White Secretary of State & State Archivist Volume 2 Number 1 Quote: "Despite Dancer’s early work, in 1859, Ree Dagron, a French optician, received the first patent for microfilm. Using Dancer’s techniques, Dagron manufactured and sold microphotograph trinkets. In 1870–71, during the Franco-Prussian War, Dagron demonstrated a practical use for microforms. During the siege of Paris, the French used carrier pigeons to transparrt microfilmed messages across German dices."
^Brunn, Stanley D.;Cutter, Susan L.; Harrington, J.W. Jr., eds. (31 March 2004).Geography and technology. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers. p. 274.ISBN978-1402018718.
^Chandramouli, Magesh (2021).3D Modeling & Animation: A Primer. CRC Press. p. 181.ISBN9781498764926.
^Brookman, Philip; Marta Braun; Andy Grundberg; Corey Keller; Rebecca Solnit (2010).Helios : Eadweard Muybridge in a time of change. [Göttingen, Germany]: Steidl. p. 91.ISBN9783865219268.
^Tomkins, Calvin (1996). Duchamp: A Biography. U.S.: Henry Holt and Company, Inc.ISBN0-8050-5789-7
^Catalogue,Henri Rivière: The Thirty-Six Views of the Eiffel Tower (1888-1902), Watermarks Gallery,Pittsboro, NC, 1995.
^Phillip Dennis Cate and Mary Shaw (eds),The Spirit of Montmartre: Cabarets, Humor and the Avant-Garde, 1875-1905, Rutgers University Press, 1996, pp.55-58 excerpted on line asHenri Riviere: Le Chat noir and 'Shadow Theatre'.
^Richard Rickitt: Special Effects: The History and Technique, Billboard Books; 2nd edition, 2007; ISBN 0-8230-8408-6
^Berthier, Auguste (May 16 and 23, 1896). "Images stéréoscopiques de grand format" (in French).Cosmos34 (590, 591): 205–210, 227-233 (see 229–231)
^Frierson, Michael (1993). "The Invention of Plasticine and the Use of Clay in Early Motion Pictures".Film History.5 (2):142–157.ISSN0892-2160.JSTOR27670717.
^"Bing".www.zinnfiguren-bleifiguren.com (in German).
