Thursday, January 27, 2011
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Phenakistoscope
The phenakistoscope (also spelled phenakistiscope ) was anearly animation device, the predecessor of the zoetrope. It wasinvented in 1831 simultaneously by the Belgian Joseph Plateau andthe Austrian Simon von Stampfer.
One variant of the phenakistoscope was a spinning disc mountedvertically on a handle. Around the center of the disc a series ofpictures was drawn corresponding to frames of the animation;around its circumference was a series of radial slits. The userwould spin the disc and look through the moving slits at the disc'sreflection in a mirror. The scanning of the slits across the reflectedimages kept them from simply blurring together, so that the userwould see a rapid succession of images with the appearance of amotion picture (see also persistence of vision). Another variant hadtwo discs, one with slits and one with pictures; this was slightlymore unwieldy but needed no mirror. Unlike the zoetrope and itssuccessors, the phenakistoscope could only practically be used byone person at a time.
The word "phenakistoscope" comes from Greek roots meaning "tocheat", as it deceives the eye by making the pictures look like ananimation.
The Special Honorary Joseph Plateau Award, a replica of Plateau'soriginal phenakisticope, is presented every year to a special guestof the Flanders International Film Festival whose achievementshave earned a special and distinct place in the history ofinternational film making.
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