homework on praxinoscope

praxinoscope



The Praxinoscope, invented in 1877 by the Frenchman, Emile Reynaud (1844-1918), is a precursor of the moving picture. Here, a band of pictures, each slightly different from its neighbor, is placed inside a rotating drum, quite similar to the arrangement of pictures in the Zoetrope. In Reynaud's design the pictures were viewed in succession by reflection from a series of narrow vertical mirrors placed at the center of the drum. The drum is spun by hand, and the horse appears to gallop.

http://physics.kenyon.edu/EarlyApparatus/Optical_Recreations/Praxinoscopes/Praxinoscopes.html

http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/exhibits/fancy-names-and-fun-toys/praxinoscope/

How it works:

A band of pictures is placed inside a shallow outer cylinder, so that each picture is reflected by the inner set of mirrors.  The number of mirrors is equal to the number of pictures, and the images of the pictures are viewed in the mirrors.  When the outer cylinder rotates, the quick succession of reflected pictures gives the illusion of a moving picture. 

What became of it:

Using this principle, Reynaud found a way to project the series of pictures onto a screen.  He called this the "Theatre Optique."  A standard praxinoscope, like the one above, can only accomodate a second or two of animation because of the limited number of pictures it contains.  Reynaud's "Theatre Optique" used a long roll of paper to increase the number of pictures, and was therefore able to create a much longer show for an audience. 

videos:

Using a drum design which revolved, as with the Zoetrope, the images were viewed reflected in a prism of mirrors which rose from the centre of the drum. Each mirror as it passed flashed a clear image opposed to it.

The result was perfect animation without the loss of luminosity in movement which was experienced with the Zoetrope.

The next step, as Reynaud saw it, was to adapt his existing device so that the animated pictures could be projected. The replacement of the opaque drawings with transparent drawings meant that light could be shone through them. The light which shone through the pictures was reflected by the mirror prism and focused onto a screen through a lens.

In 1872 Reynaud took this idea and turned it into theatrical entertainment. Up until this point animation toys had been limited to repetitive images. Reynaud noted this and devised a method of painting a series of pictures on small glass plates which were joined together in a single flexible strip. The animated characters were projected onto a screen from behind.

Reynaud exhibited his projecting Praxinoscope giving public performances using long broad strips of hand painted frames.

The effect he achieved was successful but was jerky and slow. In addition the labour required to draw the strips meant that Reynaud’s films could not easily be reproduced.

Reynaud’s Theatre Optique came remarkably close to the cinema - all that it lacked was the addition of photography.

In 1876 he decided to make an optical toy to amuse a young child. Improving on the Phenakistiscope and Zoetrope, Reynaud devised the Praxinoscope (patented December 1877). Consisting of a cylinder with a band of coloured images set inside, a central drum of mirrors was set exactly equidistant between the axis and mirror drum. As the toy revolved the reflection of each picture seen in the mirror drum appeared stationary. The images blended to give a clear, bright, undistorted moving picture without flicker. He produced the praxinoscope commercially, receiving an Honourable Mention in the Paris Exposition of 1878.
The following year Reynaud added a patent supplement for an improvement, the Praxinoscope Theatre. The mirror drum and cylinder were set in a wooden box with a glass-covered viewing aperture, reflecting a card printed with a background. The moving subjects - a juggler, clowns, a steeple-chase - were printed on a black band, and appeared superimposed on a suitable scene.
A further development was the Projection Praxinoscope (below), which used a series of transparent pictures on glass an oil lamp illuminated the images, and the mirror reflections passed through a lens onto a screen.The same lamp projected a static background, and once again the moving pictures were seen in an appropriate setting.


In December 1888 Reynaud patented his Theatre Optique, a large-scale Praxinoscope intended for public projection.(see next page). By using spools to feed and take up the extended picture band, sequences were no longer limited to short cyclic movements

The Red Raven Magic Mirror and its special children's phonograph records, introduced in the US in 1956, was a 20th-century adaptation of the praxinoscope. The Magic Mirror was a sixteen-sided praxinoscopic reflector with angled facets. It was placed over the record player's spindle and rotated along with the 78 rpm record, which had a very large label with a sequence of sixteen interwoven animation frames arrayed around its center. As the record played, the user gazed into the Magic Mirror and saw an endlessly repeating animated scene that illustrated the recorded song. In the 1960s, versions of the Red Raven system were introduced in Europe and Japan under various names—Teddy in France and the Netherlands, Mamil Moviton in Italy, etc