The Phonotrope is the term coined by animation director Jim Le FevreArticle on the Phonotrope Wired Magazine May 2010.
/ref> to describe the technique of creating animation in a 'live' environment using the confluence of the

frame rate Frame rate (expressed in or FPS) is the frequency (rate) at which consecutive images (frames) are captured or displayed. The term applies equally to film and video cameras, computer graphics, and motion capture systems. Frame rate may also be ca ...

of a live action camera and the revolutions of a constantly rotating disc, predominantly (but not exclusively) using a record player. It is a contemporary reworking of the

phenakistiscope The phenakistiscope (also known by the spellings phénakisticope or phenakistoscope) was the first widespread animation device that created a fluent illusion of motion. Dubbed and ('stroboscopic discs') by its inventors, it has been known und ...

, one of several pre-film

animation Animation is a method by which image, still figures are manipulated to appear as Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent cel, celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited ...

devices that produce the illusion of motion by displaying a sequence of pictures showing progressive phases of that motion. The crucial difference between the technique that the Phonotrope uses and the one a phenakistiscope uses is that the Phonotrope is specifically an

in-camera ''In camera'' (; Latin: "in a chamber"). is a legal term that means ''in private''. The same meaning is sometimes expressed in the English equivalent: ''in chambers''. Generally, ''in-camera'' describes court cases, parts of it, or process wh ...

technique using the frame-rate of a live-action camera set to a high

shutter speed In photography, shutter speed or exposure time is the length of time that the film or digital sensor inside the camera is exposed to light (that is, when the camera's shutter (photography), shutter is open) when taking a photograph. The am ...

in confluence with a constantly rotating disc to create the illusion of movement. In a phenakistiscope it is the vertical slits in the circumference of the disc that create the stroboscopic interruptions needed for animation. As such the Phonotrope can only be seen through either the camera's viewfinder, a connected monitor or projector or viewed as footage after the event. Timed flashes of a

strobe light A strobe light or stroboscopic lamp, commonly called a strobe, is a device used to produce regular flashes of light. It is one of a number of devices that can be used as a stroboscope. The word originated from the Ancient Greek ('), meaning ...

can also animate the imagery. From its inception the most commonly used methods of rotating the disc have been using a record-player. However, Le Fevre has also used a pottery wheel to spin a glazed pot to create animation"Experimental Animation Meets Pottery" film commissioned by the Crafts Council by Jim Le Fevre
/ref> as well as a bespoke motor to animate hundreds of cut-out card images on a wooden tiered structure for the title sequence for the BBC television comedy film

Holy Flying Circus ''Holy Flying Circus'' is a 90-minute BBC television comedy film first broadcast in 2011, written by Tony Roche and directed by Owen Harris. The film is a "Pythonesque" dramatisation of events following the completion of '' Monty Python's Life ...

.Footage of the "Holy Flying Circus" title sequence on Vimeo
/ref>

Public appearances

The earliest public showing of the Phonotrope was in March 2007 at an evening at the Victoria and Albert Museum"The Phonotrope (formerly the Phonographantasmascope)" by Jim Le Fevre on YouTube
/ref> where Jim Le Fevre presented the process to members of the public as part of a 'Friday Late' event. Footage from the event was posted on YouTube in 2008. In 2008 Le Fevre gave a talk at "Interesting 2008", a series of time-restricted lectures in Holborn, London, organised by Russell Davies
/ref> Posting of Le Fevre's Interesting 2008 talk on the Guardian website
/ref>Entire footage of Le Fevre's Interesting 2008 talk on Vimeo
/ref> In 2009 Le Fevre gave a talk on the Phonotrope at the Flatpack Film FestivalPosting of a review of the Flatpack 2009 talk on the Flatpack Festival site
/ref> and in 2010 Le Fevre performed an evening at the ICA with music DJ Malcolm Goldie for the ICA's Heavy Pencil night.Web archive of Heavy Pencil night at the ICA
/ref> Since 2010 Le Fevre has performed workshops and talks on the Phonotrope nationally National Saturday Club workshop on Phonotropes and Pottery with Rupert Johnstone from RAMP ceramics
/ref> and internationally.Levis Film Workshop at the Art in the Streets exhibition in 2010
/ref>

Naming

The term Phonotrope was coined in 2010 by Jim Le Fevre. He previously termed his version of the technique the ''Phonographanstasmascope'' as a nod to the convoluted names of its ancestors, like the phonograph, the phenakistiscope (originally dubbed ''phantasmascope'' by inventor

Joseph Plateau Joseph Antoine Ferdinand Plateau (14 October 1801 – 15 September 1883) was a Belgian physicist and mathematician. He was one of the first people to demonstrate the illusion of a moving image. To do this, he used counterrotating disks with repea ...

), the zoetrope, the

praxinoscope The praxinoscope was an animation device, the successor to the zoetrope. It was invented in France in 1877 by Charles-Émile Reynaud. Like the zoetrope, it used a strip of pictures placed around the inner surface of a spinning cylinder. The ...

and the

zoopraxiscope The zoopraxiscope (initially named ''zoographiscope'' and ''zoogyroscope'') is an early device for displaying moving images and is considered an important predecessor of the movie projector. It was conceived by photographic pioneer Eadweard Muy ...

, but realised it was too cumbersome to use.

In advertising and broadcast

In 2007 Jim Le Fevre used the Phonotropic technique to create an onscreen ident for

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

called ''"MTV - Turntable"''"MTV - Turntable" by Jim Le Fevre on Vimeo
/ref> and in 2010 he created a

Terry Gilliam Terrence Vance Gilliam (; born 22 November 1940) is an American-born British filmmaker, comedian, animator, actor and former member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. Gilliam has directed 13 feature films, including ''Time Bandits'' (1981), ''B ...

inspired Phonontrope for the title sequence for the BBC television comedy film

.Interview with Jim Le Fevre, on the "Holy Flying Circus" title sequence
on BBC Comedy website In 2013 Le Fevre (with Rupert and Alice Johnstone from RAMP ceramics) created a Phonotropic film using a pottery wheel for the

Crafts Council The Crafts Council is the national development agency for contemporary craft in the United Kingdom, and is funded by Arts Council England. History The Crafts Advisory Committee was formed in 1971 to advise the Minister for the Arts, David Eccles ...

of England. Crafts council - upload

References

External links

{{Commons category, Phonotrope
Phonotropia, Jim Le Fevre's online resource of all things Phonotropic since 2011

A collection of Phonontrope experiments onJim Le Fevre's personal website

Archived page of Jim Le Fevre's website of the first instance of the use of the word Phonotrope
Animation technology Animation