![Zoetrope](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/Zoetrope.jpg)
A zoetrope is one of several
pre-film animation devices that produce the illusion of motion by displaying a sequence of drawings or photographs showing progressive phases of that motion. It was basically a cylindrical variation of the
phénakisticope, suggested almost immediately after the stroboscopic discs were introduced in 1833. The definitive version, with easily replaceable picture strips, was introduced as a toy by
Milton Bradley
Milton Bradley (November 8, 1836 – May 30, 1911) was an American business magnate, game pioneer and publisher, credited by many with launching the board game industry, with his eponymous enterprise, which was purchased by Hasbro in 1984, and ...
in 1866 and became very successful.
Etymology
The name ''zoetrope'' was composed from the
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
root words ζωή ''zoe'', "life" and τρόπος ''tropos'', "turning" as a translation of "wheel of life".
The term was coined by inventor William E. Lincoln.
Technology
The zoetrope consists of a cylinder with cuts vertically in the sides. On the inner surface of the cylinder is a band with images from a set of sequenced pictures. As the cylinder spins, the user looks through the cuts at the pictures across. The scanning of the slits keeps the pictures from simply blurring together, and the user sees a rapid succession of images, producing the illusion of motion. From the late 19th century, devices working on similar principles have been developed, named analogously as
linear zoetropes and
3D zoetropes, with traditional zoetropes referred to as "cylindrical zoetropes" if distinction is needed.
The phenàkistope is also a success and The
zoetrope works on the same principle as its predecessor, the
phenakistoscope
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 unde ...
, but is more convenient and allows the animation to be viewed by several people at the same time. Instead of being radially arrayed on a disc, the sequence of pictures depicting phases of motion is on a paper strip. For viewing, this is placed against the inner surface of the lower part of an open-topped metal drum, the upper part of which is provided with a vertical viewing slit across from each picture. The drum, on a spindle base, is spun. The faster the drum is spun, the smoother the animation appears.
Earlier rotating devices with images
![1635 John Bate - The Mysteries of Nature and Art p](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8f/1635_John_Bate_-_The_Mysteries_of_Nature_and_Art_p.29.jpg)
An earthenware bowl from
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
, over 5000 years old, could be considered a predecessor of the zoetrope. This bowl is decorated in a series of images portraying a goat jumping toward a tree and eating its leaves. Though the images are sequential and seem evenly distributed around the bowl, to have the images appear as an animation the bowl would have to rotate quite fast and steadily while a stroboscopic effect would somehow have to be generated. As such, it remains very uncertain if the artist who created the bowl actually intended to create an animation.
According to a 4th-century Chinese historical text, the 1st-century BC Chinese mechanical engineer and craftsman
Ding Huan Ding Huan () was a Chinese craftsman, mechanical engineer, and inventor who lived in the first century BC during the Han dynasty. Among the inventions attributed to him is an air conditioning system based on evaporative cooling.
Purported inventio ...
created a lamp with a circular band with images of birds and animals that moved "quite naturally" when the heat of the lamp caused the band to rotate. However, it is unclear whether this really created the illusion of motion or whether the account was an interpretation of the spatial movement of the pictures of animals.
Possibly the same device was referred to as "umbrella lamp" and mentioned as "a variety of zoetrope" which "may well have originated in China" by historian of Chinese technology Joseph Needham. It had pictures painted on thin panes of paper or mica on the sides of a light cylindrical canopy bearing vanes at the top. When placed over a lamp it would give an impression of movement of animals or men. Needham mentions several other descriptions of figures moving after the lighting of a candle or lamp, but some of these have a semi-fabulous context or can be compared to heat operated carousel toys.
[Needham, Joseph (1962). ''Science and Civilization in China'', vol. IV, part 1: ''Physics and Physical Technology''. Cambridge University Press. p. 123-124.] It is possible that all these early Chinese examples were actually the same as, or very similar to, the "trotting horse lamp"
馬燈known in China since before 1000 AD. This is a lantern which on the inside has cut-out silhouettes or painted figures attached to a shaft with a paper vane impeller on top, rotated by heated air rising from a lamp. The moving silhouettes are projected on the thin paper sides of the lantern.
Some versions added extra motion with jointed heads, feet or hands of figures triggered by a transversely connected iron wire.
None of these lamps are known to have featured sequential substitution of images depicting motion and thus don't display animation in the way that the zoetrope does.
![Livingpicturesth00hopw 0052R](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Livingpicturesth00hopw_0052R.jpg)
John Bate described a simple device in his 1634 book "The Mysteries of Nature and Art". It consisted of "a light card, with several images set upon it" fastened on the four spokes of a wheel which was turned around by heat inside a glass or horn cylinder, "so that you would think the immages to bee living creatures by their motion". The description seems rather close to a simple four-phase animation device depicted and described in Henry V. Hopwood's 1899 book ''Living Pictures'' (see picture). Hopwood gave no name, date or any additional information for this toy that rotated when blown upon. A similar device inside a small zoetrope drum with four slits, was marketed around 1900 by a Parisian company as ''L'Animateur'' (or ''The Animator''). However, Bate's device as it is seen in the accompanying illustration seems not to have actually animated the images, but rather to have moved the images around spatially.
Invention
Simon Stampfer (1833)
Simon Stampfer
Simon Ritter von Stampfer (26 October 1792 (according to other sources 1790)), in Windisch-Mattrai, Archbishopric of Salzburg today called Matrei in Osttirol, Tyrol – 10 November 1864 in Vienna) was an Austrian mathematician, surveyor and ...
, one of the inventors 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 ...
animation disc (or "stroboscope discs" as he called them), suggested in July 1833 in a pamphlet that the sequence of images for the stroboscopic animation could be placed on either a disc, a cylinder or a looped strip of paper or canvas stretched around two parallel rollers. Stampfer chose to publish his invention in the shape of a disc.
William Horner (1834)
After taking notice of
Joseph Plateau's invention of the phénakisticope (published in London as "phantasmascope") British mathematician
William George Horner
William George Horner (9 June 1786 – 22 September 1837) was a British mathematician. Proficient in classics; mathematics, he was a schoolmaster, headmaster and schoolkeeper, who wrote extensively on functional equations, number theory and app ...
thought up a cylindrical variation and published details about its mathematical principles in January 1834.
He called his device the ''Dædaleum'', as a reference to the Greek myth of
Daedalus
In Greek mythology, Daedalus (, ; Greek: Δαίδαλος; Latin: ''Daedalus''; Etruscan: ''Taitale'') was a skillful architect and craftsman, seen as a symbol of wisdom, knowledge and power. He is the father of Icarus, the uncle of Perdix, a ...
.
[Herbert, Stephen. (n.d.]
''From Daedaleum to Zoetrope'', Part 1.
Retrieved May 31, 2014. Horner's revolving drum had viewing slits between the pictures, instead of above as the later zoetrope variations would have. Horner planned to publish the dædaleum with optician King, Jr in Bristol but it "met with some impediment probably in the sketching of the figures".
Experimental photographic sequence viewers (1850s–1860s)
![1855 czermak - das Stereophoroskop (fig](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/1855_czermak_-_das_Stereophoroskop_%28fig._26%29_%28crop%29.jpg)
During the next three decades the phénakisticope remained the more common animation device, while relatively few experimental variations followed the idea of Horner's dædaleum or Stampfer's stroboscopic cylinder. Most of the zoetrope-like devices created between 1833 and 1865 were intended for viewing photographic sequences, often with a stereoscopic effect.
These included
Johann Nepomuk Czermak
Johann Nepomuk Czermak (17 June 1828 – 16 September 1873) was an Austrian-German physiologist who was a native of Prague.
He studied in Prague, Vienna, Breslau and Würzburg. At Breslau he was greatly influenced by the work of physiologist Ja ...
's Stereophoroskop, about which he published an article in 1855. On February 27, 1860, Peter Hubert Desvignes received British patent no. 537 for 28 monocular and stereoscopic variations of cylindrical stroboscopic devices. This included a version that used an endless band of pictures running between two spools that was intermittently lit by an electric spark. Desvignes' ''Mimoscope'', received an Honourable Mention "for ingenuity of construction" at the
1862 International Exhibition
The International Exhibition of 1862, or Great London Exposition, was a world's fair. It was held from 1 May to 1 November 1862, beside the gardens of the Royal Horticultural Society, South Kensington, London, England, on a site that now houses ...
in London. It could "exhibit drawings, models, single or stereoscopic photographs, so as to animate animal movements, or that of machinery, showing various other illusions." Desvignes "employed models, insects and other objects, instead of pictures, with perfect success." The horizontal slits (like in Czermak's Stereophoroskop) allowed a much improved view, with both eyes, of the opposite pictures.
William Ensign Lincoln & Milton Bradley's Zoetrope (1865–1867)
![1867-04 lincoln patent US64117-0R](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/33/1867-04_lincoln_patent_US64117-0R.jpg)
William Ensign Lincoln invented the definitive zoetrope in 1865 when he was about 18 years old and a sophomore at
Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island. Lincoln's patented version had the viewing slits on a level ''above'' 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 advice of a local bookstore owner, Lincoln sent a model to color lithographers and board game manufacturers
Milton Bradley and Co. Some shop owners advertised the zoetrope in American newspapers in December 1866. William E. Lincoln applied for a U.S. patent for his ''Zoëtrope'' on July 27, 1866
as an assignor to Milton Bradley, and it was granted on April 23, 1867.
It was also patented in the U.K. on June 7, 1867 (application March 6, 1867) under no. 629, by Henry Watson Hallett (as a communication to him by Milton Bradley),
and in France by Charles William May (filed May 14, 1867).
Over the years Milton Bradley released at least seven numbered series of twelve zoetrope strips each, as well as a set of twelve strips by Professor
Robert Hallowell Richards
Robert Hallowell Richards (August 26, 1844 – March 27, 1945) was an American mining engineer, metallurgist, and educator, born at Gardiner, Maine.
In 1868, with the first class to leave the institution, he graduated from the Massachusetts ...
showing the gradual transformations from one
isometric form to another, and one separately available strip showing the progress of the
Grecian bend
The Grecian bend was a term applied first to a stooped posture which became fashionable c. 1820, named after the gracefully-inclined figures seen in the art of ancient Greece. It was also the name of a dance move introduced to polite society in Am ...
(a woman morphing into a camel).
The London Stereoscopic & Photographic Company was licensed as the British publisher and repeated most of the Milton Bradley animations, while adding a set of twelve animations by famous British illustrator
George Cruikshank
George Cruikshank (27 September 1792 – 1 February 1878) was a British caricaturist and book illustrator, praised as the "modern Hogarth" during his life. His book illustrations for his friend Charles Dickens, and many other authors, reache ...
in 1870.
[ French licensee F. Delacour & Bakes produced the "Zootrope, ou cercle magique", of which newspaper ''Le Figaro'' ordered 10,000 copies to sell to subscribers at a reduced price.]
James Clerk Maxwell's improved zoetrope
In 1868 James Clerk Maxwell
James Clerk Maxwell (13 June 1831 – 5 November 1879) was a Scottish mathematician and scientist responsible for the classical theory of electromagnetic radiation, which was the first theory to describe electricity, magnetism and li ...
had an improved zoetrope constructed. Instead of slits it used concave lenses with a focal length equaling the diameter of the cylinder. The virtual 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 to physics, like the vibrations of a harp string or Helmholtz's vortex rings threading through each other. An article about the "Zootrope perfectionné" was published in French scientific magazine ''Le Cosmos'' in 1869, but the device was never marketed. Maxwell's original zoetrope and some strips are kept in the collection of the Cavendish Museum in Cambridge.
Linear zoetropes
A linear zoetrope consists of an opaque linear screen with thin vertical slits in it. Behind each slit is an image, often illuminated. A motion picture is seen by moving past the display.
Linear zoetropes have several differences compared to cylindrical zoetropes due to their different geometries. Linear zoetropes can have arbitrarily long animations and can cause images to appear wider than their actual sizes.
Subway zoetropes
Japan
Linear zoetrope-like advertising was in use in Japan in the early 1990s, for example on the line between the Narita airport and central Tokyo.
United States
In September 1980, independent filmmaker Bill Brand installed a type of linear zoetrope he called the "Masstransiscope" in an unused subway platform at the former Myrtle Avenue
Myrtle Avenue is a street that runs from Duffield Street in Downtown Brooklyn to Jamaica Avenue in Richmond Hill, Queens, in New York City, United States.
Route description Queens
Myrtle Avenue has been a major thoroughfare since the early ...
station on the New York City Subway. It consists of a wall with 228 slits; behind each slit is a hand-painted panel, and riders of passing trains see a motion picture. After falling into a state of disrepair, the "Masstransiscope" was restored in late 2008. Since then, a variety of artists and advertisers have begun to use subway tunnel walls to produce a zoetrope effect when viewed from moving trains.
Joshua Spodek, as an astrophysics graduate student, conceived of and led the development of a class of linear zoetropes that saw the zoetrope's first commercial success in over a century. A display of his design debuted in September 2001 in the Atlanta subway system tunnel and showed an advertisement to riders moving past. The display is internally lit and nearly long, with an animation lasting around 20 seconds. His design soon appeared, both commercially and artistically, in subway systems around North America, Asia, and Europe.
In April 2006, the Washington Metro installed advertisement zoetropes between the Metro Center and Gallery Place subway stations. A similar advertisement was installed on the PATH
A path is a route for physical travel – see Trail.
Path or PATH may also refer to:
Physical paths of different types
* Bicycle path
* Bridle path, used by people on horseback
* Course (navigation), the intended path of a vehicle
* Desire p ...
train in New Jersey, between the World Trade Center
World Trade Centers are sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association.
World Trade Center may refer to:
Buildings
* List of World Trade Centers
* World Trade Center (2001–present), a building complex that includes five skyscrapers, a ...
and Exchange Place stations.
At around the same time, the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system installed a zoetrope-type advertisement between the Embarcadero and Montgomery stations which could be viewed by commuters traveling in either direction. The BART ads are still visible, though they are changed infrequently: a particular ad may remain up for several months before being replaced.
The New York City Subway hosted two digital linear zoetropes through its Arts for Transit program. One, "Bryant Park in Motion", was installed in 2010 at the Bryant Park
Bryant Park is a public park located in the New York City borough of Manhattan. Privately managed, it is located between Fifth Avenue and Avenue of the Americas ( Sixth Avenue) and between 40th and 42nd Streets in Midtown Manhattan. The e ...
subway station, and was created by Spodek and students at New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, th ...
's Tisch School of Arts
The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic and media arts school of New York University.
Founded on August 17, 1965, Tisch is a training ground for artists, scholars of the a ...
' Interactive Telecommunications Program. The other, "Union Square in Motion", was installed in 2011 by Spodek and students and alumni from Parsons the New School for Design
Parsons School of Design, known colloquially as Parsons, is a private art and design college located in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. Founded in 1896 after a group of progressive artists broke away from established Manhat ...
's Art, Media, and Technology program in the Union Square
Union commonly refers to:
* Trade union, an organization of workers
* Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets
Union may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Music
* Union (band), an American rock group
** ''Un ...
station.
Other places
The Kyiv Metro
The Kyiv Metro ( uk, Ки́ївський метрополіте́н, Kyivskyi metropoliten, ) is a rapid transit system in Kyiv that is owned by the Kyiv City Council and operated by the city-owned company Kyivsky Metropoliten''.'' It was initi ...
(in Kyiv
Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe.
Kyi ...
, Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
) also featured an advertisement about 2008 for Life mobile telephone carrier in one of its subway tunnels that featured the zoetrope effect. It was quickly taken down.
In Mexico City
Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...
, Mexico, an advertisement for the Honda Civic featuring a zoetrope effect was placed in one of the Line 2 tunnels.
The Zurich Airport
Zürich Airport (), french: Aéroport de Zurich, it, Aeroporto di Zurigo, rm, Eroport da Turitg is the largest international airport of Switzerland and the principal hub of Swiss International Air Lines. It serves Zürich, Switzerland's la ...
Skymetro features a linear zoetrope.
3D zoetropes
3D zoetropes apply the same principle to three-dimensional models, as already practiced by Czermak (1855) and Desvignes (1860) in predecessors of the zoetrope. In 1887, Étienne-Jules Marey
Étienne-Jules Marey (; 5 March 1830, Beaune, Côte-d'Or – 15 May 1904, Paris) was a French scientist, physiologist and chronophotographer.
His work was significant in the development of cardiology, physical instrumentation, aviation, cinema ...
used a large zoetrope to animate a series of plaster models based on his chronophotographs of birds in flight.[Herbert, Stephen. (n.d.]
''From Daedaleum to Zoetrope'', Part 2.
Retrieved May 31, 2014. Modern equivalents normally dispense with the slitted drum and instead use a rapidly flashing 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 ...
to illuminate the models, producing much clearer and sharper distortion-free results. The models are mounted on a rotating base and the light flashes on and off within an extremely small fraction of a second as each successive model passes the same spot. The stroboscopic effect makes each seem to be a single animated object. By allowing the rotation speed to be slightly out of synchronization with the strobe, the animated objects can be made to appear to also move slowly forwards or backwards, according to how much faster or slower each rotation is than the corresponding series of strobe flashes.
Ghibli
The Ghibli Museum
The is a museum showcasing the work of the Japanese animation studio Studio Ghibli. It is located in Inokashira Park in Mitaka, a western city of Tokyo, Japan. The museum combines features of a children's museum, technology museum, and a fine a ...
in Tokyo, Japan hosts a 3D zoetrope featuring characters from the animated movie ''My Neighbour Totoro
is a 1988 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and animated by Studio Ghibli for Tokuma Shoten. The film—which stars the voice actors Noriko Hidaka, Chika Sakamoto, and Hitoshi Takagi—tells the story of ...
.'' The zoetrope is accompanied by an explanatory display, and is part of an exhibit explaining the principles of animation and historical devices.
''Toy Story''
Pixar
Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californ ...
created a 3D zoetrope inspired by Ghibli's for its touring exhibition, which first showed at the Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.
It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...
in New York City and features characters from ''Toy Story 2
''Toy Story 2'' is a 1999 American computer-animated film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. The second installment in the ''Toy Story'' franchise and the sequel to '' Toy Story'' (1995), it was directed by John ...
''. Two more 3D Zoetropes were created by Pixar, both featuring 360-degree viewing. One was installed at Disney California Adventure
Disney California Adventure Park, commonly referred to as California Adventure or by its acronym DCA, is a theme park located at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. It is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Park ...
, sister park to Disneyland
Disneyland is a theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Disney initially envision ...
, but has since been moved to The Walt Disney Studios Lot in Burbank, CA. The other was installed at Hong Kong Disneyland from 2010 until 2017, and is now shown in Disneyland Paris
Disneyland Paris is an entertainment resort in Chessy, Seine-et-Marne, Chessy, France, east of Paris. It encompasses two theme parks, resort hotels, Disney Nature Resorts, a shopping, dining and entertainment complex, and a golf course. Disney ...
as of late 2019. The original ''Toy Story'' ''Zoetrope'' still travels worldwide and has been shown in 34 national museums and art galleries in 18 countries since 2005.
''All Things Fall''
''All Things Fall'' is a 3D printed zoetrope, created by British artist Mat Collishaw. It is inspired by a painting by Ippolito Scarsella of '' The Massacre of Innocents''. The work was presented during the solo exhibition ''Black Mirror'' at Galleria Borghese
The Galleria Borghese () is an art gallery in Rome, Italy, housed in the former Villa Borghese Pinciana. At the outset, the gallery building was integrated with its gardens, but nowadays the Villa Borghese gardens are considered a separate touris ...
in Rome. It is made of steel, aluminium, plaster, resin, lit by LED lights
An LED lamp or LED light bulb is an electric light that produces light using light-emitting diodes (LEDs). LED lamps are significantly more energy-efficient than equivalent incandescent lamps
and can be significantly more efficient than mos ...
and powered by an electric motor. Of his work, Collishaw says: "The zoetrope literally repeats characters to create an overwhelming orgy of violence that is simultaneously appalling and compelling." Each model figure was 3D printed with a fused deposition modeling
Fused filament fabrication (FFF), also known as fused deposition modeling (with the trademarked acronym FDM), or called ''filament freeform fabrication'', is a 3D printing process that uses a continuous filament of a thermoplastic material. Filam ...
technique in acrylonitrile butadiene styrene.[
]
Peter Hudson
Over the period 2002–2016, Peter Hudson and the makers at Spin Art, LLC, have created multiple interactive 3D stroboscopic zoetrope art installations. This began with ''Sisyphish'' (2002), a human powered zoetrope that used 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 ...
to animate human figures swimming on a large rotating disk. ''Sisyphish'', sometimes called ''The Playa Swimmers'', was originally unveiled at the arts and culture event, '' Burning Man'', in the Black Rock Desert
__NOTOC__
The Black Rock Desert is a semi-arid region (in the Great Basin shrub steppe eco-region) of lava beds and playa, or alkali flats, situated in the Black Rock Desert–High Rock Canyon Emigrant Trails National Conservation Area, a si ...
of Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...
.
Peter has since created stroboscopic zoetropes from 2004 to present including: ''Deeper'' (2004), ''Homouroboros'' (2007), ''Tantalus'' (2008), and ''Charon'', which toured Europe and the United Kingdom in summer of 2012. The ''Charon'' zoetrope is built to resemble and rotate in the same kinetic fashion as a ferris wheel, stands at 32 feet high, weighs 8 tons and features twenty rowing skeleton figures representing the mythological character, Charon, who carries souls of the newly deceased across the river Styx.
Hudson's most recent zoetrope creation is entitled ''Eternal Return'', took two years to build, and was unveiled in 2014 in the Black Rock Desert.
Peter Hudson's zoetropes are based in San Francisco are exhibited at various festivals and special events in the United States and internationally throughout the year.
Giant Zoetropes
An 1857 textbook on physics mentioned an early cylindrical stroboscopic installation with moving images that was 18 feet (5.5 meters) in diameter and had been exhibited in Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...
.
A "Great Zoetrope ; or: Wheel of Life", 50 feet (15 meters) in circumference, with "life-size figures", was installed in the Concert Hall of the Crystal Palace
The Crystal Palace was a cast iron and plate glass structure, originally built in Hyde Park, London, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. The exhibition took place from 1 May to 15 October 1851, and more than 14,000 exhibitors from around th ...
in London by permission of the London Stereoscopic and Photographic Company. The programme featured at least four animations based on strips in their catalogue. The huge cylinder was turned around by a gas engine and was operative at least from late 1867 to spring 1868.
In 2008, Artem Limited, a UK visual effects house, built a 10-meter wide, 10-metric ton zoetrope for Sony, called the BRAVIA
Bravia (stylized as BRAVIA) is a brand of Sony Visual Products Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Corporation, and used for its television products. Its backronym is "Best Resolution Audio Visual Integrated Architecture". All Sony high-defi ...
-drome, to promote Sony's motion interpolation
Motion interpolation or motion-compensated frame interpolation (MCFI) is a form of video processing in which intermediate animation frames are generated between existing ones by means of interpolation, in an attempt to make animation more fluid, t ...
technology. It features 64 images of the Brazilian footballer Kaká. This has been declared the largest zoetrope in the world by ''Guinness World Records
''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...
''.
Successors
Émile Reynaud's 1877 praxinoscope was an improvement on the zoetrope that became popular toward the end of the 19th century. It replaced the zoetrope's narrow viewing slits with an inner circle of mirrors that intermittently reflected the images.
Soon after the zoetrope became popular, the flip book was introduced in 1868. With its simplicity and compactness, along with its more tactile qualities, the flip book has stayed relatively popular. A disadvantage of the flip book can be seen in the fact that the animation stops rather quickly, while the zoetrope can display animation as a continuous loop.
Eadward Muybridge
Eadweard Muybridge (; 9 April 1830 – 8 May 1904, born Edward James Muggeridge) was an English photographer known for his pioneering work in photographic studies of motion, and early work in motion-picture projection. He adopted the first ...
published his first chronophotography pictures in 1878. These sequential pictures were soon mounted in zoetropes by several people (including Muybridge himself) and were also published as strips for the zoetrope in the 1880s. This paved the way for the development of motion pictures. Muybridge's own 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 Mu ...
(1879) was an early moving image projector and one of several inventions made before the breakthrough in 1895.
In 1895 Auguste and Louis Lumière
The Lumière brothers (, ; ), Auguste Marie Louis Nicolas Lumière (19 October 1862 – 10 April 1954) and Louis Jean Lumière (5 October 1864 – 6 June 1948), were French manufacturers of photography equipment, best known for their ''Ciném ...
were developing the Kinora simultaneously with the cinematograph. While cinema proved to be an enormous success, the Kinora became a popular motion picture viewer for home use.
Film, television and video are seen as the prevailing successors of the zoetrope, when regarded as technological steps in the development of motion pictures.
In 2016, an inside-out variation of the zoetrope was invented and patented with the name Silhouette Zoetrope. The device was invented by the researcher Dr. Christine Veras, and it won third place in the Best Illusion of the Year Contest, paying homage to the classical zoetrope but displaying a unique combination of optical illusions.
GIF animation can arguably be seen as the closest contemporary successor of Zoetrope animation, since both usually show looped image sequences.
Contemporary media uses
Since the late 20th century, zoetropes have seen occasional use for artwork, entertainment, marketing and other media use, notably as linear zoetropes and 3D zoetropes (see above).
Making a zoetrope has also become a relatively common arts and crafts assignment and a means to explain some of the technical and optical principles of film and motion viewing in educational programs.
The American company Optical Toys, in Vermont, publishes a paper zoetrope reproduction that was originally published as a newspaper supplement in 1896 in the Boston Herald.
In popular culture
Blue Man Group
Blue Man Group is an American performance art company formed in 1987. It was purchased in July 2017 by the Canadian company Cirque du Soleil. Blue Man Group is known for its stage productions, which incorporate many kinds of music and art, bot ...
uses a zoetrope at their shows in Las Vegas and the Sharp Aquos Theater in Universal Studios (in Orlando, Florida).
The 1999 film ''House on Haunted Hill
''House on Haunted Hill'' is a 1959 American horror film produced and directed by William Castle, written by Robb White and starring Vincent Price, Carol Ohmart, Richard Long, Alan Marshal, Carolyn Craig and Elisha Cook Jr. Price plays an ...
'' uses a man-sized zoetrope chamber as a twisted horror theme.
Wick Alexander and Robin Brailsford's 2001 4-piece artwork titled "Moving Pictures" consists of 4 sculptural zoetropes at different public locations in Culver City, California.
A zoetrope was used in the filming of the music video for "My Last Serenade" from '' Alive or Just Breathing'' (2002) by Killswitch Engage
Killswitch Engage is an American metalcore band from Westfield, Massachusetts, formed in 1999 after the disbanding of Overcast and Aftershock. Killswitch Engage's current lineup consists of vocalist Jesse Leach, guitarists Joel Stroetzel an ...
. It features a woman looking through the slits on a zoetrope while it moves; as she looks closer, the camera moves through the slits into the zoetrope, where the band is playing the song.
In 2007, an image of a zoetrope was unveiled as one of BBC Two's new idents: a futuristic city with flying cars seen through the shape of the number two.
In 2009 the E4 drama program '' Skins'' released silent preview clips of series four to coincide with their mash-up competition. One of the clips featured the character Emily Fitch looking into a zoetrope.
In 2011, Scott Blake created a " 9/11 Zoetrope" allowing viewers to watch a continuous reenactment of United Airlines Flight 175
United Airlines Flight 175 was a domestic passenger flight that was hijacked by five al-Qaeda terrorists on September 11, 2001, as part of the September 11 attacks. The flight's scheduled plan was from Logan International Airport, in Boston, ...
crashing into the South Tower of the World Trade Center
World Trade Centers are sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association.
World Trade Center may refer to:
Buildings
* List of World Trade Centers
* World Trade Center (2001–present), a building complex that includes five skyscrapers, a ...
.
In 2012 animation studio Sehsucht, Berlin created the opener to the 2012 MTV Europe Music Awards
The MTV Europe Music Awards (originally named MTV European Music Awards, commonly abbreviated as MTV EMA) are awards presented by Paramount International Networks to honour artists and music in pop culture. It was originally conceived as an a ...
. The CGI animation
Computer-generated imagery (CGI) is the use of computer graphics to create or contribute to images in art, printed media, video games, simulators, and visual effects in films, television programs, shorts, commercials, and videos. The images m ...
features a 3D zoetrope that shows a story of the American Dream. The animation followed the lives of Roxxy and Seth, who, through social media and popularity reach the height of their success playing at the EMA's atop the zoetrope carousel. It was directed by Mate Steinforth and produced by Christina Geller
In 2013, director Jeff Zwart created a two-minute film, "Forza/Filmspeed", promoting Forza Motorsport 5
''Forza Motorsport 5'' is a 2013 racing video game developed by Turn 10 Studios and published by Microsoft Studios for the Xbox One. The game was released on November 22, 2013 as a launch title. The game was revealed on May 21, 2013 during the X ...
. The production placed high resolution still images from the game on panels around Barber Motorsports Park
Barber Motorsports Park is an multi-purpose racing facility located in Birmingham, Alabama. It was built by George W. Barber, and includes the Barber Vintage Motorsport Museum. It has been the site of the IndyCar Series' Grand Prix of Alab ...
and filmed them from a camera attached to a McLaren MP4-12C
The McLaren MP4-12C, later known simply as the McLaren 12C, is a sports car that was designed and manufactured by McLaren Automotive. It was the first ever production car wholly designed and built by McLaren, and their first production road ...
sports car.
In the 2016 horror film ''The Conjuring 2
''The Conjuring 2'' (known in the United Kingdom as ''The Conjuring 2: The Enfield Case'') is a 2016 American supernatural horror film, directed by James Wan. The screenplay is by Chad Hayes, Carey W. Hayes, Wan, and David Leslie Johnson. It i ...
'', there is the usage of a zoetrope in one of the scenes.
In 2019, the second season of the anime adaptation of ONE's manga, Mob Psycho 100
is a Japanese web manga series written and illustrated by One. It was serialized on Shogakukan's ''Ura Sunday'' website from April 2012 to December 2017. It has been also available online on Shogakukan's mobile app ''MangaONE'' since Decem ...
features a 3D rendering of a zoetrope in its opening credit sequence.[Archived a]
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine
In 2022, the official music video for Pharrell Williams's song "Cash in Cash Out" makes use of a computer-animated zoetrope. In the video, directed by Francois Rousselet, Williams, 21 Savage
Shéyaa Bin Abraham-Joseph (born October 22, 1992), known professionally as 21 Savage, is a rapper based in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Born in London, he moved to Atlanta with his mother at age seven. He became known after releasing two m ...
, and Tyler, the Creator
Tyler Gregory Okonma (born March 6, 1991), known professionally as Tyler, the Creator, is an American rapper and record producer. He is one of the founding members of the music collective Odd Future.
Okonma self-released his debut mixtape ' ...
turn into characters that look like action figures as they drive in fancy cars, count their money, and play small instruments.
See also
*
* Diffractive optically variable image device ( DOVIDs)
* ''The Horse in Motion
''The Horse in Motion'' is a series of cabinet cards by Eadweard Muybridge, including six cards that each show a sequential series of six to twelve "automatic electro-photographs" depicting the movement of a horse. Muybridge shot the photogr ...
''
* Optical toys Optical toys form a group of devices with some entertainment value combined with a scientific, optical nature. Many of these were also known as "philosophical toys" when they were developed in the 19th century.
People must have experimented with op ...
* Phonotrope
* Praxinoscope
* 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 ...
* 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 Mu ...
References
External links
Zoetrope
(information on the zoetrope from the Victoria & Albert Museum of Childhood)
can be found here.
* Burns, Pau
The History of the Discovery of Cinematography
An Illustrated Chronology
* ttp://www.bboptics.com/masstransiscope.html Bill Brand's Masstransiscope can be found here.
* Note: privacy protections will break page.
A video demonstrating a zoetrope
driven by a Geneva drive
The Geneva drive or Maltese cross is a gear mechanism that translates a continuous rotation movement into intermittent rotary motion.
The ''rotating drive'' wheel is usually equipped with a pin that reaches into a slot located in the other wh ...
.
{{Animation
Austrian inventions
Animation technology
Articles containing video clips
Audiovisual introductions in 1865
Chinese inventions
Optical illusions
Optical toys
History of animation
History of film
Scottish inventions
Traditional toys