The Zoetrope

The Zoetrope is one of the pre-film animation devices which was used to create the illusion of movement. It consists of a cylinder with slits cut vertically down the side, and on the inside of the cylinder, a sequence of drawings or photographs facing inwards. When it is spun, the viewer looks through the slits and sees the pictures moving. the slits are there to stop the image becoming one big blur. This device was developed in 1833 and 1834 by mathematician, William George Horner. It works similarly to the Phenakistoscope except it is more practical because it allows the animation to be seen by several people at the same time.

Even though this is a very simple, old fashioned way of animating, I think its awesome. A lot of the time nowadays, when somebody says "Animation" I think a lot of people's mind automatically go to the more modern practices like CGI and 3D animation, so I think its important to appreciate the early methods of animation just as much because this is where it all developed from.