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Information about Zoetrope

For other uses, see Zoetrope (disambiguation).


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A modern replica of a Victorian zoetrope.
A zoetrope is a device that produces an illusion of action from a rapid succession of static pictures.

It consists of a cylinder with slits cut vertically in the sides. Beneath the slits, on the inner surface of the cylinder, is a band which has either individual frames from a video/film or images from a set of sequenced drawings or photographs. As the cylinder spins, the user looks through the slits at the pictures on the opposite side of the cylinder's interior. The scanning of the slits keeps the pictures from simply blurring together, so that the user sees a rapid succession of images producing the illusion of motion, the equivalent of a motion picture. Cylindrical zoetropes have the property of causing the images to appear thinner than their actual sizes when viewed in motion through the slits.

Invention

The zoetrope was invented in 1834 by William Horner, who called it a "daedalum" or "daedatelum". Horner based his device on the Phenakistiscope built in 1836 by Joseph Plateau. A device similar to Horner's was described by John Bate in The Mysteries of Nature and Art in 1634. In fact, the earliest elementary zoetrope was created in China around 180 A.D. by the prolific inventor Ting Huan (丁緩). Driven by convection, Ting Huan's device hung over a lamp. The rising air turned vanes at the top, from which were hung translucent paper or mica panels. Pictures painted on the panels would appear to move if the device spun fast enough.[1][2][3][4]

Modern times

William F. Lincoln promoted Horner's device in the United States as a "zoetrope".

The praxinoscope was an improvement on the zoetrope that became popular toward the end of the nineteenth century.

The earliest projected moving images were displayed by using a magic lantern zoetrope. This crude projection of moving images occurred as early as the 1860s. A magic lantern praxinoscope was demonstrated in the 1880s.

Zoetrope development continues into the twenty-first century, primarily with the "Linear zoetrope." A linear zoetrope consists of an opaque linear screen with thin vertical slits in it. Behind each slit is an image, often illuminated. One views the motion-picture by moving past the display.

Linear zoetropes have several differences compared to cylindrical zoetropes that derive from their different geometries. They can have arbitrarily long animations. They also cause images to appear wider than their actual sizes when viewed in motion through the slits.

In September 1980, independent film-maker Bill Brand installed a type of linear zoetrope he called the "Masstransiscope" in an unused subway platform in Brooklyn, New York. It consisted of a linear wall with 228 slits in the face. Behind each slit was a hand-painted panel. Riders in subways moving past the display saw a motion-picture within.

Joshua Spodek, as an astrophysics graduate student, conceived of and led the development of a class of linear zoetropes that saw the first commercial success of a zoetrope in over a century. A display of his design debuted in September 2001 in a tunnel of the Atlanta subway system and showed an advertisement to riders moving past. That display is internally lit and nearly 300 meters long. Its motion-picture was about twenty seconds long.

His design soon appeared in subway systems elsewhere in North America, Asia, and Europe. Joshua has also participated in a renaissance in zoetrope related art and other noncommercial expression.

In April 2006, the Washington Metro installed advertising using the zoetrope system between the Metro Center and Gallery Place subway stations.[5] A similar advertisement is installed on the PATH train in New Jersey, between the World Trade Center and Exchange Place stations.

The term zoetrope is from the Greek words zoe, "life" and trope, "turn". It may be taken to mean "wheel of life" or "living wheel."

Zoetrope is a theatrical production created by Kinematic Theatre, utilising aerial artists. Debuted at the Rose Theatre, Rose Bruford College. Score composed by Simon Slater, Lighting Designed/Co-Directed by Karl Lawton, Directed and Designed by Andy Sinclair-Harris.

The Ghibli Museum hosts a zoetrope using 3D figures on a rotating disk. Rather than slits or mirrors, a strobing LED is used. The animation on this zoetrope is inspired by My Neighbour Totoro.

Pixar created a zoetrope inspired by Ghibli's for its 20th anniversary celebration at the Museum of Modern Art, featuring characters from Toy Story.

In 1998, following the success of the movie Titanic, a rumor started on the internet that the film was going to be released on the zoetrope. Although this was clearly impossible, it was picked up by a Delaware radio station as a real news story. The presenter said 'and it's coming out on the zoetrope, whatever that is.'

In 2007 an image of a zoetrope, where a futuristic city with flying cars was viewed through the shape of a number two, was unveiled as one of BBC Two's new idents.

References

1. ^ Ronan, Colin A.; Joseph Needham (1985). The Shorter Science and Civilisation in China: Volume 2. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-31536-0. 
2. ^ Dulac, Nicolas; André Gaudreault (2004). Heads or Tails: The Emergence of a New Cultural Series, from the Phenakisticope to the Cinematograph. Invisible Culture: A Journal for Visual Culture. The University of Rochester. Retrieved on 2006-05-13.
3. ^ History of Media, University of Minnesota, accessed May 13 2006
4. ^ Zoetrope. Laura Hayes and John Howard Wileman Exhibit of Optical Toys. The North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics (2005). Retrieved on 2006-05-13.
5. ^ Metro begins testing new tunnel ads, NBC4, April 4, 2006
Culver City, California, current home of Sony Studios (originally MGM)has several zoetropes placed throughout the main street area.

See also

External links

Zoetrope may refer to:
  • Zoetrope, a device used for animation
  • "Zoetrope," the final track from In a Beautiful Place Out in the Country, the 2000 EP by Boards of Canada
  • American Zoetrope, Francis Ford Coppola's movie-production company

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photograph (often shortened to photo) is an image created by light falling on a light-sensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic imager such as a CCD or a CMOS chip.
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Film is a term that encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. Films are produced by recording images from the world with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or special effects.
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William George Horner (1786 – September 22, 1837) was a British mathematician who was born in Bristol England and died in Bath England. He invented the zoetrope in 1834.
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phenakistoscope (also spelled phenakistiscope) was an early animation device, the predecessor to the zoetrope. It was invented in 1831 simultaneously by the Belgian Joseph Plateau and the Austrian Simon von Stampfer.
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18th century - 19th century - 20th century
1800s  1810s  1820s  - 1830s -  1840s  1850s  1860s
1833 1834 1835 - 1836 - 1837 1838 1839

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Subjects:     Archaeology - Architecture -
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Joseph Antoine Ferdinand Plateau (October 14, 1801 - September 15, 1883) was a Belgian physicist.

Born in Brussels, he studied at the University of Liège (Liège), where he graduated as a doctor of physical and mathematical sciences in 1829.
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The Mysteryes of Nature and Art is a book by John Bate written in 1634. It inspired Isaac Newton.

External links

  • Article about book

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This page contains Chinese text.
Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Chinese characters.
China (Traditional Chinese:
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Convection in the most general terms refers to the movement of currents within fluids (i.e. liquids, gases and rheids).

Convection is one of the major modes of heat and mass transfer.
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Mica may refer to:
  • Mica, a silicate mineral group
  • The biblical prophet Micah
  • The book of Micah in the Tanakh
  • Mica is a song by Danish indie rock band Mew.

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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.
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movie projector is an opto-mechanical device for displaying moving pictures by projecting them on a projection screen. Most of the optical and mechanical elements, except for the illumination and sound devices, are present in movie cameras.
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Magic lantern may mean:
  • magic lantern, the ancestor of the modern slide projector
  • Magic Lantern (software), the FBI's keylogger.
  • The Magic Lantern is the name of a theater in Prague which served as the headquarters for the reform movement (see Velvet Revolution

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Brooklyn (named after the Dutch town Breukelen) is one of the five boroughs of New York City. An independent city until its consolidation into New York in 1898, Brooklyn is New York City's most populous borough, with nearly 2.5 million residents.
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Metrorail, or simply Metro, is the rapid transit system of Washington, D.C., and neighboring communities in Maryland and Virginia, both inside and outside the Capital Beltway, and is the second busiest in the United States behind the New York City Subway.
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Metro Center is the central hub station of the Metrorail in Washington, D.C..

Metro Center is on the Blue, Orange, and Red Lines, and is a transfer station between the Red Line and the already-joined Blue and Orange Lines.
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Gallery Pl-Chinatown is a Washington Metro station in Washington, D.C., on the Green, Red and Yellow Lines. It is a transfer station between the Red Line on the upper level and the other two lines on the lower level.
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PATH

Locale Newark / Hudson County, New Jersey and Manhattan, New York
Transit type(s) Rapid transit
Began operation 1908
System length 13.8 mi (22.2 km)
No. of lines 4
No.
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State of New Jersey

Flag of New Jersey Seal
Nickname(s): Garden State[1]
Motto(s): Liberty and prosperity

Official language(s) English de facto

Capital Trenton

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World Trade Center in New York City (sometimes informally referred to as the WTC or the Twin Towers) was a complex of seven buildings in Lower Manhattan, mostly designed by American architect Minoru Yamasaki and engineer Leslie Robertson and developed by the Port
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The Exchange Place PATH station, opened on July 19, 1909, is located in Jersey City, New Jersey, adjacent to the Hudson River at Paulus Hook. The station serves the Goldman Sachs Tower and other buildings in this area, also sometimes referred to as "Wall Street West".
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Greek}}} 
Writing system: Greek alphabet 
Official status
Official language of:  Greece
 Cyprus
 European Union
recognised as minority language in parts of:
 European Union
 Italy
 Turkey
Regulated by:
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Kinematic Theatre, often abbreviated to 'Kinematic', is a small theatre company operating in London, England. The company which was formed early in 2006 and was founded by Andy Sinclair-Harris, who is the artistic director along with Karl Lawton, Radica Anikpe and
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Simon Slater is a British actor and composer.

He has been performing, playing and composing since his early teens and continued through university when he attended Goldsmiths College at the University of London.
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Ghibli Museum (三鷹の森ジブリ美術館
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Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. It is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in a number of ways.
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Fox Dub
1993
Disney Dub
March 7 2006
Running time 86 minutes
Language Japanese
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile
My Neighbor Totoro (
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Pixar Animation Studios

Subsidiary of Buena Vista Motion Pictures Group (Disney)
Founded December 9, 1985
Headquarters Emeryville, California, USA

Key people Ed Catmull, President, Disney and Pixar Animation Studios
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Studio Ghibli, Inc.
株式会社スタジオジブリ

Animation film studio
Founded 1985
Founder Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata
Headquarters Japan

Key people Hayao Miyazaki
Isao Takahata
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