The earliest forms of animation could date back in the 17th Century with devices such as Joseph Plateu's Phenakistoscope and William George Horner's Zoetrope. These devices were more toy like a relied on the principle of illusion and how the eye perceives light and images. The Zoetrope relied on the illusion of movement by having freeze frame images of a subject in movement, which was then spun in a drum and viewed through a slot. Similar devices were popular until the end of that Century until, inspired by these contraptions, other methods of recording movement were experimented with.
Around the same time, the end of the 17th century, there was heavy experimentation with cameras and film, bringing along the use of the Kinetoscope Camera and the Kinetoscope Viewing Box. Louis and Auguste Lumière were challenged to rival this invention (the work of Thomas A. Edison and W.K.L Dickson) with something cheaper. The Lumière brothers decided to raise the bar by not only creating a camera that record but also projects what it has recorded. This device is named the Cinématographe. A year later the brothers realise their first film shot with the Cinématographe: La Sortie de l'usine Lumière a Lyon which, as the name suggests, was simply a recording of workers leaving a factory. Similar films were made using similar techniques with slight improvements.
Another noticeable moment, in the very early years of the following century is Georges Méliès's Voyage to the Moon. Inspired by the Lumière brother's early films, Méliès's film was know for its innovative special effect techniques and introducing colour (with the use of hand-painting and tinting).
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