The Zoetrope has been around since 1830's and was invented by British mathematician William George Horner. It is a mechanical optical device that allows to you see a series of images very quickly so it appears as a looped animation and was a very popular Victorian parlor toy until it was replaced by modern film technology. He named it the 'Daedalum' which translates to 'wheel of the devil' but was later renamed the 'Zoetrope' meaning 'the wheel of life'. It was created around the same idea of a device called a 'phenakistoscope' (pictured below) invented by Joseph Plateau, which requires mirrors but cannot be viewed by more than one person unlike Horner's zoetrope which multiple people can view
Zoetrope
Phenakistoscope
My Version
I decided to make an animation of a woman flicking her hair as drawing subjects is a strength of mine and the hair could have an interesting effect when put in motion. To create this idea I videoed myself flicking my hair around in a circular motion to see how it fall and what angles my body and head made in the process. Unfortunately this video was lost but you can see how I used it to influence my final piece.
Through observing this and using a lightbox I created a series of drawings to be used on a strip of paper for the zoetrope. To show you how it would look i've created a GIF image below..
If I would change anything I would make the transitions between picture more precise and accurate so the whole animation would be more smooth.
No comments:
Post a Comment