(formerly the Phonographantasmascope)
For a few years I have been playing around with a nice little technique using a record player and a camera to create a different kind of Zoetrope.
It is one of those things that is more pleasurable watching in real-life however I have a few films of a couple of events that I have shown the Phonographantasmascope in which I will try and upload below.
UPDATE – MARCH 2010
Finally as promised here is the entire talk I did at the Flatpack Festival in March 2009
UPDATE – FEB 2010
Over the last few months, and around the more fee-paying jobs I’ve been doing, a few bigger projects have started to grow. I can’t talk too much about them but one invloves a really exciting commission through the sculptor/artist Stephen Skrynka. More news to come.
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PREVIOUS EXPERIMENTS up until MARCH 2009
Victoria and Albert Museum - Friday Late Animate
In 2007 Nexus Productions were invited to take over the V&A for an evening showing off different and exciting sides to animation. I took the opportunity to show off the Phonographantasmascope in its virginal glory.
Interesting 2008
Organised by Russell Davies, this is simply one of the most benevolently beautiful days I’ve been to. Ultimately it’s about 32 speakers doing lectures of between 5 and 20 minutes in length about almost any subject you can think of. That day we saw lectures on Lego, Horses, Geology, Music and Coins to name but a few.
The guys at Imagination filmed it and it’s hosted by the Guardian which you can see here.
Run by Ian Francis and Pip McKnight, a brilliant festival in its early years which I would highly recommend going to when it’s on next. This is actually the last few minutes of the talk, as before, just through the camera so it might not be that interesting to watch but might be interesting to listen to at some points. I might put the whole talk up on line if anyone wants to see it?
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Blu-Tak tests
Some recent tests with blu-tak playing around with more tactile and haptic forms and discovering more about the spatial qualities and what your eye tunes into at different times. I find the interesting parts of this research are the points where you follow the blu-tak from side to side and not the foreground framing that works on the other loops.
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Background Research and Further Reading
The science behind the process of animation existed in the early half of the19th century as people explored the idea of ‘persistence of vision‘, a term coined by the Belgian physicist and artist Joseph Plateau which describes the human’s ability to perceive a succession of single images as a single moving image. During the 1800s and through on to today many techniques have been developed using very long names such as the “Thaumatrope” (meaning “turning marvel”) “Phenakistiscope” (“deceptive view”) the “Praxinoscope” (“action viewer”) and the “Zoopraxiscope” (not too sure exactly but I don’t think it is anything to do with elephants and tigers) through to the live-action film projector which harnesses the same idea.
In this tradition I am appropriating the common record player and, using the fact that it revolves at 45 revolutions per minute and that a video camera takes pictures at 25 frames per second, will be showing some examples of some simple moving images and explaining the process. I came to the idea after trying to create ‘live’ animation for the straight-8 super-8 film competition last year based around the super-8 camera taking pictures at 18 frames per second, and have been playing around with it ever since. There have been some recent explorations, notably from Studio Ghibli in the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka and also from Pixar for their animation exhibition which both use a stroboscope to create ‘frames’ out of a 3-dimensional Zoetrope. Below are some links to many more experiments and further reading that one can follow.*
There are many other people playing around with this technique in its different forms….
UPDATE – 7th April
Ernest Zacharevic has just sent me a link to an awesome film/zoetrope he’s just done
Staying Alive from Ernest Zacharevic on Vimeo.
check it out!!
Mr Graeme Hawkins
I think he’s currently up in Glasgow, his projection experiments are absolutely beautiful. He’s taking the record player thing into some really nice places with Particles (and while you’re there browse through his other stuff, some lovely lovely things there like his Robert Breer Stylee piece). Below is his hand drawn mapping tests as I think he’s probably not ready to show his zoetrope things yet…
Sculpture
Tight design and really beautiful style, Sculpture are Dan Hayhurst and Reuben Sutherland. Here are some of their beautiful deck tests (again have a sift through their films)
David Wilson
When I first saw this I was terrified as it was the first higher profile use of this but it’s done really nicely and again in a really different way too. The making of is great if you want a run down on his approach and he sounds like a really great guy too.
Mark Simon Hewis
Mark’s film ‘The Life Size Zoetrope’ is simply the epitome of effort story telling and style using a zoetrope. It’s possibly better just to watch it and see what he’s done with it as it’s quite hard to explain the impressive nature of almost every aspect of it.
Modern Experiments in 3-Dimensional Zoetropes using Stroboscopes
The above examples are all exploring the ability of the camera to create the animation on the zoetropes. The following examples mostly use stroboscopes, i.e. a constant set of flashing lights, sometimes at very high speeds, to create the ‘frames’ that are needed to cerate the feeling of movement.
Studio Ghibli/Pixar
The Studio Ghibli Zoetrope in in the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, Tokyo if you’re lucky enough to ever go (the information about the Zoetrope is about halfway down the page), was the first of its kind. I’m not sure when it was built but by all accounts it is stunning, unfortunately I cannot find any footage of this as yet.
In 2005-ish Pixar created their own version which toured many science museums and galleries around the world and is impressive aswell. This footage is only three seconds long but the better of a poor bunch of footage showing Pixar’s zoetrope which was ‘inspired’ by the Studio Ghibli one.
Peter Hudson
I had previously put a link to Peter’s work from a very old site of his but he kindly sent me a link to his newer one (which he also says needs updating) here.
For the last few years he has been creating ever more grander life sized zoetropes at the Burning Man Festival. What makes his work so important in this field is not just the thought he puts into the loops and the build of the pieces but also how he is bringing it to people.
The Burning Man Festival is all about the spectacle and Peter now regularly dispensies magic like an altruistic crazed animation Santa Claus.
Watch the film of his latest project Tantalus on his site and below are a few of his other works.
Swimmers was Peter’s 2004 piece
Humouroboros was his 2007 piece
Stewart Dickson
Stewart Dickson created a 3-Dimensional Zoetrope in 2000 which received an International Award in Digital Sculpture and has been exhibited around America
http://emsh.calarts.edu/~mathart/Zoetropes.html
Gregory Barsamian
Chicago born artist experimenting in precisely this area with some really really great sculptures, ‘Die Falle’ is just brilliant.
As with these stroboscopic base ones it’s hard to film but here are a couple of his installations
Steve Hollinger
Hollinger’s sculptures experiment with a wide range of interaction and are very interesting in their own right. The link is a 9 minute Quicktime movie of a variety of his works.
Here’s a very staggered ‘making of’ the zoetrope thing he did
and this looks ace! Next project in the offing I think (and if anyone’s stuck finding me a birthday present then here it is)!
Toshio Iwai
Iwai is a Japanese born artist experimenting in interactive media and sound. Having experimented with various 3-Dimensional Zoetropes he went on to contribute to the Studio Ghibli Zoetrope for their museum in Mitaka, Tokyo (see above for more on Ghibli).
http://www.awn.com/mag/issue3.11/3.11pages/morseiwai.php3
Iwai is also a experimental musician and works a lot with interactive toys. His latest project is Electroplankton, a sound and image toy for the Nintendo DS which is excellent.
Instructables.com
Tim Anderson has created a rather nice guide to creating a Phonograph Turntable Strobe Zoetrope.
http://www.instructables.com/id/EU6VM7BUFVEQHOATPZ?ALLSTEPS
Other Animation things that break out from the norm
A nice use of escalators.
Further Reading about
Experiments in the Moving Image
COLLECTIONS, MUSEUMS and ARCHIVES
Stephen Herbert and Mo Heard
Archivist and publicist for many things ‘moving-image’ related but specifically has a fantastic range of books published through his publishing partnership ‘The Projection Box’
Laura Hayes and John Howard Wileman Exhibit of Optical Toys
A collection of pre-20th century optical toys and illusionary devices, donated to NCSSM by Dr. Ralph Wileman.
Kinetoscope
According to her profile ‘Kinetoscope’ is an Italian woman responsible for archiving some great footage of very early films and documentaries (mostly in Italian however you don’t need to speak the language too see the machines in action) and I thouroughly recommend browsing through her stuff.
http://dailymotion.alice.it/kinetoscope
Of particular interest is a documentary on animated geometry. (link working – June 15 2009) and a documentary on Eduard Muybridge which is a bit boring at the start but there are some great examples of early animated strips around 4 mins into it .and some other examples of some Zoetrope strips
OTHER RECOMMENDED LINKS TO EXPLORE
Boston Cyberarts Festival
If you’re in Boston this looks like an amazing thing which happens every year
Arthur Ganson
An incredible sculptor who plays around with movement, I thoroughly recommend ordering his DVD too.
Paul Spooner/Fourteen Balls
Almost a British Arthur Ganson although very very different in mind and mentality. I heartily recommmend getting the DVD which shows Paul constructing an automaton in a day. Very funny
Tim Hunkin
An enthusiastic experimenter and illustrator with a wonderful museum in Suffolk
*With acknowledgement to Stephen Herbert from ‘the Projection Box’ and also the book ‘Masterpieces of Animation 1833 – 1908′ by David Robinson – Griffithiana 1991 also available through ‘The Projection Box’ please see links below.
** The author is not responsible for the content of any of these websites