HWHistory

Animation seems to be a modern film technique, right? Wrong! Animation has developed over thousands of years, probably starting with cavemen. Evidence has been found of primitive artists attempts to make their drawings move. For example, a 5,200 year old clay pot was found in Iran, and was decorated with a series of images depicting a goat jumping up to a tree. Each image showed how the goat was getting closer to the tree. An animated version is shown below.



Another example of primitive animation is one found in a burial chamber in Eygpt depicting two wrestlers, shown as different people by having one white and one black. It shows the wrestlers fighting each other. An image of it can be found below.



​ **Devices used for Animation**

As technology advanced, people began to unravel the mysteries of making animation happen. They realised that people could not make things move by themselves, and began to create devices to create animation. Below I have a timeline some of the ones that really advanced animation.


 * 1831 - Phenakistiscope**

As you can see in the black and white picture, the Phenakistiscope is held by a stick. There are two discs, one has images on it and the other simply has slits. When the user of the device holds it up to a mirror and spins the sick, the images appear to move. It was invented by Joseph Plateau from Belgium.

**The kinetoscope was invented by Thomas Edison.
 * 1893 - Kinetoscope



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