Phenakistoscope

A phenakistoscope is a way to produce moving images caused by illusion. It is made up from a disc with a series of pictures equally spaced out within the circle. Between each of the pictures you need to cut out slits that are big enough to look though. Once you have your disc with your pictures and slits on it, you need to hold it vertically in front of a mirror and spin it while looking though the slits and focusing on the reflection. Due to the slits and the reflection this device uses the phenakistoscope it keeps the pictures simply blurring together, giving rapid succession of images with the appearance of a motion.

I was influenced to look in to this way of animation when I came across Eadweard Muybridge’s photos. When researching animation and movement in art, Eadweard Muybridge name kept catching my eye. So I research Muybridge’s work and liked what he was doing. I found a picture of a phenakistoscope that he produced of man and women dancing the waltz. I liked the simplicity of this type of animation and the effect it had, so I thought I would have a go at producing one myself.

Here is a phenakistoscope created by Eadweard Mubridge


I have tried to use this method and produce a simple phenakistoscope of my own. I like the outcome I got from using this technique and I will be experimenting with different ways of getting motion with my work.