Moving on a few years up to 1824 when Britain was in the Victorian era and the Thaumatrope became a popular toy among children; this toy consisted of a circular disc with strings poked through and two different images, one on each side. The way the
How it has evolved over the years:
The Zoetrope, which translated from Greek to English means "Life Turn" which could also be intepreted as "The Wheel of Life", is basically a cylinder shaped object with thin slits running down it, on the inner walls of the Zoetrope are different sequenced images which when spun around and viewed from the outside via the slits creates the illusion of animation. Strangly enough even though this invention's name is that of Greek origin, the first recorded use of it is across the world in China in 180 AD; The inventor name Ting Huan was said to have named it "Chao Hua Chich Kuan" which means "The Pipes That Make Fantasies Come True" and it was hung over lamps.
Here's a Zoetrope in action. Note how from above the images seem to fast to depict a story but once you look through the slits the animation becomes clear.
Pioneers of 2D Animation
Joseph Plateau (1801 - 1883) was a physicist whos contribution helped in the creation of motion picture and movies. After understanding how different images have an effect on our retina, even staying in sight temporarily after disappearing; he created a device that manipluates how images are conveyed to us, this device was called the Phenakistoscope. Similar to the above mentioned devices (Thaumatrope ands Zoetrope) this device used a sequence of images that when moved/ or spun at a rapid pace would create the illusion that the images were moving.
Charles-Emile Reynaud (1844 - 1918), was originally a fench science teacher that in time became a major pioneer in animation and motion picture after he invented the Praxinnoscope which was a machine that allowed a double series of photographs depicting different sequences of movement to be viewed at once, being the first motion picture device to portray 3D imagery. Emile was one of the first men to ever show cartoon "films" in public screenings.
Here's a youtube link to a video exhibiting how Emile's invention worked: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNoeD2KfG1E
William George Horner (1786 - 1837), was a British mathematician that much like Joseph Plateau created his own variation of the Zoetrope to which he called the Daeduleum in the year 1834.
The Lumiere Brothers are scribed into history as the first known film makers, Louis Lumiere (the younger sibling born 1864) even responsible for creating the dry plate method for develping images. Along with his older brother Auguste (born 1862), these men lead a revolution in motion picture development; their work on colour photography eventually giving birth to the Autochrome Lumiere which was basically process of printing colour images and remained a the favourite method of printing for professions and inventors until the year 1930. The Lumiere Brothers also created one of the first screen projection devices that would allow for a large audience of people to watch a motion picture at the same time in the same room (basically making them the founders of cinema).
Thomas Edison (1847 - 1931), was renown for many of his advances of his time, although the more notable ones on the topic of animation would have to be his Kinetoscope which himself created in the year 1888. The Kinetoscope was designed for one single person to be able to view a film at a time unlike the devices that projected to a crowd however this invention did introduce a new approach that would become the standard for all cinematic projections before the advent of video.
Below Thomas Edison is an example of his Kinetoscope.
Walt Disney (1901 - 1966), had a huge impact on how animation was developed and produced; When he and his brotehr Roy Disney co-founded their Walt Disney Productions it quickly became one of (if not the) most famous motion picture production companies in the world, still to this day Disney's company is produced brilliantly animated high grossing films like the Lion King (1994) and Mulan (1998). For his production Disney used cell animation and used a special camera, called the Multiplane Camera. This camera used multiple imaghes on different layers and moved them at varying speeds to create the illusion of depth.
One of Disney's finest 2D animated movies, The Lion King perfectly depicts Disney's expert character designs, emotional atmosphere and fluid animation.
