Eadweard Muybridge: Motion Picture

 Eadweard Muybridge, early cinema and roll film

Before there were motion pictures there was a horse. In 1872 Leland Stanford, a businessman and avid race horse aficionado, wondered if during a horse's trot, all four hooves ever left the ground at the same time. He wanted a scientific answer and set out to prove his point. Little did he know that this would be the start of early cinema and roll film.

A phenakistoscope disc in motion 

This device took a disc that was mounted vertically on a handle and spun it. A series of pictures, drawn to correspond with the frames of the animation, were placed around the inside of the disc. People could spin the disc and see the disc's reflection in a mirror. As the disc turned the images magically moved.

Eadward Muybridge Roll Film

Along came Muybridge and his camera. Eadweard Muybridge was a photographer who believed he could solve this mystery once and for all by using multiple cameras to capture one motion. Leland Stanford quickly hired Eadweard Muybridge to shoot his racehorse (with photography).

Muybridge had been toying with the idea of capturing motion by using multiple cameras to shoot the same image from different angles. This seems common for us, but at the time it was truly revolutionary. This would soon become the building block for all motion pictures to come. With his special technology, Muybridge's successfully solved the question. Yes during a horses trot, all four legs are indeed off the ground at one time.

Edward Muybridge horse became the first movie star 1877 with a single photograph. His famous photograph showed Occident (Stanford's racehorse) completely airborne during his trot. The photographer Muybridge became famous overnight as he started the early cinema movement. 

His unique method of taking moving picture involved chemical formulas for photographic processing and an electrical trigger designed by Muybridge. Basic Sequential photography was pushing the boundaries of photography and technology at the time. He became an early motion picture inventor as well as a photographer.

  

The zoopraxiscope  

Next Edward Muybridge invented a devise called the zoopraxiscope. The zoopraxiscope projected images from rotating glass disks in rapid succession. This gave the viewer the impression of animated motion. This was the first machine to ever create the impression of real moving pictures or what would become to be known as movies. Originally these images were painted as silhouettes onto glass.
The Zoopraxiscope is usually considered an important early stage of the movie projector.
 
The next series of discs, used outline drawings printed onto the discs using a photographic process. Then these images were colored by hand. This complicated and tedious system became an early version of the motion picture, early cinema, and roll film.

Always improving his craft, Edweard Muybridge visited Étienne Jules de Marey in France. In Marey’s studio he saw early stop-motion studies. This influenced Muybridge to improve his own work in the area of early moving pictures. This led to the invention of the phenakistoscope. Muybridge created disks for the phenakistoscope (also spelled phenakistiscope), a toy used to view short motion sequences.

This device took a disc which was mounted vertically on a handle and spun it. A series of pictures, drawn to correspond with the frames of the animation, were placed around the inside of the disc. People could spin the disc and see the disc's reflection in a mirror. As the disc turned the images magically moved. Yes, he created more early movies and it was he who basically invented the first projector.

Muybridge discs

Shown here are a few of the works of Eadweard Muybridge. This galley shows you the disks that are available to be perches through out store.

Now you can create your own Muybridge optical toy!

	Athletes - Boxing The original was made c1893 by Eadweard Muybridge. Images on a disc which when spun gave the illusion of two men boxing.   Click on the image to view a bigger size! Buy This Print Now! Only $9.97   Watermark will NOT show up on the print
	Man on a Horse The original was made c1893 by Eadweard Muybridge. Images on a disc which when spun gave the illusion of a horse galloping.  Click on the image to view a bigger size! Buy This Print Now! Only $9.97   Watermark will NOT show up on the print
	A horse back somersault The original was made c1893 by Eadweard Muybridge.Images on a disc which when spun gave the illusion of a man doing a somersault on horseback.     Click on the image to view a bigger size! Buy This Print Now! Only $9.97    Watermark will NOT show up on the print
	A couple waltzing The original was made c1893 by Muybridge, Eadweard Images on a disc which when spun gave the illusion of a couple dancing.                                Click on the image to view a bigger size! Buy This Print Now! Only $9.97   Watermark will NOT show up on the print

Early Cinema

Muybridge loved to experiment with this new medium, early cinema. The word "phenakistoscope" comes from Greek meaning to cheat. This machine tricks the eye by making the pictures look like they are in motion even thought they are really a series of still photographs. Edward Muybridge didn’t call it cheating he called it innovation.

Motion pictures don't move; they rely upon the effect of persistence of vision. This occurs when a series of sequential images is displayed, each image lasting only for a short time. The resulting effect is that of continuous motion

Later Muybridge adapted his still photographs to fit another invention called the zoetrope. This was a children's toy also known as "the wheel of life. It primarily used what is called persistence of vision (i.e., the brain's facility to blend images into continuous movement)

Muybridge was instrumental in pushing the limits of still photography so that the next generation could develop even more sophisticated moving pictures.

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