Week 1: Vocabulary

• Persistence of vision - The human eye retains an image for a brief moment after the image was actually seen, so when viewing images in closely-timed sequence to one another, the illusion of motion is created. The effects of both the zoetrope and the praxinoscope depend on the persistence of vision.

• Zoetrope - The zoetrope was an early form of motion picture projector invented in 1834 by William George Horner. It consisted of a drum containing a set of still images that was able to create the illusion of motion when spun around.

• Praxinoscope - The Praxinoscope was invented in 1876 by Charles-Émile Reynaud and was similar to the Zoetrope. It consisted of a cylinder and a strip of paper showing twelve frames for animation. Mirrors in the centre of the praxinoscope reveal a 'single image' in motion as the cylinder rotates. 

• Celluloid - Celluloid is a tough kind of plastic which was used in the past to make products such as photographic film.

• Compositing - Compositing is the combining of visual elements from separate sources into single images, which will usually create the illusion that all those elements are parts of the same scene. The moving images created by the zoetrope and praxinoscope use compositing, along with the persistence of vision, to create this illusion.