A history of Animation - part one

Phenakistoscope (1872)

• The Phenakistoscope was possibly the first animation device.
• The disc would spin around and the user would look through the moving slits to the reflection of the disc on a mirror.
• It was invented simultaneously by the Belgian Joseph Plateau and the Austrian Simon von Stampfer.

Kinetoscope (1889)

• The Kinetoscope was the successor of the Phenakistoscope.
• It introduced the basic of cinematic projection.
• It was "described in conceptual terms" by Thomas Edison and was developed by William Kennedy Laurie Dickson, his employee.

"Humorous Phases of Funny Faces" (1906)

• It was regarded as the very first ever animated film.
• It featured a cartoonist using a chalkboard to draw faces, which eventually comes to life.
• It was created by J. Stuart Blackton