For my Visual Narrative unit on my MA course I had to create a sequential response to the story of Rumpelstiltskin. To relate this to my main project (looking at early animation techniques) I decided to create three phenakistoscopes showing looping animation sequences based on imagery from the story. A phenakistoscope animation is displayed when the disc is spun facing a mirror and the viewer looks through the slots around the edge of the disc as they pass by the eye; creating a flickering image in the mirror. It was interesting to note that the flickering effect dulls and disrupts the colour sequences much more than the silhouettes. But still, I tried to be quite ambitious with the content of the 12 frame loops.

Below: I’ve included an image showing the development of one of the discs, scanned line tests from youtube and an image of the three final discs together.