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Théâtre Optique


The Théâtre Optique was a moving picture show presented by Charles-Émile Reynaud in 1892, based on the praxinoscope that allows to offer a show from the projection of mobile cartoons lasting between six and fifteen minutes. This is the combination of a magic lantern which projected images in the background of the scene, and another one which projected the figures painted by mirrors and lenses in plates in a band of perforated film. This is one of the precedents of the cinematographer although the images had to be drawn by hand on the film and it was the first presentation of projected moving images to an audience, predating Auguste and Louis Lumière's first public performance by three years.

In 1876, Reynaud, a French inventor, had created the Praxinoscope, an improvement of the Zoetrope. The Praxinoscope replaced the narrow viewing slits of the Zoetrope with an inner circle of 12 mirrors (equal to the number of images), allowing a clearer and less distorted view of the moving image. Several people could watch the performance at the same time. After Reynaud licensed his invention in 1877, it sold well in a number of the large Paris department stores.

In 1878, Reynaud produced the Praxinoscope Theatre. This improved version included a glass viewing screen which allowed the moving image to be superimposed over a changeable background. He continued to improve the design and in 1880 created the first projection version.

In 1888, he improved the projection version, which was a similar projectors design which would be used for cinema projection a few years later. Glass plates, individually painted by Reynaud himself, were mounted in leather bands. Each of the bands were connected by a metal strip with a hole, which allowed it to locate on a pin on the rotating drum and align the image with the projecting lantern. Reynaud presented the patent of its Théâtre Optique the December 1, 1888 and it differentiates of the optical toys (Phenocytoscope, Zoetrope, Praxinoscope or Zoopraxiscope) because it was designed to obtain the illusion of movement with a great variety of animation scenes, which go on for a long time, and it was not limited to a continuous repetition of the same images.


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