Session 2: Camera-less animation

Session 2: Camera-less animation

Learning Objective:

The aim of today's lesson was to make a magic lantern, using the limited resources available such as boxes, card, sellotape and also an Ipad.

 

 

 

 

 

 First of all let me explain what a magic lantern is: A magic lantern is the more modern version of the magic lamp, giving many updates such as five wishes as opposed to three, with the genie being a Megan Fox-esq lady rather than a bearded man in tights. So OK maybe not….

The defunct Magic Lamp 2.0 (above)

A magic lantern is an early version of a projector, using a light and a concave mirror to project an image.

It hasn’t always been used for entertainment; in the pas it has been used by magicians, con-men and religious charlatans to trick people into seeing images such as ghosts and moving objects….

How it works:

A magic lantern consists of seven functional sections: the lamp, reflector, condensing lens, lens tube, body, base, and smokestack. The lamp is the sole source of illumination, which often came from burning oil or gas, a burning piece of calcium, or later, electricity. The reflector reflects the light from the lamp toward the condensing lens, which focuses the light onto the slide being projected. The lens tube serves to magnify the illuminated slide, so that projected images from 6 to 12 feet wide can be obtained. The body is often made completely of metal, and houses all of the previous components except the lens tube. The base lifts the magic lantern above the surface of a table. This is important because the body will become intensely hot from the illuminating lamp, and the base helps to prevent table burns. Finally, the smokestack serves to vent the smoke coming from the lamp, so that the smoke doesn't accumulate inside the lantern and put out the fire.

Hand-painted or photographic glass slides are inserted horizontally between the condensing lens and lens tube, through metal runners at top and bottom. A skilled projectionist can move them quickly, and if the slides contain images of progressive motion, the projected image will appear to move. Some slides can create complex, constantly moving displays, demonstrating that the magic lantern is not simply a still image projector. (Thank you Laura Hayes and John Howard Wyman)  

In our first foray into the making of animation equipment, I think we did a fairly good job, considering we were equipped with the sort of things Blue Peter presenters use to make a Tracy Island model. Using our limited instructions and very limited knowledge we put together a rudimentary model, which was very much trial and error. The final version, although not working as we wished, did show that the structure of the magic lantern worked, and with more time, better equipment, more knowledge, more detailed instructions, the right materials and better team members we are sure that it would have worked like a dream.