In 2002, the International Animated Film Association (Association Internationale du Film d’Animation) created this unofficial holiday to commemorate the day when animation had its first public appearance. That was October 28, 1892, at the Grévin Museum in Paris, when Charles-Émile Reynaud and his Théâtre Optique presented his first production, “Pantomimes Lumineuses.” It was a collection of three cartoons, ‘Pauvre Pierrot,’ ‘Un bon bock,’ and ‘Le Clown Et Ses Chiens.’
It was 1888 when Reynaud patented Théâtre Optique, a machine that produced images on a screen using 36 mirrors, two magic lanterns or supplementary lights that were the source of a stationary background, and a projector. The images were painted on a long band that would be wound up on two spools that had to be rotated by hand. Working the spools demanded some skill, so it was usually Reynaud’s hand.
Campers in our Fall Break 2022 Animation Camp created masterpieces! See them here.