Lanterna Magica: A Pageant of Illusions

Centuries before the invention of photography and celluloid film, magic lantern and illuminated glass slides were at the cutting edge of entertainment. This inventive 18th century technology dazzled and enthralled audiences as they watched projected animated pictures on a screen.
This short film explores key points in the history of the magic lantern and the special effects invented to create animation. It features authentic pre-cinema items from the NFSA collection collection.

[danielbennette]

I watch these shows in all the time when I come in from a long hunt in RDR2. I blow my money on magic lantern shows and vaudeville acts.

[xanzusx]

Wonderful documentary, very insightful!

[pinkanderson]

Thank you, this is one of the best things I’ve seen on YouTube.

[timefortea]

Charming! I attended a magic lantern show a few years ago. It was fascinating.

[bexter]

thank you so much for uploading this
it helped me out replicate a makeshift magic lantern at home

[precinema]

It's a very beautifull video, well made. Compliment.
Laura Minici Zotti

[Narmodi]

Thank you for explaning the different kinds of the "moving pictures" for a laterna magica =)

[cosmiconion]

Great clear video, Thanks for uploading

[a.r.lw]

So educating, thank you so much for the video!

[charlesmapleston]

Beautifully made and fascinating film; I'd love to know which font was used for the onscreen captions???

[literaturacommarionewman]

Gostei muito. Muito didático e auto-explicativo

[Ricebread]

Wow very cool. I was wondering in the film "Oz The Great and Powerful " what kind of lantern was used to project the wizards head on to the billows of smoke.

[RealPreCinema]

1671
ATHANASIUS KIRCHER (1602-1680)
Preceding the revolving disks of the 19th century, Kircher included his own illustration of a peculiar mechanism for presenting visual stories in spherical form in the 1671 edition of his Ars Magna. He referred to this as a Smicroscopin. It was a revolving disk like the rotating wheel of his 1646 edition. The story of Christ's death, burial and resurrection are depicted in eight separate slides, or scenes. One of the lids had an ocular embedded in it, while the other had a hole in it that was the same diametre as the optical cylinder's eyepiece. The user may choose how quickly the story unfolded. This pre cinema viewing device was portable and was rotated by the fingers. From my studies, this is currently the earliest motion slide presentation I know of, beating out Johann Franz Griendel von Ach by a year.

[sarabjeetsodhi]

Can I have the name of your country please

[salvatoreshiggerino]

Who-eye-gens? That's the dumbest pronunciation of Huygens I've heard so far.