Prompt 2:

• At first I really struggled with thinking of anything else but shadow puppetry had me thinking about puppets in general. Then, Marionette puppets came to mind. Doing some research, I found out that those puppets have been around since 2000 BC, found in Egypt. From there they continued to be seen in many places as children’s toys or active puppets that play in some form of a theater. I feel like I’ve seen someone moving wooden marionette puppets on the sidewalk somewhere but it feels like a distant memory. these puppets mostly relates to shadow puppets in the amount of effort it takes. Both usually are done with one person and the puppets are made by hand or customized to be unique. Though Marionette puppets do take a 3D form and space unlike shadow puppets that play usually only in 2D, I feel like the story telling would be similar.

The phantasmagoria’s themes were frightening, gruesome, and spooky. Sudden approaching and rising specters (ghosts, skeletons, graveyard scenes, but also other topics) were projected from the backside onto a half-transparent – from the point of view of the spectators unseen – screen and on the smoke that rose from boxes distributed within the spectator’s area in a completely dark room with an advanced magic lantern mounted on rails. The show was complemented by an unsettling atmosphere and the narration of a master of ceremonies. I would have been extremely worried because if the video wasn’t popular back then, it’d be like present times when we’d be frightened of something that couldn’t be verified by science. When comparing the current time to back then, because there are many horror films in modern time, but when comparing it to back then, you can readily see why people were afraid due to a lack of experience. I’m not a big fan of horror movies, so it’s probably any of them. The show was heavily influenced by earlier ghost-raising and projection cultures and practices. It was also a product of the Enlightenment’s heightened interest in the unusual, ostensibly providing instruction and entertainment by displaying the science of optical illusion.

Now, I’m not sure if these two inventions are considered to be from a different era, given that they were created in the same era of the nineteenth century, but two pre-cinema animation devices that I find to be a lot similar in functionality, but have major distinctions between each other are William George Horner’s Zoetrope and Emile Renaud’d Praxinoscope. As I mentioned, both were created in the 1800s but it seems Horner’s modern zoetrope was created in 1834, a whole 34 years before Reyfaud invented his praxinoscope in 1877. Both inadvertently perform the same function, with both contraptions being able to create the illusion of animation by having mini frame-by-frame reels, or sequenced drawings, circle throughout the interior of the cylinder. However, what differentiated the two was that rather than having narrow slits on the internal surface of the cylinder to create a sequence of animation through distorted moving images as the zoetrope did, the praxinoscope instead replaced the zoetropes slits on the side in exchange for mirrors set edge to edge around the revolving center, with each subsequent image on the outer rim reflecting on one of the inner mirrors to create a moving image. Nonetheless, I still absolutely adore these two creations, both nearly perform the same function, but still have their own distinctive style that makes both all the more unique.

A couple examples of pre cinema animation are the magic lanterns and animated cave paintings. The magic lanterns maintained popularity from the 17th century all the way up to the 19th century. The evolution of the magic lantern sparked further development for the concept of animation as singular slides overlapped and took the early form of projected abstract animations. It was discovered that even cave paintings used the concept of overlapping images to convey the illusion of movement. Although vastly different, it’s quite clear key elements of fundamental animation were evident. The most major difference between these two is the various mechanisms used in magic lanterns that made the illusion feel much more alive compared to the archaic caved paintings. Naturally as so much time had passed by, the evolution of the animation had improved significantly.

If I was an audience member who lived in 1791 and was watching “Fantasmagorie”, I would’ve been terrified. I’m able to enjoy horror movies not only because I find them entertaining, but also because I know nothing that’s happening in the movie is real. During that time period, it would be very difficult to decipher what was real and what was staged. Some would probably end up traumatized considering that feeling of terror and anxiousness is a new experience. A similar feeling to this would probably still be horror movies considering production has developed greatly when it comes to special effects, camera work and sound design.

Prompt 2

The cave paintings and shadow puppetry reminded me of another traditional Chinese storytelling performance, which is the glove puppetry. Glove puppetry is similar to shadow puppetry. They’re both manipulating puppets in front of the audience and then narrated with sound effects and narration. The puppets are more three-dimensional, with more details and related costumes to decorate them. I haven’t seen a live glove puppet show yet. I’ve only seen it in the movies. It may be the film’s editing method, sometimes close-up details of the puppet’s performance, I will unconsciously be attracted. But if it is watched live, with live sound and stage should be an unparalleled amazing experience.

A similar form of storytelling such as shadow puppetry and cave paintings where the storyteller and the audience are in the same room is live theatre, such as plays or musicals. I’ve helped out in some musicals before back in high school, but normally I choose to be an audience member. When you’re on a stage I often found it to be a very polarizing moment to be looked at by so many people, but the feeling afterwards was always a bit of an adrenaline rush. As an audience member, I’m often caught between just experiencing what I’m watching and just being so excited to witness it, or I can get caught up in thinking what the performer might also be feeling as they are acting. I wonder, are they nervous or are they also enjoying performing. I think acting live on stage is a bit more vulnerable than shadow puppetry, but it still emotes the same feelings. Both require passion and talent for what you do.

Can you imagine being an audience remember at one of Gaspard Robertson’s “Fantasmagorie” shows in 1797? What do you think your reaction would have been? Can you think of any form of entertainment that would elicit the same emotions today?

If I were to be in the audience at one of Gaspard Robertson’s “Fantasmargorie” shows in 1797, my most realistic reaction would be that I would have left the theater in tears. I would be absolutely terrified from what I had just witnessed. In a show like this, seeing something come to life in front of my own eyes would make me feel scared yet intreguied in this new technology. It would also make me wonder that if people were able to bring this advanced technology to us now, I can’t imagine what more wonderful ideas and gadgets people would bring in the future. Although I would be terrified watching it the first time, I would try to watch it again to learn more about it. I think that something that would elicit the same emotions today would be the development of 3D films, seeing something jump out the screen, looking so real, would make me feel scared of how realistic it looks.

If I was living in 1791 and I as an audient watched Gaspard Robertson’s “Fantasmagorie”, I would’ve been shaking in fear. The first thought is that what I’m watching is very horrifying and real. I would even go and tell everyone in Europe about what I just witnessed. When I tried VR (virtual reality) in a plaza in Alexandria where the arcade section was, I was fascinated but mostly terrified because the VR was showing me zombies and monsters running towards me. This would be very similar to how the audience must have felt when seeing Gaspard Robertson’s “Fantasmagorie” at first sight.

I really enjoyed the early cinema animation work we reviewed in class. I was particularly inspired by two examples and found both commonalities and differences in them. One was the shadow puppetry and the other was the magic lanterns. In terms of commonalities between these two artforms – something they both share is that they were used for entertainment purposes. Shadow puppetry and magic lanterns are both used to engage and entertain whoever interacts with them. Magic lanterns were given as gifts to children to entertain them and the shadow puppetry was put on for tourists. Another commonality is that they were no match for the advanced cinema technology and subsequently became obsolete with time. In terms of the biggest differences between both, shadow puppetry has its roots in China while magic lanterns originated in America/US. The time periods were also a big difference between the two since shadow puppetry can be found as early as the first millennium BCE and magic lanterns dated from the seventeenth century (around the time America was established as a nation).

Kelvin Cortez

Can you imagine being an audience remember at one of Gaspard Robertson’s “Fantasmagorie” shows in 1797? What do you think your reaction would have been? Can you think of any form of entertainment that would elicit the same emotions today? (Re-)read/watch these resources for inspiration:

The name of the show “Fantasmagorie” by Gaspard Robertson comes from the word “Phantasmagoria” which means a sequence of real or imaginary images like those seen in a dream. It is basically a multimedia projection show with animated visuals and haunting effects that gives the audience an illusive experience. It was popular around 18th to 19th century. If I was from that specific era I would have been frightened during the show. Considering how much people used to believe in superstitious entities at that time, this show would definitely give me chills. Although phantasmagoria no longer exists in our era but we have different forms of media which is similar to it. There are haunted houses which are decorated with ghosts, skeletons, zombies etc. and they use smokes or fumes, lights, mirrors, fake bloods and projections to create a horrific atmosphere, which elicit the same frightening experience.

Can you imagine being an audience remember at one of Gaspard Robertson’s “Fantasmagorie” shows in 1797? What do you think your reaction would have been? Can you think of any form of entertainment that would elicit the same emotions today? (Re-)read/watch these resources for inspiration:

I would be terrified because when the film isn’t popular during that time, it is like modern time when something can’t be proven by science we would be in fear. When comparing current time and back then because since there’s a lot of horror film in modern time but when you compare it that back then you can easily tell why people can say the “gosht were real”, from the lack of experience. Probably any horror movies because I’m not a fan of that category.

If I was an audience at one of Gaspard Robertson’s “Fantasmagorie” shows in 1797, I would honestly be horrified at the sight of something I didn’t witness before. At that era, I would have no experience of seeing images and projections of something supernatural, thus it would make me react like almost like some of the people from back in that time when they used to be at the edge of their seats. I think I would simply be just scared and have excitement as well but not take it as real because I would probably not believe in the fictional creatures even at that time; the same way I don’t believe in them in reality. One way I think its possible to awaken that same fear from people as if they are seeing it for the first time is have the theaters play the horror movies with higher volume of audio when it comes to jump scares and have creepy vibes before it so it builds up that that tension. And have low light in the room so that a cosplayer can spook them in real life.

To be in the audience to Gaspard’s Robertson’s Fantasmagorie 1797 show would’ve been terrifying. to see scary images all over thee room flying around, and never seeing anything like it before will shock me and leave me scared forever. it would be amazing to go and see a movie like that during those times, but the plot would’ve been scary to everyone.

question:

Can you imagine being an audience remember at one of Gaspard Robertson’s “Fantasmagorie” shows in 1797? What do you think your reaction would have been? Can you think of any form of entertainment that would elicit the same emotions today? (Re-)read/watch these resources for inspiration:

answer:

If I was one of the audience member at the Robertson’s Fantastic Phantasmagoria I would enjoy it. I watched lots of horror movies and videos. I like scary things and I like feeling the suspense when it comes to horror. I think my reaction would be priceless because I am not the type of person that gets scared easily. but I also think its interesting to see the shows that Robertson made. When it comes to horror entertainment it drags me in as an audience. it makes me want to keep questioning and thinking what the actor or actresses going to do. I like the suspense when things happen out of no where. A form of entertainment that would elicit my same emotions today would be the show Goosebumps where they have different scenario’s where I feel terrified.

Being an audience member at one of Gaspard Robertson’s “Fantasmagorie” shows in 1797 would’ve been fascinating but mostly terrifying during those times. Never experiencing anything like this before I would’ve assumed these images were the real thing that I was seeing. I’d be amazed at how realistic it was. A form of entertainment that would elicit this same type of emotions would be VR. The way the meta verse is going and what it will be in the future would give you these same emotions. Being in a place and seeing things that seem so real but aren’t would leave you speechless and terrified knowing how far things have come.

I can imagine being an audience member at one of Gaspard Robertson’s “Fantasmagorie” shows in 1797 because I’m a person who loves experiencing new things so I think it would be a nice experience to see what these Magic Lanterns are about. The emotion that would come out of me would be surprised and fear. Surprised because again I would be in awe at what I’m seeing but then the fear would come because I would be fearful at the demonistic beings I’m seeing being projected. I don’t mess with that stuff. I don’t want to allow that into my life, my space, or my mind. I don’t do it so I would definitely be fearful as well. An entertainment form that would bring up this same kind of emotions within me would be the cinema. Seeing a scary movie in theaters brings out the same emotion of shock and fear because it’s the adrenaline of fear a person gets when they get scared by a jump scare or some kind of “demonic being present” kind of scene. They’re different though because with the Magic Lanterns, you didn’t get a preview with what the movie would be about so the fear I would feel around the time of Magic Lanterns would be different than it is now, but the fear now a days is much more intense because animation and graphics are much more technically advanced then it was back then!

Question: Can you imagine being an audience remember at one of Gaspard Robertson’s “Fantasmagorie” shows in 1797? What do you think your reaction would have been? Can you think of any form of entertainment that would elicit the same emotions today? (Re-)read/watch these resources for inspiration:

Answer:

It would have been terrifying to be in the audience at one of Gaspard Robertson’s “Fantasmagorie” shows in 1797. During this time, people were going through a brutal revolution in which many people died. I would likely believe that these ghosts are from the British Revolution and are haunting the people. He’ll definitely have me wondering whether or not these illusions are real. Since TV’s were nonexisting yet this show was definitely something to look forward too. Horror and thriller movies contain jump scares, which are another form of entertainment that would elicit the same emotions. Due to the superstition of ghosts, these shows we’re most likely all sold out at the time.

If I was an audience member watching Phantasmagorie for the first time, I would have enjoyed it. I really like horror and the fear that is associated with it. A long while back when VR was first coming out, I purchased some of those foam VR goggles that you insert your phone into. I downloaded a bunch of horror VR apps that were pretty scary. But one of them really stuck out to me. It was a promo for a horror movie that had come out where you were placed in a scene from the movie. I remember I was so scared I wanted to rip the VR goggles off, but I continued to watch until the end. It wasn’t that long and I imagine that’s how those audience members must of felt.