Output details

Moving Pictures, Optical Entertainments and the Advent of Cinema

'Moving Pictures, Optical Entertainments and the Advent of Cinema' is a digital archive of 35,000 images of artefacts, devices and printed ephemera from the Bill Douglas Cinema Museum, University of Exeter. The Bill Douglas Cinema Museum is both a public museum and an academic research centre, housing one of Britain's largest public collections of books, prints, artefacts and ephemera relating to the history and prehistory of cinema. ‘Moving Pictures’ explores the cultural history of optical entertainments from the 18th century to the early 20th century, illuminating the rich cultural and scientific history from which cinema was born. From shadow puppets to dioramas, and from zoetropes to early Hollywood, the long and varied evolution of visual entertainments is represented through objects, ephemera and printed works. The project benefits from innovative digital technologies, which bring to life the trickery and magic of many of the optical illusions and toys included within the archive. Plunkett acted as a scholarly editor, advising on selection of material, and helping to choose a number of key artefacts for special photographic treatment, allowing users to create a more interactive experience through rotating and panning around the object. Moving versions of some devices were also made. Plunkett also contributed an extensive, 21,000 introductory essay outlining key features of nineteenth-century optical recreations and early film. Taken together, the database and essay provide researchers into the history of Victorian popular culture and the pre-history of cinema an unparalleled resource for study and further work, and make accessible one of the UK’s finest collections of Victorian optical entertainments.