La Rosace Magique

Wanna hear something funny? The ad I had to sit through from YouTube was as long as this animation. Though this is not as old as the moving pictures "Passage de Venus," (1874) this is still very old footage. At 145 years old this year, there are some of us who, unfortunately, can't even trace our families back that far.

Clearly, this was early experimentation with moving pictures so there's nothing else to it but a moving kaleidoscope type image. I know I can look it up, but I wonder if this is the basis and genesis of the kaleidoscope. Looking up "La Roace Magique" I can't find much on its origin and the impetus. Knowledge like that completes the history for me of these short films from the 19th century.

Free on YouTube.

This is an experiment carried out prior to the birth of cinematography, as Emile Reynaud put his invention, the Praxinoscope, into practice. "La Rosace Magique" is one of the examples that he used in his second presentation series.

Reynaud became an assistant to Abbé Moigno in 1864, who gave lecture-screenings with the magic lantern. After Reynaud read a series of articles on optical toys, he created a prototype praxinoscope out of a discarded cookie box. The praxinoscope is an animation device with a rotating cylinder that has mirrors along its surface. Those mirrors reflect an image to the viewer. Due to the optical illusion called 'the persistence of vision', we see a rapid succession of images as one fluid motion. This is why a succession of movie frames, which are typically played at 24 frames per second,, are perceived as one fluid motion.

So, although not a true film, "La Rosace Magique" is another one of those animations that pointed in the direction of the invention f cinema. The cinematograph made Reynaud's work obsolete and, unable to adapt to the quickly changing technology, he became impoverished.

Continuing with the idea that the use of the praxinoscope, rather than film, prevents Reynaud's works from 1878 from being considered actual films, this fake "rose" created by the French artist manages to produce an infinite loop with psychedelic and hallucinogenic features, hypnotically capturing the viewer's gaze and making it impossible to look away even for a second.

If it's really necessary to point out a flaw, I would highlight that the transition of the petals from hollow to full happens too abruptly, giving the impression of an excessive time gap between two consecutive drawings.

Rating: NC.