The first motion picture cameras are invented in the United States and France. As usual, crafty artists start messing with the technology, and in no time “frame by frame” movies are underway…
1896 - The Vanishing Lady, by George Méliès
A magician and pioneering fantasy/sci-fi filmmaker, Méliès was among the very first artists to experiment with the medium. In this film, a woman is “magically” transformed into a skeleton. Méliès referred to this as the “stop trick,” and it serves as a very early example of what can be achieved by stopping and starting a movie camera.
1898 - The Humpty Dumpty Circus, by James Stuart Blackton
This is largely accepted as the first true stop motion film. It featured three-dimensional characters coming to life in the form of wooden animals and acrobats. Sadly, the film is lost to history, since no copies of the film exists today.
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