The Movie is about to Begin - Kindly Take Your Seat

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    Welcome to the movie theater.  My story – the film – will be told shortly.  You will be able to get to know me, as well as hear of my development.

    I was created as a puzzle in a rather long time ago.  Prehistoric man stretched his hands against the light, forming a shadow on the cave wall.  It was then that the idea of projection was born.  The magic lantern was invented in the 17^th century, and developed until the 19^th century.  It was one of my ancestors.  Past street artists built mechanical instruments in order to create an illusion of motion in the pictures screened through the magic lantern. These instruments are my cousins.  Actual cinema animation, however, was created only when the physiological phenomenon causing a picture to be engraved in the mind for some time after it disappears from sight-range was understood.  During the 1830’s, it was proved that when the eye observes a rapid sequence of static pictures the mind combines them together.  This is called the Vision Continuity Principle.  Photography, for which technology has existed since 1839, is my grandfather.  Only after faster means of exposure were discovered did my grandfather marry my grandmother – the camera; consequently, my father – the silent movie – was born.