An illustration of the Musschenbroek system was given. The subject sought to portray how, “To represent a tempest by the magic lantern.”
On one of these glasses you are to paint the appearance of the sea, from the slightest agitation to the most violent commotion. Observe that these representations are not to be distinct, but run into each other, that they may form a natural gradation; remember also, that great part of the effect depends on the perfection of the painting, and the picturesque appearance of the design.
On the other glass you are to paint vessels in different forms and dimensions, and in different directions, together with the appearance of clouds in the tempestuous parts.
Precise instructions were set down for this first “motion picture” storm effect:
You are then to pass the glass representing the sea slowly through the groove, and when you come to that part where the storm begins, you are to move the glass gently up and down, which will give it the appearance of a sea that begins to be agitated; and so increase the motion till you come to the height of the storm. At the same time you are to introduce the other glass with the ships, and moving in like manner, you will have a natural representation of the sea, and of ships in a calm and in a storm. As you draw the glasses slowly back, the tempest will seem to subside, the sky grow clear, and the ships glide gently over the waves.
With Musschenbroek the magic shadows began to have real motion and the effect on the audience consequently was much greater. Kircher’s projector was growing up.
In the Guyot-Hooper book it was also noted, “By means of two glasses disposed in this manner you may represent a battle, or sea fight, and numberless other subjects, that everyone will contrive according to his own taste. They may also be made to represent some remarkable or ludicrous action between different persons, and many other amusements that a lively imagination will easily suggest.”
Complete details were given for a “magical theatre” in which regular magic shadow plays could be presented. An elaborate lantern with a number of grooves for slides was proposed. The clouds, palaces of the gods and the like were dropped down from above; the caves and infernal places rose from below; and earthly palaces, gardens, characters, etc. came in from either side—all, of course, on glass slides. Projection was provided by a lamp with a dozen flames. As an illustration a play based on the siege of Troy was suggested. Slides included the following: walls of Troy, the Grecian Camp, the background atmosphere, the Grecian and Trojan troops, ships, the wooden horse, palaces and houses, temple of Pallas, fire and smoke for the conflagration, individual characters, etc. Screen directions were given for a complete magic shadow play in five acts. This surely was among the first—if not the first—motion picture scenario. The screen was then about three feet wide.
Musschenbroek, in addition to being the first credited with introducing effective, though very artificial, motion into light and shadow entertainment and instruction, was said to be the first man to create the illusion of white light by revolving very rapidly a disk painted with seven colors. That effect must have been as magical to Abbé Nollet as his “moving” pictures. It also indicates that considerable advance was being made in the knowledge of vision and the means to create optical illusions, upon which the principle of the motion picture rests.
As many other men in this story, Musschenbroek covered the whole field of science. He studies our old friend, the camera obscura, mirrors, prisms, the eye, the microscope in many forms, winds, waterspouts, magnetism, capillary tubes, the size of the earth, sound and pneumatic machines. It is easy to determine from that list of serious studies that Musschenbroek’s moving shadow projection was the purest kind of an avocation.