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Part IV
BLACK & WHITE: THE PROJECTION OF WHITE SHADOWS IN DARKNESS
OR THE PROJECTION OF "OMBRE
BLANCHE" WITH THE AID OF THE FANTASCOPE
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One of the major
fantasmagoria effects, the experience of a ghost assaulting his spectators,
is easily obtained by the white shadow, or “Ombre Blanche”,
technique. Of course, a simple demonstration of this technique does not
require a Fantascope nor Megascope!
A dark
room, a white shadow “plate”, and a
candle light (point light source)
suffice. We are all familiar with engravings and lithographs illustrating
this very basic, admirable, and most effective technique as seen in the 3
book illustrations underneath. This shadow projection technique is the
opposite of the better known
shadowplays. In the discussed
technique, the image is shaped
by light but the well known shadowplay 'conjure-up' images by blocking off
the available light in an illuminated room. |
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Les découpages
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La silhouette
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Duivelskop
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The Fantascope / Megascope
however is also designed to perform White Shadow projections and this has
the advantage of avoiding superfluous light when the ghosts appear in the
air. For the projection of a white shadow or “Ombre Blanche” with the aid of
the fantascope an extra wooden board with a 16-centimetre circular opening
completes the set of lenses found with the fantascope.
This board is used as an adapter for white shadows and is mounted in front
of the fantascope / Megascope lantern. The latter arrangement allows light
leaving the lantern housing to pass through ONLY the cut-out parts of the
“Ombre Blanche.”
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The Fantascope
is currently on display at the
Cinémathèque
Française
in the permanent exhibition
'Passion Cinema'.
The
Fantascope & accessories
was on display in
Lanterne
Magique et Film Peint
a temporally exhibition organized
by the Cinémathèque
Française and
Museo
Nazionale Del Cinema.
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To realise
the effect of an assaulting (white shadow) ghost it is
necessary to prevent any
superfluous
light
from passing around the sides of the “Ombre Blanche”
sheet, because this will illuminate the darkened room.
To make the ghost appear in total darkness the white
shadow is mounted in front of a box (eg. the lantern
house of the fantascope).
Any box would do because, with
due respect, a fantascope is nothing more than a box on
a wheeled carrier. The more I play with the curiously
shaped fantascope, the more I understand the nickname
given to it by the previous owners: “The Battering-ram”!
The wooden plate or
white shadow
adapter,
mentioned in the introduction, is mounted in front of
this box (fantascope or any other crate). A white shadow
is fixed in front of the opening in the box. All visible
light in the darkened room is channelled through the
cut-out
parts
of the
“Ombre Blanche”.
See image
right.
To obtain an image in focus, a
point light
is placed inside the box. The size of the point light
works on the same principle as an aperture or peephole:
the smaller the light source the sharper the image.
For
this reason no lenses are used or needed to project
these images. In fact we are watching a
camera
obscura
in action, but one wich is working in the opposite
direction, bringing the inside image out.
Click image to see more fantascope
prints |
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Because the projected image of a white shadow is formed by
contrast (between light and dark), we do not need a strong
illuminant.
Even a birthday candle flame is able to produce a wonderful
image in a totally darkened living room.
This
lensless
projection technique has several surprising advantages
over apparatus
using optics. Because no lens is
used, no focusing is either necessary or possible.
While bringing the point
light towards the “Ombre Blanche” the image increases in size without
loosing any acceptable sharpness. In doing so the
approaching
effect of the ghost is very easily obtained. |
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Click
here to see and read about
military use of the Phantasmagoria
during the tumultuous days of the French Revolution
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Even in a very limited space it is possible to produce a
gigantic image!
Furthermore, because no lens is used, the light source does
not need to be centralised with the projection accessory.
Any place in the box is suitable. Each movement of the light
from left to right results in a ghost floating in the opposite
direction.
A downward movement creates an upward-floating ghost.
Such effects are much more difficult to produce with the projection of
slides or opaque objects because it is necessary to use complicated
mechanical constructions. But, of course, as explained earlier, it is
possible to achieve them with success. With white shadows, however, we are
not limited to orchestrated effects of cumbersome mechanisms.
The maximum effect of a white shadow is obtained by
using two, three, or more point lights in order to
project the same shadow
simultaneously
in different quantities, sizes and animations, all
originating from the same “Ombre Blanche”. The
spectators will never realise -unless familiar with the
technique!- that all the independent floating ghosts
have one figurative “father”. The use of
colour
filters
mounted in the cut-out parts of the white shadows will
produce red devils, green witches, blue angels, etc.
Coloured
light
sources will increase the amount of effects obtainable. |
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