Tokyo subway tunnel as zoetrope - all the info

[Mark Nornes]

On Dec 10, 2004, at 2:13 AM, Thomas Lamarre wrote:

> The animation-by-train makes visible an intersection of 'new'
> media and urban spaces that leads to questions about contemporary
> transformations in spectatorship and urban experience (among other 
> things).


This is a perfect description of the early film tour of the New York 
subway system. (Sorry, I can't remember the name, which is long but 
descriptive.)  It's one of the most beautiful films of the early 
cinema. They mounted a bank of strong lights on one train and shot from 
the other, with all those pillars between them. The shadows of the 
pillars sweep across the frame while the trains move smoothly through 
the underground tunnels. A must see film.

I thought about this early film when I first saw the Ginza zoetrope 
(maybe its linearity makes it more like the Kinematoscope and links it 
with cinema in stronger ways), and I couldn't help but be struck by 
this new=old imagery that offered a new experience of the underground 
city and half the train's who missed the show because they were 
absorbed in their keitai.

Markus