Topical
Magic lantern slides categorised within the topical genre visually reflected current events that were also part of the contemporary written and illustrated press. These kinds of slides included four groups of subjects: (1) society—including national or international politics, economy, culture, education, science and technology; (2) incidents —such as accidents, crimes or natural disasters; (3) travel —showing current images of cities, landscapes or people around the world as well as travel motivated by scientific curiosity, the commercial and tourist industry, or artistic creativity; and (4) sports —through news-related events of interest to national or international public opinion.
Magic lantern slides within the topical genre also included the dissolving view subgenre. Magic lantern slides that belong to this subgenre are diachronic, simulating the passing of time across two or more moments through a gradual visual transformation. They provided added value to the visual presentation of all kinds of events: sights while travelling, natural phenomena, events such as explosions or fires, etc. The effect was achieved by darkening the image shown, while the next one was gradually superimposed.
Title
Title genre magic lantern slides include visual contents such as signs, inscriptions or decorative elements that served to lead, announce transitions, or finish any of the projected stories during the magic lantern shows. Magic lantern slides within the title genre genre include the chromotoscopic subgenre. Chromotoscopic magic lantern slides are defined as having two specific properties in addition to the sign genre: a cyclical format and the creation of their images by pictorial and / or printing techniques.
Drama
Magic lantern slides of the dramatic genre are defined as having five specific properties: (1) recording and level of coding of their images by using recreation of scenic photographs (‘slice of life’); (2) orientation to the professional lanternist market; (3) a social context of public exhibition; (4) high scenic complexity —slides were designed to be shown with the reading of printed texts supplied by the manufacturer—; and (5) the use of contents of the largest dramatic literary tradition in any of their forms: tragedy, comedy, tragicomedy, melodrama, farce, didactic works, or realistic pieces.
The celebrated Life Model slide sequences are a good example of dramatic magic lantern slides: a collection of slides that were marketed from 1870 in England by the firm Bamforth & Co., or in the United States by the New York firm Scott & Van Altena. Life Models collections were composed of up to fifty photographs, sometimes hand-colored, showing extras in elaborate sets and staging all kinds of cultural contents; they were staged accompanied with texts to be read aloud, and, occasionally, they even had songs and / or musical accompaniment.
Drama
Magic lantern slides of the dramatic genre are defined as having five specific properties: (1) recording and level of coding of their images by using recreation of scenic photographs (‘slice of life’); (2) orientation to the professional lanternist market; (3) a social context of public exhibition; (4) high scenic complexity —slides were designed to be shown with the reading of printed texts supplied by the manufacturer—; and (5) the use of contents of the largest dramatic literary tradition in any of their forms: tragedy, comedy, tragicomedy, melodrama, farce, didactic works, or realistic pieces.
The celebrated Life Model slide sequences are a good example of dramatic magic lantern slides: a collection of slides that were marketed from 1870 in England by the firm Bamforth & Co., or in the United States by the New York firm Scott & Van Altena. Life Models collections were composed of up to fifty photographs, sometimes hand-colored, showing extras in elaborate sets and staging all kinds of cultural contents; they were staged accompanied with texts to be read aloud, and, occasionally, they even had songs and / or musical accompaniment.
Drama
Magic lantern slides of the dramatic genre are defined as having five specific properties: (1) recording and level of coding of their images by using recreation of scenic photographs (‘slice of life’); (2) orientation to the professional lanternist market; (3) a social context of public exhibition; (4) high scenic complexity —slides were designed to be shown with the reading of printed texts supplied by the manufacturer—; and (5) the use of contents of the largest dramatic literary tradition in any of their forms: tragedy, comedy, tragicomedy, melodrama, farce, didactic works, or realistic pieces.
The celebrated Life Model slide sequences are a good example of dramatic magic lantern slides: a collection of slides that were marketed from 1870 in England by the firm Bamforth & Co., or in the United States by the New York firm Scott & Van Altena. Life Models collections were composed of up to fifty photographs, sometimes hand-colored, showing extras in elaborate sets and staging all kinds of cultural contents; they were staged accompanied with texts to be read aloud, and, occasionally, they even had songs and / or musical accompaniment.
Title
Title genre magic lantern slides include visual contents such as signs, inscriptions or decorative elements that served to lead, announce transitions, or finish any of the projected stories during the magic lantern shows. Magic lantern slides within the title genre genre include the chromotoscopic subgenre. Chromotoscopic magic lantern slides are defined as having two specific properties in addition to the sign genre: a cyclical format and the creation of their images by pictorial and / or printing techniques.
Phantasmagoria
Phantasmagoria magic lantern slides evoke the mysterious atmosphere of Gothic novels so popular in the late eighteenth century: ruins covered bathed in moonlighting, flying bats over crossing cemeteries, or cloisters where novices search for a missing lover. The thematic universe of these slides sessions includes of dark woods and landscapes, medieval ruins and castles with their own basements, crypts and passageways filled with ghosts, night noises, chains, skeletons, demons, even hybrid and monstrous creatures that mingled with mythology, such as the head of Medusa or the winged gryphon. The human being, except when referrering to great personalities famous people, is usually represented by men who are monks or hermits; and women are generally virgins, novices, nuns, witches or fortune tellers. These motifs remained popular for many years in the taste of the audience, which as was evidenced by the systematic inclusion of phantasmagorias in the magic lantern soirées throughout the nineteenth century.
Phantasmagoria
Phantasmagoria magic lantern slides evoke the mysterious atmosphere of Gothic novels so popular in the late eighteenth century: ruins covered bathed in moonlighting, flying bats over crossing cemeteries, or cloisters where novices search for a missing lover. The thematic universe of these slides sessions includes of dark woods and landscapes, medieval ruins and castles with their own basements, crypts and passageways filled with ghosts, night noises, chains, skeletons, demons, even hybrid and monstrous creatures that mingled with mythology, such as the head of Medusa or the winged gryphon. The human being, except when referrering to great personalities famous people, is usually represented by men who are monks or hermits; and women are generally virgins, novices, nuns, witches or fortune tellers. These motifs remained popular for many years in the taste of the audience, which as was evidenced by the systematic inclusion of phantasmagorias in the magic lantern soirées throughout the nineteenth century.
Phantasmagoria
Phantasmagoria magic lantern slides evoke the mysterious atmosphere of Gothic novels so popular in the late eighteenth century: ruins covered bathed in moonlighting, flying bats over crossing cemeteries, or cloisters where novices search for a missing lover. The thematic universe of these slides sessions includes of dark woods and landscapes, medieval ruins and castles with their own basements, crypts and passageways filled with ghosts, night noises, chains, skeletons, demons, even hybrid and monstrous creatures that mingled with mythology, such as the head of Medusa or the winged gryphon. The human being, except when referrering to great personalities famous people, is usually represented by men who are monks or hermits; and women are generally virgins, novices, nuns, witches or fortune tellers. These motifs remained popular for many years in the taste of the audience, which as was evidenced by the systematic inclusion of phantasmagorias in the magic lantern soirées throughout the nineteenth century.
Phantasmagoria
Phantasmagoria magic lantern slides evoke the mysterious atmosphere of Gothic novels so popular in the late eighteenth century: ruins covered bathed in moonlighting, flying bats over crossing cemeteries, or cloisters where novices search for a missing lover. The thematic universe of these slides sessions includes of dark woods and landscapes, medieval ruins and castles with their own basements, crypts and passageways filled with ghosts, night noises, chains, skeletons, demons, even hybrid and monstrous creatures that mingled with mythology, such as the head of Medusa or the winged gryphon. The human being, except when referrering to great personalities famous people, is usually represented by men who are monks or hermits; and women are generally virgins, novices, nuns, witches or fortune tellers. These motifs remained popular for many years in the taste of the audience, which as was evidenced by the systematic inclusion of phantasmagorias in the magic lantern soirées throughout the nineteenth century.