Animated characters have been entertaining us since way back in 1908, when the world's very first animated cartoon was put out into the world. This is that film, Fantasmagorie, a French animation by caricaturist Émile Cohl.
Fantasmagorie is a largely confusing series of frames. The video follows a stick man through his interactions with various morphing objects, such as an elephant that turns into a house. The artist's hands appear various times through the short film, bringing the fantastical shots back into reality for a few moments.
Fantasmagorie is so named after the Victorian-era "fantasmograph," another name for the magic lanterns that projected ghostly images onto the walls.
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