Kinora

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Mutoscope Patent.

History

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Viewer and Reel.

The Kinora served as a home entertainment movie machine around 1912. Only one or a couple people could view the moving pictures which led to it being a device used mostly in the home and not on a larger scale. The fact that the Kinora was intended for private use led to it being able to survive the early years of cinema for two decades. The Kinora was invented in 1897 by the Lumiere Company in France. The Lumiere Company was more concerned with the development of their camera/projector in 1895, therefore relatively ignoring their Kinora invention (Dead). As a result, widespread adoption of the Kinora occurred in 1908 with the British Kinora Company’s reintroduction of the product.

Remodeling

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Viewing Lens.

The Kinora was ideal for home use thanks to the work of the Kinora Ltd. Company that remodeled the Lumiere brothers’ original invention. Kinora Ltd. distributed reels printed from professional films allowing people to rent or buy them for in home viewing. There were over 600 different reels available (Dead). The company also appealed to individuality by allowing consumers to have a photographic studio in London take moving pictures of them that they could then view on their Kinora. Starting in 1908, Kinora Ltd. came out with an amateur camera that allowed people to make their own Kinora movies on 25.4 mm unperforated paper negatives or celluloid rolls that were processed and printed and turned into reels by the company (NCSSM).

Social

Middle classes originally saw attendance of the cinema as socially unacceptable. The Kinora provided them with moving pictures at home so that they did not have to go to the theatre.

Physical

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Interior of Kinora.

A viewer rotates the handle that is connected to a 14 cm diameter wheel. The wheel contains a set of small pictures that are each seen individually in front of a lens. If the wheels I turned at the right speed the combination of pictures give the illusion of motion. Each reel usually holds about 25 seconds of motion.

The Kinora home viewer came in numerous different styles. However, all of these styles were based off of the flip book idea where individual pictures flip over against a static peg (Science). The reels were based off of cinema films. Home movies were also introduced through a camera that could be used by consumers.

Extremely simple machine that produces results near that of a miniature television screen (Dead).

Demise

Cinema essentially led to the demise of the Kinora. The Kinora Ltd. Company also experienced a fire in its London factory in 1914. The company was already seeing loss of interest in the Kinora and therefore decided not to rebuild its production facilities (NCSSM).

Remediations

Home video rental still rivals theatre industry.

Personal hand held recording devices.

Critical Questions

Formal Prohibitions/Affordances

The middle class made up most of the audience of the Kinora as it was an in-home luxury entertainment piece. Anyone with enough money to afford time in the studio could produce their own material for the Kinora viewing. Mainstream reels however made up most of the content.

Obvious

Similar to stereoscope in theory. Single viewing in home. Collectable reels.

Functional Nonsense

The pictures could be words.

The Click

The lens?

Pops and Hisses

The hitting/clanging of the individual pictures as the wheel is turned.


References