Dzing. Boom. Boom!

Sound emerged as a key technical concern for motion-picture pioneers, largely because it was regarded as a necessary component in reproducing reality. For animators, however, sound functioned primarily as an enhancer of a work’s artistic or entertainment value. In “Dzing. Boom. Boom!” (1878), Émile Reynaud combined the illusion of movement with the illusion of sound to create a fully sensory experience. Although silent, each motion in this praxinoscope strip compels us to sing, in unison and ad infinitum, the words of the title. As a result, the work stands as one of the most complete examples of onomatopoeic cinema to emerge from the proto-history of the medium.