Director: Émile Reynaud
France (formerly French Republic)
1878

Sound emerged as a key technical concern for motion pictures mavericks, mainly because it was seen as a necessary component in reproducing reality. For animators, however, sound acted as an enhancer to the artistic or entertainment value of a work. In "Dzing. Boom. Boom!" (1878) Émile Reynaud combined the illusion of movement with the illusion of sound to create a full sensory experience. Albeit silent, each motion in this praxinoscope strip makes us sing in unison the words of the title ad infinitum. As a result, this is the most complete example of onomatopoeic cinema, hailing from the proto-history of the medium.