The first projected motion pictures were hand-painted onto perforated strips of paper

In 1892, three years before the Lumière brothers' famous debut, Émile Reynaud opened the Théâtre Optique in Paris to showcase the world's first projected motion narratives. His films, such as 'Pauvre Pierrot', consisted of up to 700 individual images hand-painted onto perforated strips of paper. A complex system of mirrors and a claw mechanism projected these images at a variable speed, allowing Reynaud to manipulate the timing of the performance live.