Eadweard Muybridge (1830 -1904)

The basis for this stop-motion animation is from Muybridge’s original images. The images were modified in Photoshop and the animation was put together in After Effects.

In 1872, a race-horse owner, had taken a position on a popularly-debated question of the day: whether all four of a horse's hooves are off the ground at the same time during a gallop. Up until this time, most paintings of galloping horses showed the front legs extended forwards and the rear legs extended backwards. Stanford sided with this assertion, called "unsupported transit", and took it upon himself to prove it scientifically.

Stanford sought out Muybridge and hired him to settle the question.
Muybridge used a series of large cameras that used glass plates placed in a line, each one being triggered by a thread as the horse passed. Later a clockwork device was used. The images were copied in the form of silhouettes onto a disc and viewed in a machine called a Zoopraxiscope. This became an intermediate stage towards motion pictures or cinematography.

(Source:wikipedia)