"In 1744 a simple experiment was conducted in Sweden to reproduce
the underlying cause of the Aurora Borealis in a laboratory, what
we would now think of as a room. A small hole in a shade "the
size of a large pea" let through a ray of sunlight that then
was refracted through a prism. The small patch of light broken into
a spectrum of colours then traveled through a medium of turbulent
air directly above a warmed glass of aquavit. The resulting image
landed on a screen a few short feet away and looked like what was
seen dancing in the sky on many long Swedish nights, nature's sublime
entertainment in the real pre-history of cinema."
Continued here. An Animate Projects commission for Channel 4 in association with Arts Council England. Awarded Best Film at Cutting Edge at the British Animation Awards 2008. Thanks FMG.