Complex sentence: The earliest precursors of film projection began with images projected through the use of a device known as the "magic lantern", which used a glass lens, a shutter and a powerful lantern to project images from glass slides onto a wall.
Split into simpler sentences: The earliest precursors of film projection began with images projected through the use of a device known as the "magic lantern". At first, these magic lanterns were set up in darkened rThis utilized a glass lens, a shutter and a persistent light source, such as a powerful lantern, to project images from glass slides onto a wall.