Movie Chronicles: Beginnings: Movie Chronicles, #1

By Brett Dillon

My Brother and I were walking through Spain telling fart jokes. Our departure point was a tall, old oak tree in a field. Behind the tree, Spain spread out, perfectly flat as far as the eye could see. Hopefully, at this point, you're thinking - this is a metaphor. And you're right! If you've walked along a road that tells you what to think about film, you probably think you know all that needs to to be known. It's likely the "Movie Chronicles" series of books will tear down that tunnel vision and show you this vast, flat expanse that has to be traversed before you even have a glimmer of knowledge about film.

Don't panic! Take one step at a time.. the first being to buy this book to help guide you across the plain of ignorance to the city of knowledge.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brett Dillon
• Release date: Oct 26, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223930310

Book preview

Beginnings

CHAPTERS

1878

1880-1910

1888

1890

1891

1892

1893

1894

1895

1896

1897

1898

1899

1878

ENGLAND

Sallie Gardner At A Gallop

Director: Eadweard Muybridge

Actor: Gilbert Domm

Jockey, Gilbert Domm, is shown riding the horse, Sallie Gardner. This was not (originally) a film but a composite of 24 photographs shot in rapid sequence (using 24 cameras). It was an experiment to settle a bet whether all four hooves of a horse at gallop were off the ground at the same time.

Director,

Eadweard Muybridge

Was born on April 9, 1830, in Kingston-Upon-Thames, England, and he died in 1904.

In 1850 Eadweard emigrated to the USA. This career careered to an end when he was in a stagecoach accident in Texas. Recuperating back in England he became interested in photography and took this up as a profession (which included filing two patents for his inventions).

1867 found him in San Francisco. From there he made an expedition to Yosemite Valley. The release, in 1868, of the photographs he took, secured his reputation.

In 1874 he murdered his wife’s lover and was acquitted in trial on the grounds of justifiable homicide. I have trouble getting my head around this. If women are a chattel, then surely, he could have filed against Major Harry Larkyns, his wife’s lover, for unpaid rental or, at least, unauthorised use. Oh, I forgot. His pride was involved. His small willie couldn’t tolerate that a REAL man was on the job. He was ignoring the fact that if his small willie had shot more, he might not have had to shoot Harry.

It was the years 1877 to 1878 for which Muybridge is best remembered. He began to study animal locomotion using multiple cameras to capture individual phases of that motion. He then invented the zoopraxiscope to project these photos to replicate the movement he had captured.

1880-1910

BRITAIN

Gabriel Grub

Director: Assorted

The British Film Institute recreated a Magic Lantern show (from a variety of different sources). This is to explain the wide date range and lack of directors. It can be found on the Dickens Before Sound DVD. The BFI have added the commentary that would have accompanied a screening of the painted images being projected on a screen.

The tale is taken from The Pickwick Papers. Gabriel is a cynical grave digger who encounters Goblins. They show him visions which cause him to turn his life around.

Magic Lantern

The device used a light source to project images onto a flat surface. The images were painted onto glass slides and, in the last period of their popularity, photographs could also be projected.

Dutch scientist, Christiaan Huygens, is accepted as the inventor of the Magic Lantern (in about 1659). However, he was perfecting a system of projection described by German scholar Athanasius Kircher in his work Ars Magna Lucis Et Umbrae in 1645. In 1654 Belgian mathematician, Andre Tacquet, used the device to tour a lecture on the travels of Italian missionary, Martino Martini (if this dating seems confused... welcome to history). Huygens perfected the system that we now think of as the Magic Lantern. There were other versions before him that didn’t catch on with the public.

It was Thomas Walgensten who manufactured and popularised the device (starting in about 1664).

As the technology developed, motion could be portrayed – these included mechanical devices to make wheels appear to spin; or, making extra-long slides to be pulled through the device (replicating what we now call the tracking shot); or, quickly transitioning from one slide to the next to make a far object in one plate became a near object in the next (the equivalent of a zoom).

In Japan the Utushi-e system developed. This involved back projection which allowed for shadow puppetry; or multiple lanterns working at the same time, each showing a character in the story, who could be moved across the screen.

1885

FRANCE

l’Homme Machine

Director: Etienne-Jules Marey

A stick figure represents a human body in motion.

Director,

Etienne-Jules Marey

Was born on March 5, 1830, in Beaune, France, and he died in 1904.

Jules seems to have fascinated by motion. He began his career studying blood circulation in humans. This led to a study of heart beats, respiration, and muscles. He then abruptly jumped tracks to study insects, which included constructing a model of insect flight to illustrate his theories. This led to an interest in bird flight. He then turned to photography as an investigative tool.

By 1882 he had perfected the chronophographic gun – a device which took 12 images/second. With this device he investigated the animal world resulting in the publication, in 1890, of his work, The Flight Of Birds. In the interval, he had perfected his invention so that it could use motion picture stock at the rate of 60 frames/second. The standard speeds between 1893 and about 1900 for cinema was 8-12 frames per second. Between 1900 and 1914 it was between 8- 18 frames to second. It was only in the 1920’s that the speed of 24 frames per second became the industrial standard.

1886

GERMANY

Pferd Und Reiter Springen Uber Ein Hindernis (aka Horse And Rider Jumping Over Obstacle)

Director: Ottomar Anschutz

No plot twists in this sequence. The title tells you everything you need to know.

Director,

Ottomar Anschutz

Was born on May 16, 1846 in Lissa, Prussia (now Leszno, Poland) and he died in 1907.

Ottomar is famous as a photographer, inventor, and chronophotographer. He studied photography under Ferdinand Beyrich, Franz Hanfstaegl and Ludwig Angerer. Official recognition came in 1867 when he made a portrait of John of Saxony on horseback. Ottomar soon took over his father’s studio in Lissa and worked as portrait photographer and decorative painter.

By 1881, he had perfected his system of instantaneous photographs with a camera that had a shutter speed of up to 1/1000th of a second. He publicised this invention by sharp photographs of imperial military demonstrations in 1882, and flying storks in 1884. This was the same year he began to experiment with chronophotography (capturing motion on film).

In 1885, he was commissioned by the Prussian Minister of Culture to capture the motion of horses. He did this using a 24-camera system. While this replicated the work of Eadweard Muybridge and Etienne-Jules Marey, most critics assert Ottomar’s work is superior in quality. In 1887, he started to exhibit his work with his Electrotachyscope (which had a shutter speed of up to 76 millionth of a second). His problem was the films could only be shown to small groups of people. Ottomar developed a coin operated peep-box system for his films. This was only a holding system because, in 1894, he unveiled a projector system that put the image on a 6m X 8m screen, to audiences in Berlin.

1887

EDWARD MUYBRIDGE

Taking a not-so-random selection from Muybridge’s book Animal Locomotion: An Electro-Photographic Investigation Of Consecutive Phases of Animal Movements, I

explore -

A & B: Walking

The first sequence shows a man walking in right profile, from the front and from the back. It does seem to be three different passes in front of the same cameras rather than a sequence of three sets of different camera angles. The second sequence is what we would call today, power walking. Only the right profile and front are used in this sequence of eight shots (the previous entry has 12 shots per angle).

C: Running At Full Speed

The sequence has 12 shots and has only the right profile and back. It clearly shows the runner with both feet grabbing air at the same time.

D: Running At Full Speed (Two Models)

This is a sequence of 10 shots with one model running behind the other. We get only the right profile and front view. I’m impressed by the composition because there’s no way for Muybridge to control the distances between the two runners. I wonder how many takes it took to get this right?

E: Descending In Incline.

This 12 shot sequence highlights Muybridge’s inventiveness and his compositional skill. The three-camera set up shoots front, back and right profiles, with the model being lit from the right of frame.

F Jumping Over A Boy’s Back (Leapfrog)

This is a 12-shot sequence from the right profile and front. The image isn’t as crisp as previous entries – in fact, it is blurry. In the first five images the boy doing the leaping seems to have only one leg and also in the shot just before he lands on the ground.

Also included in this book are sequences on various sports: - Baseball (batting, catching and throwing) Cricket (overarm bowling, batting and driving); Football (drop kick); Wrestling (Graeco-Roman); Boxing (open hand). I think from the descriptions above you can work out what THEY look like.

HUMAN FIGURES IN MOTION

A clever fella has taken some of the photograph sequences Muybridge took between 1883 and 1888, and put them together as animations. They include sequences of:- walking; fast walk; running; jumping; hurdle; acrobatics; using a pick; boxing; gymnastics; wrestling; running (rear view); running (side view); running (front view); climbing steps; climbing a ladder; pole vaulting.... and so on.

1888

BRITAIN

Roundhay Garden Scene

Director: Louis Aime Augustin Le Prince

A: Annie Hartley, Adolphe Le Prince, Joseph Whitley, Sarah Whitley

Louis shot this film on celluloid stock to showcase the Le Prince single-lens camera. It shows the Whitley family and friends outside the Whitley home (Oakwood Grange Rd, Roundhay, Leeds, Yorkshire, England). They move around the camera frame for two seconds of action.

Sarah Whitley died 10 days after shooting the sequence, making her the first film star to die. I would also like to speculate here. Imagine the cognitive dissonance of knowing your wife is dead and being able to see her animated corpse walking around. I wonder how much of this dissonance has fuelled our fascination with the undead – vampires and zombies?

Director,

Louis Aime Augustin Le Prince

Was born on August 28, 1841, in Metz, France, and he disappeared in September, 1890, so his death remains unsubstantiated.

His father was in the Army and, as a result, the father figure in his life seems to have been photographer, Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre. Daguerre taught Louis photography and some chemistry. Louis studied painting in Paris, France, and chemistry at Leipzig University, Germany.

In 1866, he moved to Leeds, Britain, to form a partnership with a friend from University, John Whitley. The pair created a school of applied Art, the Leeds Technical School Of Art. In 1881, Louis moved to the USA, eventually managing a group of French artists commissioned to create panoramas of famous battles. This may have inspired his experiments to capture motion. It was during this period that he created his first motion capture system.

Returning to England in May, 1887, he refined this system down to a single lens system and shot footage of a Roundhay Garden Scene, his son playing accordion, and traffic and pedestrians crossing Leeds Bridge. His vanishing, in 1890, was problematic. It happened on a train – neither his body nor luggage were ever recovered. Over the years several conspiracy theories have sprung up like weeds in a public garden.

The most interesting is that Thomas Edison ordered his assassination. In 1898 Edison sued the American Mutoscope Company claiming that he was the first and sole inventor of cinematography and was, therefore, entitled to claim royalties on his invention. Adolfe le Prince (son of Louis) was called as a witness for American Mutoscope. Unfortunately, he was not allowed to enter his father’s inventions into evidence. The Court ruled in favour of the blowhard talking out of the wrong end of his body, Edison; this was overturned a year later.

On 10 January, 1888, Louis achieved a US patent for a 16-lens camera that was capable of recording motion and a projector for the footage that was shot by it. The same day he patented a device in England for a camera that could use one, two, three and sixteen lenses. In 1889 he took dual French-US citizenship intending to establish himself in New York City to continue his research. He had planned to give a public demonstration of his work at Morris-Junel mansion in Manhattan in September, 1890. He failed to appear.

1890

USA

Monkeyshines

Director: W.K.L. Dickson, William Heise

This is composed of two camera tests for the Edison Company’s first attempt at creating a movie. It was not intended to be projected but seen through a viewing device and the footage was preserved on a metal cylinder. Ironically, many of its features, are common to digital technology today.

A person was hired to gyrate in front of the camera. The first test has a formless blob move about in a way reminiscent of a Len Lye animation. In the second test there is enough definition to tell the blob is human.

France

Films Chronophotographiques d’ Étienne-Jules Marey Productions Entre 1890 Et 1891

Director: Étienne-Jules Marey

Some bright spark has taken Étienne’s photo sequences and turned them into animations.

In Order They are: -

1  Barques Sur La Mer

Two row boats on the sea.

2  Raie Attachée, Mouvement des Nageoires

33 Frames. A blanket hanging from a wire, flaps in the breeze

3  2 Esgrimistas

Filmed in Naples, Italy, the sequence shows two fencers fighting without face guards.

4 La Vague

Waves break against a rock in the Bay of Naples, Italy.

5  Insecte, Libellule En Vol

A - 19 frames. A Dragonfly flaps its wings

B - A Dragonfly flies from left frame to right.

6  Mosquinha

(see below)

7  Insectes

21 frames. 6 or so wasps crawl around the lens.

8 Course Homme Nu

A - 7 frames. A nude man runs right frame to left.

B - 11 frames. (as above)

9 Saut Périlleux

42 frames. A man does a back flip.

10  Georges Demeny Prononçant La Photographie Est Une Merveillause Invention.  

36 frames. Georges Demeny speaks without sound and enunciates clearly.

11 Je Vous Aime

Georges Demeny speaks the phrase.

12  Pigeon En Vol

A - 65 frames. The pigeon flies away from a start on the ground, moving Left frame to right.

B - 24 frames. The pigeon flees across the screen, flying Left frame to right.

13  Homme Sur Tricycle

45 frames. A man riding a tricycle moves away from the camera down an avenue.

MOSQUINHA

Director: Étienne-Jules Marey

A mosquito, in silhouette, takes flight. It’s a very short film of about three seconds.

1891

USA

Dickson Greeting

Director: W.K.L. Dickson

Dickson, looking like a huckster at a stand, passes his straw hat from hand to hand.

NEWARK ATHLETE

Director: W.K.L. Dickson

Here’s your opportunity to see what exercising with the Indian Clubs looked like. It looks pretty silly, really.

France

Escrime (Two Fencers)

Director: Étienne-Jules Marey

Set against a black backcloth two men fence. Etienne tries to capture the movement of the swords.

1892

BLACKSMITH SCENE

Director: W.K.L. Dickson

Actors: Charles Kayser, John Ott

This was the first film the Edison Company released commercially. It is also the first staged narrative. Three Blacksmiths beat a metal rod and then pause for a beer. The intent was to create a sense of nostalgia for the passing of the old ways before the onslaught of mass production.

Actor,

Charles Kayser

Was born in 1878, in Scotland, and he died in 1966.

Blacksmith Scene seems to have been his only film. Too much work and not enough beer, I’m guessing.

Actor,

John Ott

Was born in 1850, and probably in the US. He died in 1931.

This is his only film appearance, probably because the Edison Company weren’t paying enough. Yeah, Ya got the beer, I can hear him growl, But where’s the skittles, ya cheap bastard.

France

Films Chronophotographiques d’Etienne-Jules Marey Productions Entre 1892 Et 1893

Director: Étienne-Jules Marey, Georges Demeny

Some bright spark has taken Étienne’s photo sequences and turned them into animations again.

In Order They are: -

1  Les Chevaux

A Cheveral (Mistigris) Pas Monté. Vu de l’Avant

34 frames. Horse and rider approach the camera from a stable lane.

B Mistigris. Vu d’Avant. Trot

46 frames. Same location with the horse at a trot.

C Cheval (Mistigris) Monté. Pas Vu de l’Avant

11 frames. (as above).

D Cheval (Mistigris) Pas Monté

12 frames. The horse and rider pass from Right frame to Left on a stage.

E Cheval (Mistigris) Trot Monté. Vue d’Avant

17 frames. (As per A) at a trot.

F Cheval (Mistigris) Trot Monté

13 frames. The horse and rider pass from Right frame to Left on a stage.

G Cheval (Mistigris) Petit Galop Monté. Vu d’Avant

15 frames. (as per A).

H Cheval (Mistigris) Petit Galop Monté. Vu d’Arriére

17 frames. (as per A) rear view.

I Cheval (Mistigris) Monté. Allures Diverses

18 frames. Horse and rider on stage.

2  Petite Fille Sautant A La Corde

24 frames. A girl uses a skipping rope.

3  Paul, Le Gardien de la Station Physiologique Criant Le Nom de Marey

32 frames. Paul, in Medium Close Up (MCU) says the name Marey.

4  Autoportrait de Georges Demeny

13 frames. Georges fiddles with his beard

5  Hommes

A Homme Nu de Dos, Mouvments de Boxe

24 frames. A nude man, viewed from the back, goes through a boxing motion.

B Course Homme Nu

10 frames. A running nude, Right frame to Left.

C Course Homme Nu

14 frames. (as above) Left frame to Right.

D Homme Nu, Traction Sur Une Corde

24 frames. A naked man pulls on a cable, right profile.

E Course Homme Nu

17 frames. (as per B)

F Homme Nu. Course (Départ)

16 frames. Nude man runs across stage from a standing start, Left frame to Right.

G Homme, Coup de Pioche

18 frames. On a pavement, a man swings a pickaxe.

H Homme, Coup de Pioche

(as above)

I Homme A La Pelle

18 frames. The same man shovels sand at the same location.

J Saut En Hauteur A Pieds Joints Par Homme Nu (Rousselet)

30 frames. A naked man with arms raised jumps into the air.

K Saut En Hauteur A Pieds Joints, Homme Habillé

20 frames. A clothed man jumps over a box on a stage.

L Homme Habillé Sautant A La Code

21 frames.  A clothed man skips through a hoop.

M Homme Au Lançand Un Disque

24 frames. A naked man throws a discus.

N Homme Nu Plantant Un Epieu Dans Le Sol

15 frames. A naked man digs with a stake.

O Homme Nu Soulevant Une Haltère

20 frames. A nude man lifts a dumbbell.

P Homme Nu (Rousselet), Marche

31 frames. Nude man walks from frame left to right.

PAUVRE PIERROTT

Director: Émile Reynaud

I had serious problems with the dating of this, the first animated film. A little research later and I discovered – yes, it is a film, but not film as we know it.

Emile Reynaud was born on December 8, 1844, and he died in 1918. He became a Professor of Physics and Natural Science in Paris. He invented a machine called the praxinoscope. It created optical illusions. He upscaled this invention so it could handle film paper. He then drew on the paper and coloured the images. This answered my two objections to the dating – the film is in colour and many times the length of films from this period.

Pauvre Pierrott was first screened on October 28, in a show billed as luminous pantomimes at the Theatre Optique. Initial success was undermined, in later years, by the work of the Lumiere Brothers. Audiences dwindled at the theatre, and a destitute Emile threw his work into the Seine. The despair did not last for long for, in 1902, he released the Stereo-praxinoscope which gave animation the illusion of 3-D.

In Pauvre Pierrott the scene is a courtyard. Pierrot arrives to woo his love. He is not the only lover to come calling. He is kept busy chasing the competition away.

As well as being the earliest surviving animated film, it also contains the gag where a character hides behind an object that should be too thin to hide him, and the convention that whatever the audience can’t see, no other character can see. The defect of the technology is that the characters are very ghostly as the background shows through them.

1893

IN 1893 THE ART WORLD was rocked by The Scream (a portrait of a girl who realises there is no toilet paper in the dunny). This was painted by Edvard Munch. The importance of this work is in trying to convey a psychological state through the medium of Art (with a capital A). In film history it is famous for being the image used for the mask in the Scream movie and its sequels.

Unfortunately, the world, in general, was no less peaceful than the horror Munch was attempting to convey. This was the year France conquered Laos. France thought this was a good idea at the time, but history has proved imperialism (cultural or otherwise) had long since passed its use by date. Take note American capitalist imperialist swinistes. Nationalism, in this age, was coming to the fore, fueled (in part) by the anarchist movement.

To honour this groundswell of public feeling for the Right of Nations to self-determination (and to deal with an increasingly vexed issue) Prime Minister William Gladstone of England introduced a bill to give Ireland self-government. It failed to pass (and continued a sad history of Ireland seizing defeat from the jaws of victory).

Nationalism wasn’t the only war being fought in 1893. Another kind of struggle was going on and the battlefield came to its bloodiest conclusion in the United States some years later. Fortunately, as it ran its course, it provided excellent fodder for film. The American Council on Alcohol Problems was established in this year. As were the Anti-Saloon League and the Committee of Fifty for the Study of the Liquor Problem. The American Temperance University was opened. You WILL learn, was their motto (but only a little, I might add). The Liquor problem, as you should know, is that neither side of the issue will take the time to distinguish a foodstuff from a drug. Many common foodstuffs contain drugs but no one USES them AS drugs. Even today this messy and false dichotomy of argument continues.

Meanwhile, and on a more cheerful note, the racism debate in America took a colourful (and unexpected turn) when Colored High became the first African American High School in Houston, Texas (it’s the whites who put the ass in Tex); its name was later changed to Booker T. Washington High School. I can’t blame them for the name change; the original title is very illustrative of attitudes at the time.

On a disturbing note, 1893 saw small, anti-Semitic parties secure 2.9% of the votes in Germany.

History

On January 17 – The U.S. Marines invaded Hawaii, resulting in the overthrow of the government of Queen Liliuokalani. The bastards still haven’t left the nation they stole.

February 1 – Thomas A. Edison finished building the first ever motion picture studio. It was called