Roundhay Garden Scene
Roundhay Garden Scene | |
---|---|
Directed by | Louis Le Prince |
Produced by | Louis Le Prince |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Louis Le Prince |
Edited by | Louis Le Prince |
Release date |
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Running time | 1.66 seconds |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | Silent |
Roundhay Garden Scene is a short silent motion picture filmed by French inventor Louis Le Prince at Oakwood Grange in Roundhay, Leeds, in Northern England on 14 October 1888. It is believed to be the oldest surviving film. The camera used was patented in the United Kingdom on 16 November 1888.
Cast
- Annie Hartley (credit as Harriet Hartley)
- Adolphe Le Prince
- Joseph Whitley
- Sarah Whitley
Overview
According to Le Prince's son, Adolphe, Roundhay Garden Scene was made at Oakwood Grange, the home of Joseph and Sarah Whitley, in Roundhay, Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, Northern England, on 14 October 1888. The footage features Adolphe, the Whitleys, and Annie Hartley leisurely walking around the garden of Oakwood Grange. Sarah is seen walking – or dancing – backward as she turns around, and Joseph's coattails fly as he turns also. Joseph (1817–1891) and Sarah (née Robinson, 1816–1888) were the parents of Elizabeth, Louis Le Prince's wife, and Hartley is believed to have been a friend of the Le Princes. Sarah Whitley died ten days after the scene was filmed.
Oakwood Grange was demolished in 1972 and replaced with modern housing; the only remnants of it are the garden walls at the end of Oakwood Grange Lane. The adjacent stately home, Oakwood Hall, still stands, and is now a nursing home.
Preservation
Roundhay Garden Scene was recorded on Eastman Kodak paper base photographic film using Le Prince's single-lens camera. In the 1930s, the Science Museum in London produced a photographic glass plate copy of 20 surviving frames from the original negative before it was lost. The copied frames were later printed on 35 mm film. Adolphe Le Prince stated that the film was shot at 12 frames per second (fps), but analysis suggests that it was shot at 7 fps. The First Film, a 2015 documentary about Louis Le Prince, shows it at 7 fps.[citation needed]
See also
- Passage de Vénus, 1874 series of photographs
- 1888 films
- 1880s British films
- 1880s dance films
- 1880s short films
- British black-and-white films
- British dance films
- Films shot in Leeds
- Films shot in Yorkshire
- British silent short films
- Films directed by Louis Le Prince
- French black-and-white films
- French dance films
- French silent short films
- Louis Le Prince films
- Roundhay