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James Williamson, Film Pioneer
James A. Williamson (8 November 1855 – 18 August 1933) was a Scottish photographer and a key member of the loose association of early film pioneers dubbed the Brighton School by French film historian Georges Sadoul. He is best known for ''The Big Swallow'' (1901), a trick film with innovative use of extreme close-up, as well as '' Fire!'' and ''Stop Thief!'' (both 1901), dramas with continuity established across multiple shots. Biography Early life and career Williamson was born in Pathhead near Kirkcaldy, Fife, and raised in Edinburgh, where he trained to be a master chemist. He moved to London in 1868, where he was an apprentice to a pharmacist and to Eastry, Kent in 1877, where he bought his own pharmacy and got married. He was also a keen amateur photographer who sold photographic apparatus and chemical supplies in his shop and became an agent for Kodak. In 1886, he moved his chemist's and photographic business to 144 Church Road, Hove, where he took up residence with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pathhead
Pathhead ( sco, Paithheid) is an area of Kirkcaldy, in Fife, Scotland. Pathhead was an independent village before it was incorporated into the Royal burgh of Kirkcaldy. In Jan Blaeu's map of Scotland from the 17th century reference is made to the village of Peth-heed, present day Pathhead. With the Firth of Forth to the south, Kirkcaldy to the 'west', Dysart to the east, and Gallatown, Sinclairtown and Dunnikier to the north. According to Robert Brodie's ''Historical Sketches of Pathhead and Vicinity'', "Whatever time it may have begun to appear as a town, we know from good authority that in 1666 there were eighty houses in it. The estate had passed through a number of hands; but, notwithstanding, the feuers had evidently been increasing in numbers. In that year, John Watson, sen., went to law with the feuers for the purpose of depriving them of their privilege of taking stones and clay, fail and divet, from the whole muir of Dunnikier, which they had enjoyed since the year ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trick Film
In the early history of cinema, trick films were short silent films designed to feature innovative special effects. History The trick film genre was developed by Georges Méliès in some of his first cinematic experiments, and his works remain the most classic examples of the genre. Other early experimenters included the French showmen Émile and Vincent Isola, the British magicians David Devant and John Nevil Maskelyne, and the American cinematographers Billy Bitzer and James Stuart Blackton. In the first years of film, especially between 1898 and 1908, the trick film was one of the world's most popular film genres. Before 1906, it was likely the second most prevalent genre in film, surpassed only by nonfiction actuality films. Techniques explored in these trick films included slow motion and fast motion created by varying the camera cranking speed; the editing device called the substitution splice; and various in-camera effects, such as multiple exposure. "Trick novelties, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Motion Picture Patents Company
The Motion Picture Patents Company (MPPC, also known as the Edison Trust), founded in December 1908 and terminated seven years later in 1915 after conflicts within the industry, was a trust of all the major US film companies and local foreign-branches ( Edison, Biograph, Vitagraph, Essanay, Selig Polyscope, Lubin Manufacturing, Kalem Company, Star Film Paris, American Pathé), the leading film distributor (George Kleine) and the biggest supplier of raw film stock, Eastman Kodak. The MPPC ended the domination of foreign films on US screens, standardized the manner in which films were distributed and exhibited within the US, and improved the quality of US motion pictures by internal competition. But it also discouraged its members' entry into feature film production, and the use of outside financing, both to its members' eventual detriment. Creation The MPPC was preceded by the Edison licensing system, in effect in 1907–1908, on which the MPPC was modeled. During the 1890s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert W
The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honour, praise, renown" and ''berht'' "bright, light, shining"). It is the second most frequently used given name of ancient Germanic origin. It is also in use as a surname. Another commonly used form of the name is Rupert. After becoming widely used in Continental Europe it entered England in its Old French form ''Robert'', where an Old English cognate form (''Hrēodbēorht'', ''Hrodberht'', ''Hrēodbēorð'', ''Hrœdbœrð'', ''Hrœdberð'', ''Hrōðberχtŕ'') had existed before the Norman Conquest. The feminine version is Roberta. The Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish form is Roberto. Robert is also a common name in many Germanic languages, including English, German, Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish, Scots, Danish, and Icelandic. It can be use ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
King Edward VII
Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and nicknamed "Bertie", Edward was related to royalty throughout Europe. He was Prince of Wales and heir apparent to the British throne for almost 60 years. During the long reign of his mother, he was largely excluded from political influence and came to personify the fashionable, leisured elite. He travelled throughout Britain performing ceremonial public duties and represented Britain on visits abroad. His tours of North America in 1860 and of the Indian subcontinent in 1875 proved popular successes, but despite public approval, his reputation as a playboy prince soured his relationship with his mother. As king, Edward played a role in the modernisation of the British Home Fleet and the reorgan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Social Realism
Social realism is the term used for work produced by painters, printmakers, photographers, writers and filmmakers that aims to draw attention to the real socio-political conditions of the working class as a means to critique the power structures behind these conditions. While the movement's characteristics vary from nation to nation, it almost always utilizes a form of descriptive or critical realism.James G. Todd Jr, ''Social realism'' in: Grove Art Online The term is sometimes more narrowly used for an art movement that flourished between the two World Wars as a reaction to the hardships and problems suffered by common people after the Great Crash. In order to make their art more accessible to a wider audience, artists turned to realist portrayals of anonymous workers as well as celebrities as heroic symbols of strength in the face of adversity. The goal of the artists in doing so was political as they wished to expose the deteriorating conditions of the poor and working clas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Little Match Seller
''The Little Match Seller'' is a 1902 British short silent drama film, directed by James Williamson, retelling the classic 1845 Hans Christian Andersen fable of the sad life and tragic death of a little match seller. This major fiction film of the period was, according to Michael Brooke of BFI Screenonline, "a serious attempt at depicting a person's inner emotional life on film through purely visual means (there is no onscreen text of any kind), using trick effects not to provoke laughter but for serious dramatic reasons." Review BFI Screenonline reviewer Michael Brooke states that the film, "shows a similar interest in the plight of the downtrodden," but is, in most other respects, "a very different type of film" than the director's ''A Reservist, Before the War and After the War'' and ''The Soldier's Return'' (both 1902), which "were inspired by the experience of soldiers returning from the only recently concluded Boer War." This film "is a very faithful adaptation of Hans ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Great Train Robbery (1903 Film)
''The Great Train Robbery'' is a 1903 American silent film made by Edwin S. Porter for the Edison Manufacturing Company. It follows a gang of outlaws who hold up and rob a steam locomotive at a station in the American West, flee across mountainous terrain, and are finally defeated by a posse of locals. The short film draws on many sources, including a robust existing tradition of Western films, recent European innovations in film technique, the play of the same name by Scott Marble, the popularity of train-themed films, and possibly real-life incidents involving outlaws such as Butch Cassidy. Porter supervised and photographed the film in New York and New Jersey in November 1903; the Edison studio began selling it to vaudeville houses and other venues in the following month. The cast included Justus D. Barnes and G. M. Anderson, who may have also helped with planning and staging. Porter's storytelling approach, though not particularly innovative or unusual for 1903, allowed h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Life Of An American Fireman
''Life of an American Fireman'' is a short, silent film Edwin S. Porter made for the Edison Manufacturing Company. It was shot late in 1902 and distributed early in 1903. One of the earliest American narrative films, it depicts the rescue of a woman and child from a burning building. It bears notable similarities to the 1901 British short film '' Fire!'', directed by James Williamson. In 2016, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Historical significance ''Life of an American Fireman'' is notable for its synthesis of numerous innovations in film technique that had occurred in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Specifically, Porter builds a continuous narrative over seven scenes, rendered in a total of nine shots:Originally in ''Edison Films'' catalog, February 1903, 2-3; reproduced in Charles Musser, ''Before the Nickelodeon: Edwin S. Por ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Williamson Fire
Williamson may refer to: Places *Williamson, Arizona *Williamson, Georgia *Williamson, Illinois * Williamson, Iowa *Williamson, New York, a town in Wayne County, New York. * Williamson (CDP), New York, a hamlet and census-designated place in Wayne County, New York. *Williamson, West Virginia *Williamson County, Illinois *Williamson County, Tennessee *Williamson County, Texas People *Williamson (surname) Other uses *'' Williamson v. Lee Optical Co.'', a 1955 U.S. Supreme Court case *Williamson amplifier, a type of push-pull audio amplifier with low distortion first designed in 1947 *Williamson Road Junior Public School, an elementary school in Toronto, Ontario *Williamson ether synthesis, one of the most common methods for preparing ethers See also *Williams (other) *Williamston (other) *Williamstown (other) *Justice Williamson (other) Justice Williamson * John Isaac Williamson, associate justice of the Supreme Court of Missouri * Robert B. Wil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aubrey Le Blond
Elizabeth Hawkins-Whitshed (26 June 1860 – 27 July 1934), usually known after her third marriage as Mrs Aubrey Le Blond and to her climbing friends as Lizzie Le Blond, was an Irish pioneer of mountaineering at a time when it was almost unheard of for a woman to climb mountains. She was also an author and a photographer of mountain scenery. She came from an upper-class background, being the daughter of Captain Sir St Vincent Hawkins-Whitshed, 3rd Baronet (1837–1871) (see Hawkins-Whitshed baronets) by his wife Anne Alicia (''née'' Handcock) (1837–1908), and further back was descended from the aristocratic Bentinck family, and was therefore related to the Dukes of Portland. She grew up in Greystones, County Wicklow, in the south-east of Ireland, where her father owned quite a bit of land. However, her father then died, leaving no other children, while she was still a minor, and the Lord Chancellor took her on as his ward. Elizabeth moved to Switzerland, where she climbed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Attack On A China Mission
''Attack on a China Mission'' is a 1900 British short silent drama film, directed by James Williamson, showing some sailors coming to the rescue of the wife of a missionary killed by Boxers. The four-shot film, according to Michael Brooke of BFI Screenonline, was innovative in content and technique. It incorporated a reverse-angle cut and at least two dozen performers, whereas most dramatic films of the era consisted of single-figure casts and very few shots. Film historian John Barnes claims ''Attack on a China Mission'' had "the most fully developed narrative" of any English film up to that time." Production The director, inspired by Georges Méliès' influential eleven-scene dramatised documentary '' L'Affaire Dreyfus'' (1899), made the film to meet a perceived public demand for footage of the Boxer Rebellion The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, the Boxer Insurrection, or the Yihetuan Movement, was an anti-foreign, anti-colonial, and anti-Chris ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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