Clovelly Cottage, 19 Park Road Barnet EN5 5RY

''Incident at Clovelly Cottage'', also known as ''Incident Outside Clovelly Cottage, Barnet'', shot by

Birt Acres Birt Acres (23 July 1854 – 27 December 1918) was an American and British photographer and film pioneer. Among his contributions to the early film industry are the first working 35 mm camera in Britain (Wales), and ''Birtac'', the firs ...

and produced by Acres and his collaborator

Robert W. Paul Robert William Paul (3 October 1869 – 28 March 1943) was an English pioneer of film and scientific instrument maker. He made narrative films as early as April 1895. Those films were shown first in Edison Kinetoscope knockoffs. In 1896 he s ...

in March 1895, was the "first successful

motion picture A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

film made in Britain".

Background

In 1894, Robert Paul was asked to make a copy of

Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventio ...

Kinetoscope The Kinetoscope is an precursors of film, early motion picture exhibition device, designed for films to be viewed by one person at a time through a peephole viewer window. The Kinetoscope was not a movie projector, but it introduced the basic ...

device, in which motion pictures were viewed by one person at a time through a peephole.Barnes, John. (1998) ''The Beginnings of the Cinema in England 1894–1901. Volume One: 1894–1896''. Revised and enlarged edition. Exeter:

University of Exeter Press University of Exeter Press (UEP) is the academic press of the University of Exeter, England. In 2013, Liverpool University Press acquired the rights to UEP's publications on archaeology, medieval studies, history, classics and ancient history, ...

. pp. 21–23. He initially refused, but after he discovered that the machine had not been patented in Europe, he purchased one of the devices and set about manufacturing a replica which he sold in Britain and France."We should be celebrating", David Robinson, ''The Times'', 30 March 1995, p. 34. The only films available to show on Paul's Kinetoscope replicas, however, were those made by Edison who restricted distribution to his own customers. Paul was therefore obliged to make his own films and to produce a camera on which to shoot them. The result was the Paul-Acres Camera, developed jointly by Paul and Acres using ideas from both. It was the first motion picture camera made in Britain and took pictures on

35mm film 35 mm may refer to: * 135 film, a type of still photography format commonly referred to as 35 mm film * 35 mm movie film, a type of motion picture film stock * 35MM 35 mm may refer to: * 135 film, a type of still photography format ...

at a rate of 40 per second, the same as Edison's Kinetoscope, and the same gauge film as used in modern cinema films.

Trial

In February 1895 Paul and Acres made a short film known as ''Cricketer Jumping Over Garden Gate'', featuring their mutual friend, and Acres' assistant, Henry Short in cricket whites performing that act.Henry William ('Harry') Short.
Stephen Herbert, ''Who's Who of Victorian Cinema''. Retrieved 17 June 2017. It was not shown commercially and is described by

John Barnes John Charles Bryan Barnes MBE (born 7 November 1963) is a former professional football player and manager. He currently works as an author, commentator and pundit for ESPN and SuperSport. Initially a quick, skilful left winger, he moved to cent ...

as a "trial film"Barnes, p. 230. and by the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

as an untitled "test film". It is notable for the relatively crude perforation of the sprocket holes which differ from the even perforation of ''Incident at Clovelly Cottage'' by which time Paul had refined his technique sufficiently to send a clip to Edison seeking an exchange of films produced to the same standard. Edison refused. It is held by the Cinématheque Française in the Will Day Collection, CNC.

The film

''Incident at Clovelly Cottage'' was shot by Acres on the Paul-Acres Camera and produced by Acres and Paul in March 1895. It has been described as the "first British film" and the "first successful motion picture film made in Britain."Frames from 'Incident at Clovelly Cottage', 1895.
Science & Society Picture Library. Retrieved 11 June 2017. The plot is unknown as the film is lost with only a few frames surviving, but from the surviving material we know it featured a woman with a pram, thought to be Acres' wife with their infant son, and a man in white who was identified by Acres as Henry Short.Barnes, p. 26. It was filmed outside Acres' home of Clovelly Cottage, 19 Park Road,

Chipping Barnet Chipping Barnet or High Barnet is a suburban market town in north London, forming part of the London Borough of Barnet, England. It is a suburban development built around a 12th-century settlement, and is located north-northwest of Charing Cr ...

in England. The house still exists and once had a commemorative plaque but that has since been removed.A Barnet business start up that changed the world.
Robin Bishop, The Barnet Society, 20 November 2015. Retrieved 11 June 2017. Contemporary positive frames from the film are in the Kodak Collection in Bradford and the Barnes Collection, St Ives, Cornwall. An additional contemporary sample, sent by Paul to Thomas Edison in March 1895, is in the archives of the

Thomas Edison National Historical Park Thomas Edison National Historical Park preserves Thomas Edison's laboratory and residence, ''Glenmont'', in West Orange, New Jersey, United States. These were designed, in 1887, by architect Henry Hudson Holly. The Edison laboratories operat ...

in the United States.

Later developments

Acres and Paul's next film was '' The Oxford and Cambridge University Boat Race'', completed on 30 March 1895. This and other films were shown on Kinetoscopes that Paul set up at Imre Kiralfy's

Empire of India Exhibition The Empire of India Exhibition took place at Earls Court Earl's Court is a district of Kensington in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in West London, bordering the rail tracks of the West London line and District line that se ...

Earls Court Earl's Court is a district of Kensington in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in West London, bordering the rail tracks of the West London line and District line that separate it from the ancient borough of Fulham to the west, the ...

. Films were not projected onto screens for a mass audience, however, until early 1896 when Paul and Acres separately demonstrated projectors after their partnership ended in acrimony the previous year.

References

External links

Modern reproduction of the Paul-Acres camera.Whatever Happened At Clovelly Cottage? (Talk on shooting of the film, with reconstruction).
{{Italic title 1895 films British black-and-white films British silent short films Chipping Barnet Films directed by Birt Acres Films set in London Films shot in London March 1895 events 1895 short films 1890s British films