Frames from Incident at Clovelly Cottage, 1895

Clovelly Cottage, 19 Park Road Barnet EN5 5RY

Birt Acres (23 July 1854 – 27 December 1918) was an American and

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

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 first daylight loading home movie camera and projector. He also

directed Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

a number of early

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized Sound recording and reproduction, recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) ...

Early life

Born in Richmond, Virginia, on 23 July 1854, to English parents. He became an orphan at the age of 14, during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

and was raised by an aunt.

Career

Acres invented the first British 35 mm

moving 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 ...

camera A camera is an optical instrument that can capture an image. Most cameras can capture 2D images, with some more advanced models being able to capture 3D images. At a basic level, most cameras consist of sealed boxes (the camera body), with a ...

, ''Birtac'' which was the first daylight loading

home movie A home movie is a short amateur film or video typically made just to preserve a visual record of family activities, a vacation, or a special event, and intended for viewing at home by family and friends. Originally, home movies were made on ph ...

camera and

projector A projector or image projector is an optical device that projects an image (or moving images) onto a surface, commonly a projection screen. Most projectors create an image by shining a light through a small transparent lens, but some newer types ...

; he was also the first travelling

newsreel A newsreel is a form of short documentary film, containing news stories and items of topical interest, that was prevalent between the 1910s and the mid 1970s. Typically presented in a cinema, newsreels were a source of current affairs, inform ...

reporter in international

film history The history of film chronicles the development of a visual art, visual art form created using history of film technology, film technologies that began in the late 19th century. The advent of film as an artistic medium is not clearly defined. ...

and the first European film maker who had his films shown in the United States in public performances. He contributed much to the introduction and development of

cinematography Cinematography (from ancient Greek κίνημα, ''kìnema'' "movement" and γράφειν, ''gràphein'' "to write") is the art of motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography. Cinematographers use a lens to foc ...

in all its aspects, from the construction of cameras, projectors, film viewers, coating and slitting machines and the manufacture of highly sensitized 35 mm raw film stock, to mobile newsreel reporting and the public projections of moving pictures. With his partner

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 ...

, he was the first person to build and run a working 35 mm camera in Britain. '' Incident at Clovelly Cottage'' was made in March 1895 and featured Acres' wife with their infant son in a pram outside Acres' then home of Clovelly Cottage, Park Road, Chipping Barnet, which still exists. Acres and Paul fell out after Acres patented their design in his own name on 27 May 1895. He made some very early

s during the

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

including in 1895: a film of the ''

Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race The Boat Race is an annual set of rowing races between the Cambridge University Boat Club and the Oxford University Boat Club, traditionally rowed between open-weight eights on the River Thames in London, England. There are separate men' ...

'', ''The Arrest of a Pickpocket'', ''The Comic Shoeblack'', ''The Boxing Kangaroo'' and ''Performing Bears''. On 10 January 1896, he gave a display of moving pictures to the Lyonsdown Photographic Society at the

Lytton Road Assembly Rooms The Lytton Road Assembly Rooms were built by E. Fergusson Taylor in New Barnet around 1870. Film pioneer Birt Acres Birt Acres (23 July 1854 – 27 December 1918) was an American and British photographer and film pioneer. Among his contr ...

New Barnet New Barnet is a neighbourhood on the north east side of the London Borough of Barnet. It is a largely residential North London suburb located east of Chipping Barnet, west of Cockfosters, south of the village of Monken Hadley and north of O ...

. This was the first public film show to an audience in the United Kingdom. Acres was a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society. On 14 January 1896, he demonstrated his ''Kineopticon'' system to members and wives of the Society, at the

Queen's Hall The Queen's Hall was a concert hall in Langham Place, London, Langham Place, London, opened in 1893. Designed by the architect Thomas Knightley, it had room for an audience of about 2,500 people. It became London's principal concert venue. Fro ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. Robert Paul's first solo theatrical programme was at the Alhambra Theatre on 25 March 1896. Acres is buried in

Walthamstow, London Walthamstow ( or ) is a large town in east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London and the ancient county of Essex. Situated northeast of Charing Cross, the town borders Chingford to the north, Snaresbrook and South ...

Most important achievements

* 1889 Apparatus for washing prints (patented). * 1891

Printing Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabonidus. The ...

process for stereoscopic photographs (for continuously contact print making) (patented). * 1893 Hopper feed installation for rapidly projecting slides in a biunial (two-in-one) lantern to create the illusion of movement (patented). * 1895 Kinetic Camera with appliance for loop forming (patented). * 1895/96

Electroscope The electroscope is an early scientific instrument used to detect the presence of electric charge on a body. It detects charge by the movement of a test object due to the Coulomb electrostatic force on it. The amount of charge on an object is ...

, apparatus for continuous viewing by more than one spectator of 35mm film. * 1896 Installation for wholesale production of raw stock 35 mm film. * 1896 Kineopticon, improved apparatus for projecting 35 mm film (patented). * 1897

Cine camera A movie camera (also known as a film camera and cine-camera) is a type of photographic camera that rapidly takes a sequence of photographs, either on an image sensor or onto film stock, in order to produce a moving image to project onto a movie sc ...

with 2

lenses A lens is a transmissive optical device which focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements''), ...

to resolve flicker problems and to enhance brightness. * 1898 Birtac, home movie camera for daylight loading of 17.5 mm film (patented).

Filmography

References

External links

*
Birt Acres biography and credits at BFI Screenonline

a
earlycinema.com

An 1896 Fairground Programme on the Europa Film Treasures site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Acres, Birt American people of English descent American cinematographers British cinematographers Cinema pioneers Artists from Richmond, Virginia 1854 births 1918 deaths American emigrants to England