EDISON KINETOSCOPE RECORD OF A SNEEZE - FRED OTT 1894
Ad
TAGS
Download or edit the free picture EDISON KINETOSCOPE RECORD OF A SNEEZE - FRED OTT 1894 for GIMP online editor. It is an image that is valid for other graphic or photo editors in OffiDocs such as Inkscape online and OpenOffice Draw online or LibreOffice online by OffiDocs.
EDISON KINETOSCOPE RECORD OF A SNEEZE - FRED OTT 1894
1894
WILLIAM KENNEDY LAURIE DICKSON (1860 - 1935)
Dickson uses the Kinetograph
to photograph Fred Ott, one of Edison's laboratory
workers, standing in front of the camera sneezing. This was
not another 'experimental film', but simply a publicity stunt
for a New York magazine. The magazine wanted still pictures
of a man sneezing to accompany a story. It
was catalogued as 'Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze'
and has gone down into history as possibly the first 'cult'
film.
These four seconds are known the world over as 'Fred Ott's
Sneeze'. Ott later identified himself as the world's
first "film star".
The footage was
copyrighted by Dickson and cameraman William Heise (another
Edison employee) as a 'photograph' with the Library Of Congress
in January (it was actually a proof sheet containing 45 images).
The film footage originally was five seconds long and was photographed
at 16fps on 35mm film stock. The above frames are twenty-one
in all and have been re-constructed at 12fps for a 2.52 second-long
looped animation. Dickson and Heise filmed Ott in the Black
Maria.
Edison builds the first
movie studio known of. He calls it the 'Black Maria'
and the next year opens his first picture house in New York City.
The Black Maria was situated in New Jersey.
Readers who are aware
of the movie moguls (studio owners) of the 1920's, 30's and 40's
who developed out of the early years of film making, will recall
the fact that the movie studios at that time owned and operated
their own chain of movie theatres and houses across the country
during those decades. The commercial advantage of this practice
was foreseen, and begun by Edison as early as 1893.
The
Black Maria (above) was nothing more than
a shack, and was used in the 'production' of some of Edison's
very first films and tests such as 'Fred Ott's Sneeze'.
It was painted inside and out with black paint so as to keep out
unwanted light.
The
window on the slanted roof was used to flood the subject with
light. Edison made many other experimental films using his employees
as actors.
Edison
THE HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY OF CINEMATOGRAPHY
An illustrated Chronological History of the Development of Motion Pictures Covering 2500 Years Leading to the Discovery of Cinematography in the 1800's
-- Paul Burns
Free picture EDISON KINETOSCOPE RECORD OF A SNEEZE - FRED OTT 1894 integrated with the OffiDocs web apps
