Roundhay Garden Scene: Difference between revisions

Roundhay Garden Scene
Roundhay Garden Scene
	The film
Directed by	Louis Le Prince
Produced by	Louis Le Prince
Starring	Annie Hartley; Adolphe Le Prince; Joseph Whitley; Sarah Whitley;
Cinematography	Louis Le Prince
Edited by	Louis Le Prince
Release date	14 October 1888;
Running time	3 seconds
Country	United Kingdom
Language	Silent

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Roundhay Garden Scene is a short silent motion picture filmed by French inventor Louis Le Prince at Oakwood Grange in Roundhay, Leeds, in Yorkshire on 14 October 1888.^[1] It is believed to be the oldest surviving film. The camera used was patented in the United Kingdom on 16 November 1888.^[2]

Cast

Annie Hartley (credited as Harriet Hartley; 1873 – 31 March 1898)
Adolphe Le Prince (c. June 1872 – 20 August 1901)
Joseph Whitley (17 October 1816 – 12 January 1891)
Sarah Whitley (c. 1816 – 24 October 1888)

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, on 14 October 1888.^[3] 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.^[4]

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.^[5]

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^[6] 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]}

References

^ Smith, Ian (10 January 2016). ""Roundhay Garden Scene" recorded in 1888, is believed to be the oldest surviving film". The Vintage News. Archived from the original on 29 August 2018. Retrieved 29 August 2018.
^ "First surviving film". Guinness Word Records. Archived from the original on 30 December 2022. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
^ Youngs, Ian (23 June 2015). "Louis Le Prince, who shot the world's first film in Leeds". BBC News. BBC. Archived from the original on 19 October 2016. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
^ "Monumental Inscriptions at St. John's Church, Roundhay, Leeds". Archived from the original on 31 May 2015. Retrieved 26 January 2018.
^ "Roundhay Cottage – the scene of the first-ever moving pictures". www.loveoakwood.co.uk. Archived from the original on 7 July 2020. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
^ "Glass copy negative of Roundhay Garden Scene by Louis Le Prince | Science Museum Group Collection". collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk. Archived from the original on 23 March 2020. Retrieved 16 April 2020.

External links

Roundhay Garden Scene at IMDb
Roundhay Garden Scene is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive
Roundhay Garden Scene on YouTube
Roundhay Garden Scene on RetroFlix
Denis Shiryaev's 60 fps color version on YouTube
Louis Le Prince Centre for Cinema, Photography and Television University of Leeds. (The university is near to the site of Le Prince's former workshop which was located at the junction of Woodhouse Lane and Blackman Lane.)
St John's of Roundhay. Details of memorial for Sarah (died 24 October 1888) and Joseph Whitley (died 12 January 1891) at St John's Church, Roundhay, Leeds. (map), Monumental Inscriptions (II1) at St. John's Church, Roundhay, Leeds

53°49′31.8″N 1°29′44.5″W / 53.825500°N 1.495694°W / 53.825500; -1.495694

[1] Smith, Ian (10 January 2016). ""Roundhay Garden Scene" recorded in 1888, is believed to be the oldest surviving film". The Vintage News. Archived from the original on 29 August 2018. Retrieved 29 August 2018.

[2] "First surviving film". Guinness Word Records. Archived from the original on 30 December 2022. Retrieved 31 July 2020.

[3] Youngs, Ian (23 June 2015). "Louis Le Prince, who shot the world's first film in Leeds". BBC News. BBC. Archived from the original on 19 October 2016. Retrieved 24 August 2016.

[4] "Monumental Inscriptions at St. John's Church, Roundhay, Leeds". Archived from the original on 31 May 2015. Retrieved 26 January 2018.

[5] "Roundhay Cottage – the scene of the first-ever moving pictures". www.loveoakwood.co.uk. Archived from the original on 7 July 2020. Retrieved 19 August 2020.

[6] "Glass copy negative of Roundhay Garden Scene by Louis Le Prince | Science Museum Group Collection". collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk. Archived from the original on 23 March 2020. Retrieved 16 April 2020.

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@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{Short description|Earliest surviving film (1888)}}
+{{use dmy dates|date=October 2016}}
+{{use British English|date=April 2022}}
+{{redirect|Oldest film|earlier films that are often considered the first film|Passage de Vénus{{!}}''Passage de Vénus''|and|The Horse in Motion{{!}}''The Horse in Motion''|and|Man Walking Around a Corner{{!}}''Man Walking Around a Corner''}}
 {{Infobox film
 | name           = Roundhay Garden Scene
-| image          = Roundhay Garden Scene.ogg
+| image          = Roundhay Garden Scene (1888) 7fps.webm
+| caption        = The film
-| image_size     = 225 px
-| caption        = The world's earliest surviving motion-picture film
 | director       = [[Louis Le Prince]]
-| producer       =
+| producer       = Louis Le Prince
 | writer         =
 | narrator       =
 | starring       = {{Plainlist |
-* Harriet Hartley
+* [[Annie Hartley]]
-* Adolphe Le Prince
+* [[Adolphe Le Prince]]
-* Joseph Whitley
+* [[Joseph Whitley]]
-* Sarah Whitley
+* [[Sarah Whitley]]
-}}
+ }}
-| music          =
 | cinematography = Louis Le Prince
 | editing        = Louis Le Prince
 | distributor    =
-| released       = {{Film date|1888|10|14|Private collection}}
+| released       = {{Film date|1888|10|14|df=y}}
-| runtime        = 2.11 seconds
+| runtime        = 3 seconds
-| country        = [[United Kingdom]]<br>[[France]]
+| country        = United Kingdom
-| language       = [[Silent film]]
+| language       = [[Silent film|Silent]]
-| budget         =
-| gross          =
 }}
+'''''Roundhay Garden Scene''''' is a [[short film|short]] [[silent film|silent]] motion picture filmed by French inventor [[Louis Le Prince]] at [[Oakwood, Leeds|Oakwood]] Grange in [[Roundhay]], [[Leeds]], in [[Yorkshire]] on 14 October 1888.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.thevintagenews.com/2016/01/10/roundhay-garden-scene-is-believed-to-be-the-oldest-known-video-footage/ |title="Roundhay Garden Scene" recorded in 1888, is believed to be the oldest surviving film |first=Ian |last=Smith |date=10 January 2016 |access-date=29 August 2018 |work=The Vintage News |archive-date=29 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180829175314/https://www.thevintagenews.com/2016/01/10/roundhay-garden-scene-is-believed-to-be-the-oldest-known-video-footage/ |url-status=live }}</ref> It is believed to be the oldest surviving film.
+The camera used was [[Patent|patented]] in the [[United Kingdom]] on 16 November 1888.<ref>{{cite news |title=First surviving film |url=https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/first-surviving-film |access-date=31 July 2020 |work=Guinness Word Records |archive-date=30 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221230152945/https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/first-surviving-film |url-status=live }}</ref>
+==Cast==
-'''''Roundhay Garden Scene''''' is an 1888 [[short film]] directed by French inventor [[Louis Le Prince]]. It was recorded at 12 [[Film frame|frames]] per [[second]] and runs for 2.11 seconds. It is the [[History of Film|oldest surviving film]] in existence, noted by the [[Guinness World Records|Guinness Book of Records]].<ref>[[Guinness World Records|Guinness Book of Records]], all editions.</ref>
+* [[Annie Hartley]] (credited as Harriet Hartley; 1873 – 31 March 1898)
+* [[Adolphe Le Prince]] ({{Circa|June 1872}} – 20 August 1901)
+* [[Joseph Whitley]] (17 October 1816 – 12 January 1891)
+* [[Sarah Whitley]] ({{Circa|1816}} – 24 October 1888)
 ==Overview==
+According to Le Prince's son, [[Adolphe Le Prince|Adolphe]], ''Roundhay Garden Scene'' was made at [[Oakwood, Leeds|Oakwood]] Grange, the home of [[Joseph Whitley|Joseph]] and [[Sarah Whitley]], in [[Roundhay]], [[Leeds]], [[West Riding of Yorkshire]],<!-- Please don't change this back to West Yorkshire, which is an anachronism --> on 14 October 1888.<ref>{{cite news |title=Louis Le Prince, who shot the world's first film in Leeds |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-33198686 |work=[[BBC News]] |date=23 June 2015 |access-date=24 August 2016 |last=Youngs |first=Ian |publisher=[[BBC]] |archive-date=19 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161019011420/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-33198686 |url-status=live }}</ref> The footage features Adolphe, the Whitleys, and [[Annie Hartley]] leisurely walking around the garden of Oakwood Grange. Sarah is seen walking{{snd}}or dancing{{snd}}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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nevhurworth.webspace.virginmedia.com/MIsRhay.htm |title=Monumental Inscriptions at St. John's Church, Roundhay, Leeds |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150531031527/http://www.nevhurworth.webspace.virginmedia.com/MIsRhay.htm |archive-date=31 May 2015 |access-date=26 January 2018}}</ref>
-According to Le Prince's son, Adolphe, it was filmed at ''Oakwood Grange'', the home of Joseph and Sarah Whitley, in [[Roundhay]], [[Leeds]], [[West Riding of Yorkshire]]<!-- Please don't change this back to West Yorkshire, which is an anachronism -->, United Kingdom on October 14, 1888.<ref name=IMDb>[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0392728/ Internet Movie Database] Roundhay Garden Scene</ref>
+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]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.loveoakwood.co.uk/oakwood-history/louis-aime-augustin-prince/ |title=Roundhay Cottage – the scene of the first-ever moving pictures |website=www.loveoakwood.co.uk |access-date=19 August 2020 |archive-date=7 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200707145433/http://www.loveoakwood.co.uk/oakwood-history/louis-aime-augustin-prince/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
-It features Adolphe Le Prince,<ref>[http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1796515/ Adolphe Le Prince IMDb listing]</ref> Sarah Whitley, Joseph Whitley and Harriet Hartley in the garden, walking around. Note that Sarah is walking backwards as she turns around, and that Joseph's coat tails are flying as he also is turning.<ref name=IMDb/> Sarah Whitley was Le Prince's mother-in-law being the mother of John Whitley and Le Prince's wife Elizabeth Whitley LePrince. Sarah Whitley died ten days after the scene was taken.
+[[File:Oakwood Hall 2010.JPG|thumb|Oakwood Hall, the filming site of ''Roundhay Garden Scene'']]
+==Preservation==
-==Remastered footage==
+''Roundhay Garden Scene'' was recorded on [[Kodak|Eastman Kodak]] paper base [[photographic film]] using [[Louis Le Prince#Patents and cameras|Le Prince's single-lens camera]]. In the 1930s, the [[Science Museum, London|Science Museum]] in London produced a photographic glass plate copy of 20 surviving frames from the original [[Film negative|negative]]<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co8646638/glass-copy-negative-of-roundhay-garden-scene-by-louis-le-prince-glass-negative |title=Glass copy negative of Roundhay Garden Scene by Louis Le Prince {{!}} Science Museum Group Collection |website=collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk |language=en |access-date=2020-04-16 |archive-date=23 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200323123824/https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co8646638/glass-copy-negative-of-roundhay-garden-scene-by-louis-le-prince-glass-negative |url-status=live }}</ref> before it was lost. The copied frames were later printed on [[135 film|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 film|documentary]] about Louis Le Prince, shows it at 7 fps.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}
-In 1930 the [[Science Museum, London|National Science Museum]] (NSM), London, produced photographic copies of remaining parts from the 1888 filmstrip. This sequence was recorded on an 1885 [[George Eastman|Eastman Kodak]] paper base [[photographic film]] through Le Prince's [[Louis Le Prince#LePrince Cine Camera-Projector types|single-lens combi camera-projector]]. Le Prince's son, Adolphe, stated that the Roundhay Garden movie was shot at 12 [[frame rate|frames/s]] (and the second movie, ''Traffic Crossing Leeds Bridge'', at 20 frames/s), however the later digital [[remaster]]ed version of Roundhay Garden produced by the [[National Media Museum]], [[Bradford]], comprises 52 frames and is only 2.11 seconds long, as the film runs at 24.64 frames/s, the modern cinematographic frame-rate. The National Science Museum copy has 20 frames; at 12 frames/s, this would produce a run time of 1.66 seconds.
-== References ==
+==See also==
+* ''[[Passage de Vénus]]'', a 1874 series of photographs often considered the first film
+==References==
 {{reflist}}
-== External links ==
+==External links==
-{{commons-inline}}
+{{commons category|Roundhay Garden Scene}}
 * {{IMDb title|0392728}}
 * {{Internet Archive film|id=Roundhay_Garden_Scene|name=Roundhay Garden Scene}}
-* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nR2r__ZgO5g ''Roundhay Garden Scene''] on [[Youtube]]
+* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knD2EhjGwWI ''Roundhay Garden Scene''] on [[YouTube]]
+* [https://retroflix.org/roundhay-garden-scene-1888/ ''Roundhay Garden Scene''] on RetroFlix
-* [http://ics.leeds.ac.uk/papers/index.cfm?outfit=llp Louis Le Prince Centre for Cinema, Photography and Television] University of Leeds. (The University is near to the site of Le Prince's former workshop).
+* Denis Shiryaev's [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fxd8XJ_J0Gc 60 fps color version] on YouTube
-* [http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnnyg1955/sets/72157606230209057/with/2677935289/ St John's of Roundhay]. Details of memorial for Sarah (died October 24, 1888) and Joseph Whitley (died January 12, 1891) at Beechwood, Roundhay, Leeds. ([http://www.flickr.com/map?fLat=53.830092&fLon=-1.488304&zl=3 map])
+* [http://ics.leeds.ac.uk/papers/index.cfm?outfit=llp Louis Le Prince Centre for Cinema, Photography and Television] University of Leeds. (The university is near to the site of Le Prince's former workshop which was located at the junction of Woodhouse Lane and Blackman Lane.)
+* [https://www.flickr.com/photos/johnnyg1955/sets/72157606230209057/with/2677935289/ St John's of Roundhay]. Details of memorial for Sarah (died 24 October 1888) and Joseph Whitley (died 12 January 1891) at St John's Church, Roundhay, Leeds. ([https://www.flickr.com/map?fLat=53.830092&fLon=-1.488304&zl=3 map]), [https://web.archive.org/web/20150531031527/http://www.nevhurworth.webspace.virginmedia.com/MIsRhay.htm Monumental Inscriptions (II1) at St. John's Church, Roundhay, Leeds]
+{{Authority control}}
+{{Coord|53|49|31.8|N|1|29|44.5|W|scale:5000|name=Location of the Roundhay Garden Scene at Oakwood Grange|display=title}}
 [[Category:1888 films]]
-[[Category:History of film]]
+[[Category:1880s British films]]
-[[Category:Black-and-white films]]
+[[Category:1880s dance films]]
-[[Category:British films]]
+[[Category:1880s short films]]
+[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]
+[[Category:British black-and-white films]]
+[[Category:British dance films]]
+[[Category:Films shot in Leeds]]
+[[Category:Films shot in Yorkshire]]
 [[Category:British silent short films]]
-[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]
+[[Category:Films directed by Louis Le Prince]]
+[[Category:French black-and-white films]]
+[[Category:French dance films]]
+[[Category:French silent short films]]
+[[Category:Louis Le Prince films]]
 [[Category:Roundhay|Garden Scene, Roundhay]]
-[[Category:Films directed by Louis Le Prince]]