History Film / RoundhayGardenScene

This very short clip is perhaps only noteworthy for being the oldest surviving film. French inventor Louis Le Prince shot this at the home of his parents-in-law, Joseph and Sarah Whitley, on October 14, 1888. The Whitleys appear in the film, along with Adolphe Le Prince (Louis' son) and Annie Hartley.

* MohsScaleOfViolenceHardness: A firm 0 on the scale, having no action sequences at all.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Given it was the first film ever made, it is this to cinema as a whole. There is no story or narrative, no characterization, no acting, no sound, no color, no attempt at film language, no special effects, it's shot at 12 rather than 24 frames per second, and the film is only two seconds long when played at modren speed, or four at its intended one.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Given it was the first film ever made, it is this to cinema as a whole. There is no story or narrative, no characterization, no acting, no sound, no color, no attempt at film language, no special effects, it's shot at 12 rather than 24 frames per second, and the film is only two seconds long when played at modern speed, or four at its intended one.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Given it was the first film ever made, it is this to cinema as a whole. There is no story or narrative, no characterization, no acting, no sound, no color, no attempt at film language, no special effects, it's shot at 12 rather than 24 frames per second, and the film is only two seconds long when played at modren speed, or four at its intended one.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Given it was the first film ever made, it is this to cinema as a whole. There is no story or narrative, no characterization, no acting, no sound, no color, no attempt at film language, no special effects, it's shot at 12 rather than 24 frames per second, and the film is only two seconds long.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Given it was the first film ever made, it is this to cinema as a whole. There is no story or narrative, no characterization, no acting, no color, no attempt at film language, no special effects, it's shot at 12 rather than 24 frames per second, and the film is only two seconds long.

This very short clip is perhaps only noteworthy for being the oldest surviving film. French inventor Louis Le Prince shot this at the home of his parents-in-law, Joseph and Sarah Whitley, on October 14, 1888. The Whitleys appear in the film, along with Adolphe Le Prince (Louis' son) and Harriet Hartley.

This very short clip is perhaps only noteworthy for being the oldest surviving film. French inventor Louis Le Prince shot this at the home of his parents-in-law, Joseph and Sarah Whitley, on October 14, 1888. The Whitleys appear in the film, along with Adolphe [=LePrince=] (Louis' son) and Harriet Hartley.

* TheGayNineties: Filmed right at the beginning of these times.

* MohsScaleOfViolenceHardness: A firm 0 on the scale.
* MundaneMadeAwesome: It's just some people in a garden and it's only two seconds long, but it's the oldest surviving movie in existence, which makes it enormously fascinating!

* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: What little we do see seems to land on the idealistic end of it.

* TheGayNineties: Filmed right at the beginning of these times.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Given it was the first film ever made, its this to cinema as a whole. There is no story or narrative, no characterization, no acting, no color, no attempt at film language, no special effects, its shot at 12 rather than 24 frames per second, and the film is only two seconds long.

* NoPlotNoProblem: It was just an experiment to see whether the movie camera worked and it did!

Can be viewed [[http://archive.org/details/Roundhay_Garden_Scene here]] or [[https://youtu.be/zi_M0OMwPLQ]].

Can be viewed [[http://archive.org/details/Roundhay_Garden_Scene here]] or [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nR2r__ZgO5g here]].

Shot at 12 fps, playback at modern speeds of 24.64 fps gives a runtime of 2.11 seconds, almost making this work [[TheTropelessTale too short to include any tropes]].

* JustForFun/TheTropelessTale: This may just be the closest possible, although Oskar Fischinger's ''WesternAnimation/{{Allegretto}}'' gives it some competition due to having even ''less'' content despite a longer run time. Wait, [[LogicBomb that makes a trope itself.]]

On a sadder note, Sarah Whitley died only 10 days after the film was made and Louis Le Prince mysteriously disappeared from a train in 1890. Le Prince's body and luggage were never found, but, over a century later, a police archive was found to contain a photograph of a drowned man who could have been him. His disappearance allowed ThomasEdison to take the credit for the invention of motion pictures, but he has been heralded as 'The Father of Cinematography', in current times.

* JustForFun/TheTropelessTale: This may just be the closest possible, although Oskar Fischinger's WesternAnimation/{{Allegreto}} gives it some competition due to having even ''less'' content despite a longer run time. Wait, [[LogicBomb that makes a trope itself.]]

* JustForFun/TheTropelessTale: Closest possible, although Oskar Fischinger's WesternAnimation/{{Allegreto}} gives it some competition due to having even ''less'' content despite a longer run time. Wait, [[LogicBomb that makes a trope itself.]]

* UsefulNotes/ThePreHollywoodEra: There wasn't even a film industry yet!

* MinimalistCast: Only four people are seen, none of who are given names or characterization.

* MinimalistCast: Only four people are seen.

* JustForFun/TheTropelessTale: Closest possible. Wait, [[LogicBomb that makes a trope itself.]]

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The film is this to cinema as a whole. There is no story or narrative, no characterization, no acting, no color, no attempt at film language, no special effects, its shot at 12 rather than 24 frames per second, and the film is only two seconds long.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The film is this to cinema as a whole. There is no story or narrative, no characterization, no acting, no color, no attempt at film language, and the film is only two seconds long.