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Film / Roundhay Garden Scene

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https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Roundhay-Garden-Scene-1888_9410.jpg
Fun fact: With the film being recorded at 12fps, and lasting roughly two seconds long, this one frame makes up about 4.167% of the whole clip.

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.

Can be viewed here or here.

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 Thomas Edison to take the credit for the invention of motion pictures, but he has been heralded as 'The Father of Cinematography', in current times.

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


The tropes it does manage to have:

  • Early-Installment Weirdness: 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.
  • Exactly What It Says on the Tin: It's a scene in Roundhay Garden.
  • Gender-Equal Ensemble: Two men, two women.
  • In Medias Res / No Ending: It would appear that this short clip is just a segment of a longer scene from the garden.
  • Minimalist Cast: Only four people are seen, none of whom are given names or characterization.
  • No Plot? No Problem!: It was just an experiment to see whether the movie camera worked... and it did!
  • Public Domain: The copyright has expired.
  • Reality Has No Soundtrack: The film has no sound at all, as it was made long before sound on film was invented.
  • Silent Film: The film has no dialogue, soundtrack or sound effects.
  • Short Film: It's only two seconds long.
  • Slice of Life: The film features people walking around in a garden.

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