Enter Pierre Janssen. A French astronomer who recently built a "photographic revolver" that captures a sequence of photos in one click. With it, he records this rare passage in Japan, creating the first "film".
This isn't technically a true film, as it was filmed on photographic plates instead of film, but it still counts as one on IMDb and Letterboxd.
In 2005, historians discovered that the surviving photographs weren't of the actual 1874 passage of Venus, but were rather a series of practice photos made with a model. The photographic plates depicting the real thing are believed to be lost.
You can watch the film here
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This could be a good candidate for The Tropeless Tale, but every work has tropes, so they'll be listed.
Tropes found here:
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Just as the title says, it's a passage of Venus.
- Minimalist Cast: It doesn't get much more minimalist than a cast of zero.
- MockGuffin: It turns out the only surviving footage was actually test footage shot with a model.
- Mundane Made Awesome: It looks like just an ordinary passing of The Sun from Venus, but the fact that it was recorded on a very early moving camera makes it more awesome.
- No Plot? No Problem!: It was simply a test to see if an early moving camera worked.
- Public Domain: The film is in the public domain due to being so old.
- Silent Film: Made before talkies were invented.
- Short Film: Exaggerated. The film is only 4 seconds long.
- Ur-Example: This is considered to be the first film in general.
