A Hand Shake
About A Hand Shake
William Heise stands in frame. W. K. L. Dickson steps in from off camera. The two men shake hands. The test lasts a few seconds.
Cast & crew
More about A Hand Shake
Dickson and Heise directed the Kinetograph test for Edison and also appear in it. It was shot on an early vertical-feed camera, about 35mm. It was not released to the public. Selected frames were printed in the journal The Phonogram in 1892. A listed duration is 3 seconds.
Themes
Making
The handshake is the whole test: two of Edison's camera men checking whether the vertical-feed Kinetograph would hold a simple movement.
Look
Dickson and Heise filmed themselves with the early vertical-feed Kinetograph. The shot is a few seconds against a plain ground.
Preservation
Frames were published in The Phonogram in 1892. A short moving copy also circulates. Silent Era does not name an archive print.
Notes
- Silent Era's synopsis is one action: Heise is joined by Dickson from off camera, and they shake hands.
- Musser cites it in Before the Nickelodeon and The Emergence of Cinema.
- It is an experiment, not a parlor film. No public showing is recorded.
- Frames, not a projection print, are what The Phonogram published in 1892.
- It is in the public domain in the United States.
Scenes
- Dickson walks in from the side and takes Heise's hand.
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (Handshake.webm)
