Demolishing and Building Up the Star Theatre
About Demolishing and Building Up the Star Theatre
A fixed camera records the demolition of New York's Star Theatre across a month. The same shots are then run backward, so the building seems to rise again.
Cast & crew
More about Demolishing and Building Up the Star Theatre
F. S. Armitage filmed it for Biograph. Wikidata gives 2 minutes. The Library of Congress put it on the National Film Registry in 2002. A copy is on the Internet Archive as star_theatre_1901.
Themes
Making
Armitage left the camera in one place and compressed a month of wrecking into one short.
Look
Armitage's camera stays fixed while the theatre comes down.
Technique
Time-lapse of a demolition, then the negative of that action run in reverse.
Preservation
Selected for the National Film Registry in 2002.
Notes
- The camera does not move. The time-lapse is the trick.
- The second half is the first half reversed.
- Also titled Star Theatre.
- The 2002 NFR citation calls it culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.
Scenes
- The walls come down in jumps.
- Run backward, the theatre stands up again.
Also available
- Internet Archive (star_theatre_1901)
