Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze
About Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze
Fred Ott, an engineer in Thomas Edison's laboratory, takes a pinch of snuff and sneezes. The shot lasts about five seconds. William K. L. Dickson had it made so Harper's Weekly could print the frames.
Cast & crew
More about Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze
Filmed January 7, 1894, in the Black Maria at West Orange, with the Library of Congress dating the shoot between January 2 and January 7. William K. L. Dickson produced it. William Heise was the cameraman. Dickson filed the copyright on January 9, 1894.
Themes
Background
Kinetoscope parlors were just opening. Films were still peep-show loops, not projected to a hall.
In film history
Wikipedia, citing the Library of Congress, calls it the second oldest surviving U.S. motion picture to be copyrighted.
Making
Ott was an Edison assistant, not a hired actor. The Kinetoscope showed the loop one viewer at a time.
Look
William Heise cranked the Kinetograph in the Black Maria. Ott is framed from the waist up against a plain ground, lit through the studio's open roof.
Technique
The 45 paper prints sent for copyright were later rephotographed and turned back into a moving image.
Preservation
The paper-print sheet is in the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. A digital film copy is in the Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division. Selected for the National Film Registry in 2015.
Notes
- It is also called Fred Ott's Sneeze.
- The copyright deposit is a sheet of 45 frames, accepted as a photograph because the law had no class for motion pictures.
- The Library of Congress record notes a second registration, October 6, 1893, tied to the photographic print, number 44732, beside the January 9, 1894 film registration, number 2887.
- Harper's Weekly ran a slightly longer selection that includes a second sneeze. The film that survives stops at one.
- In 2015 the Library of Congress added it to the National Film Registry.
Scenes
- Ott takes the snuff, screws up his face, and sneezes.
Also available
- Internet Archive (ThomasEdisonCo.FredOttSneeze)
- Library of Congress (edmp.0026)
