Man Walking Around a Corner
Plot
The film captures a brief moment in time as a man, dressed in the attire of the late 19th century, approaches a street corner and turns around it, disappearing from view. This simple action, lasting only a few seconds, represents one of the earliest attempts to record and reproduce motion for later viewing. The man's movement is captured in a series of still images that, when played in sequence, create the illusion of continuous motion. The background shows what appears to be a typical street scene from Leeds, England, with buildings and architectural elements of the period. This mundane moment was revolutionary for its time, demonstrating the potential of moving images to preserve everyday life for future generations.
Director
About the Production
Shot using Le Prince's LPCC Type-16 camera, which had 16 lenses arranged in a circular pattern. The camera captured 16 images simultaneously on a single sheet of film, with each lens taking a picture at a slightly different angle. The film was shot at approximately 32 images per second, a relatively high frame rate for the time. Le Prince developed this camera himself as part of his experiments in motion picture technology. The surviving fragment is part of a longer sequence that was sent to Le Prince's wife in New York in a letter dated August 18, 1887.
Did You Know?
- This is one of the earliest surviving motion pictures in existence, predating the more famous works of the Lumière brothers and Thomas Edison by several years.
- Louis Le Prince is often called the 'Father of Cinematography' despite his mysterious disappearance before he could commercialize his inventions.
- The LPCC Type-16 camera used to film this was a revolutionary device that captured multiple images simultaneously, a precursor to modern motion picture technology.
- Le Prince sent this film to his wife in New York as part of a letter dated August 18, 1887, making it possibly the first film sent through international mail.
- The man in the film is believed to be Adolphe Le Prince, Louis's son, though this has not been definitively confirmed.
- Louis Le Prince mysteriously disappeared in 1890 while traveling from Dijon to Paris, and his body was never found, adding to the intrigue surrounding his pioneering work.
- This film predates Edison's Kinetoscope (1891) and the Lumière brothers' first public screening (1895), making it one of the earliest examples of moving image capture.
- The 16-lens camera was an intermediate step in Le Prince's development of motion picture technology, which would eventually lead to a single-lens camera.
- The film was shot on paper film coated with gelatin and silver bromide, an early form of photographic film that preceded celluloid.
- Only fragments of Le Prince's work survive, with '