Roundhay Garden Scene is an 1888 short silent film directed by French inventor Louis Le Prince. It was recorded at 12 frames per second and runs for 2.11 seconds. It is the oldest surviving film in existence, noted by the Guinness Book of Records.
Overview
According to Le Prince's son, Adolphe, the film was made at Oakwood Grange, the home of Joseph and Sarah Whitley, in Roundhay, Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, on October 14, 1888.
It features Adolphe Le Prince, Sarah Whitley, Joseph Whitley and Harriet Hartley in the garden, walking around. Note that Sarah is walking backwards as she turns around, and that Joseph's coat tails are flying as he also is turning. Sarah Whitley was Le Prince's mother-in-law, being the mother of his wife, Elizabeth. Sarah Whitley died ten days after the scene was taken.
Remastered footage
In 1930 the National Science Museum (NSM), London, produced photographic copies of remaining parts from the 1888 filmstrip. This sequence was recorded on an 1885 Eastman Kodak paper base photographic film through Le Prince's single-lens combi camera-projector. Le Prince's son, Adolphe, stated that the Roundhay Garden movie was shot at 12 frames/s (and the second movie, Traffic Crossing Leeds Bridge, at 20 frames/s), however the later digital remastered version of Roundhay Garden produced by the National Media Museum, Bradford, comprises 52 frames and is only 2.11 seconds long, as the film runs at 24.64 frames/s, the modern cinematographic frame-rate. The National Science Museum copy has 20 frames; at 12 frames/s, this would produce a run time of 1.66 seconds.
References
External links
- Roundhay Garden Scene at the Internet Movie Database
- Roundhay Garden Scene is available for free download at the Internet Archive
- Roundhay Garden Scene on YouTube
- Louis Le Prince Centre for Cinema, Photography and Television University of Leeds. (The University is near to the site of Le Prince's former workshop which was located at the junction of Woodhouse Lane and Blackman Lane).
- St John's of Roundhay. Details of memorial for Sarah (died October 24, 1888) and Joseph Whitley (died January 12, 1891) at Beechwood, Roundhay, Leeds. (map), Monumental Inscriptions at St. John's Church, Roundhay, Leeds