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Flickers & Tintypes Motion, one still at a time.

Section · 4 entries

Early Cinema

How silent-era pictures learned to tell a story on screen, shown frame by frame in surviving copies whose version is recorded, and through the makers' own catalogs, original drawings and trade papers where no reliable copy survives.

  • Illustration: an early tent film show, a projector beam crossing the dark to a blank glowing screen while three adults watchIllustration

    Early Cinema

    A Trip to the Moon: Méliès’s 1903 Catalog Lists 30 Scenes

    Per the Star Films catalog dated 1903, A Trip to the Moon ran about 845 feet in 30 listed scenes for $130. Scene 9 reads “Landed Right in the Eye!!!”

    Picture credit

    Illustration: Flickers & Tintypes. Generated schematic image — not a photograph, film frame or historical record. No copyright is claimed in this generated imagery; you may reuse it, and a credit to Flickers & Tintypes is appreciated.

  • The Great Train Robbery (1903), 13:14.5 of this copy: a bandit in a wide hat aims a revolver straight at the camera

    Early Cinema

    The Great Train Robbery (1903): Edison’s Movable Close-Up

    Edison’s 1903 catalog let the operator put the bandit’s close-up at the start or the end. One public-domain copy, walked scene by scene with timecodes.

    Picture credit

    "Frame at 13:14.5 of this copy, from The Great Train Robbery (1903)" by Edison Manufacturing Company — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Great_Train_Robbery_(1903).webm — Public domain: Public domain in the US (published 1903; Edison catalog of 1903 marked Copyright 1903) and in the EU (director Edwin S. Porter died 1941, per the Commons creator record; no later-dying author identified); copy: Library of Congress 00694220, record not consulted directly; WebM conversion by the Commons uploader; modified: single frame extracted and scaled to 1200 px wide

  • Illustration: a long strip of film laced on a wooden rack, lifted dripping from a dye tank, colored along its whole lengthIllustration

    Early Cinema

    Tinting and Toning: A Tone Alone Leaves the Highlights Clear

    Tinting vs toning, per Kodak’s 1918 handbook: a tint dyes the whole frame, highlights too; a tone colors only the silver image, so the highlights stay clear.

    Picture credit

    Illustration: Flickers & Tintypes. Generated schematic image — not a photograph, film frame or historical record. No copyright is claimed in this generated imagery; you may reuse it, and a credit to Flickers & Tintypes is appreciated.

  • Ink drawing for Gertie the Dinosaur: Gertie looks back at a mastodon by the water, with hills and rocks, red marks at bottom

    Early Cinema

    Gertie the Dinosaur: A 1914 Trade Notice Says ‘Dinosaurus’

    Per Moving Picture World of November 14, 1914, Winsor McCay’s hand-drawn Gertie was to be marketed as “the Dinosaurus” and reportedly got $350 for a week.

    Picture credit

    "Gertie the dinosaur standing on a cliff edge looking at a mastodon (Library of Congress LCCN 2002706759)" by Winsor McCay — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gertie_the_dinosaur_standing_on_a_cliff_edge_looking_at_a_mastodon_LCCN2002706759.jpg — Public domain: Public domain in the US and in the EU (Winsor McCay died in 1934, per the Commons category data; life plus 70 years ended in 2004, which covers the drawing whether or not it counts as published); the Commons file page marks it public domain (Library of Congress record not consulted directly)