Roundhay Garden Scene is a 1888 short silent actuality film recorded by French inventor Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince. Filmed at Oakwood Grange in Roundhay, Leeds, in the north of England, the footage is believed to be the oldest surviving film in existence.
Plot[]
The footage features Louis' son Adolphe Le Prince, his mother-in law Sarah Whitley, his father-in-law Joseph Whitley and Annie Hartley in the garden of Oakwood Grange, leisurely walking around the garden of the premises. Sarah is seen walking - or dancing - backwards as she turns around, and Joseph's coat tails are seen flying as he also is turning.
Cast[]
- Annie Hartley - as Herself
- Adolphe Le Prince - as Himself
- Joseph Whitley - as Himself
- Sarah Whitley - as Herself
Production[]
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, England on 14 October 1888.
Remastered version[]
The original sequence was recorded on Eastman Kodak paper base photographic film using Louis Le Prince's single-lens camera. In 1930, the National Science Museum (NSM) in London produced photographic copies of surviving parts from the sequence and these were later mastered to 35mm film. Adolphe Le Prince stated that the Roundhay Garden sequence was shot at 12 fps (frames per second) and a second film, Traffic Crossing Leeds Bridge, at 20 fps; however, this is not borne out by analysis of the sequences, which suggests a frame rate of 7 fps for both films.