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Unlike what the title of this HN thread suggests, according to the two descriptions on the YouTube page and in the video clip, there is no indication that the f

Unlike what the title of this HN thread suggests, according to the two descriptions on the YouTube page and in the video clip, there is no indication that the film was shot by Edison himself, although it was shot using Thomas Edison’s Kinetograph camera and it was Edison’s film project.

wizerdrobe 3y ago
Is there reason to believe in either direction, i.e. was Edison know to use staff and or film himself?
- The_suffocated 3y ago
  I don’t know, but according to the following Library of Congress articles, the film camera was not invented by Edison, but by his assistant William Kennedy Laurie Dickson. The camera apparently was very bulky. I doubt that a bossy person like Edison would want to operate it by himself. 1. https://www.loc.gov/collections/edison-company-motion-pictures-and-sound-recordings/articles-and-essays/history-of-edison-motion-pictures/ 2. https://www.loc.gov/collections/edison-company-motion-pictures-and-sound-recordings/articles-and-essays/history-of-edison-motion-pictures/origins-of-motion-pictures/
  - seanthemon 3y ago
    This is a common theme with Edison
  - bryanrasmussen 3y ago
    >I doubt that a bossy person like Edison would want to operate it by himself. maybe he would have made an exception to meet Twain however.
- fsckboy 3y ago
  I would think it would depend on the year. When he first invented it, probably him. Later on when he was selling the things, not. Edison was obsessed with making money from the patents he had, applying them to anybody making movies; the reason Hollywood (the industry) is in LA is that filmmakers fled the East Coast to the wild west to get away from Edison's lawsuits. so perhaps (speculating) if Edison was spending a lot of time with lawyers, I tend to doubt he was doing the filming. Mark Twain was a celebrity though, so perhaps it was a friendly visit.
  - shiroiuma 3y ago
    Perhaps it was shot in Toronto by a detective with the Toronto Constabulary...
- Moru 3y ago
  From the description of the remastered movie: According to Mark Twain researcher Robert Slotta, who has studied the origins of this film for several years, it all began as a simple intro to a feature film Thomas Edison wanted to make based on Twain's 1881 novel, "The Prince and the Pauper" (published in America 1882). Twain reluctantly agreed as long as the material was never used for any other purpose. The intro consisted an edited version of the first three scenes of this film. Scenes included: Twain standing in the doorway, the walk around the house, and the second walk around was another "take" to cover a late camera start on the part of the cinematographer. Since there was still unexposed film left over, it was at the film crew’s urging that the scenes with Twain and his daughters, Clara and Jean, be photographed as a gift with the promise that footage was strictly for their own private enjoyment.
dang 3y ago
Ok, we've reverted the title now. Thanks! (Submitted title was "Mark Twain filmed by Thomas Edison in 1909")
kristopolous 3y ago
My assumption was Edison studios https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edison_Studios https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edison_Studios I believe this is a surviving excerpt from https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0001008/ https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0001008/

wizerdrobe 3y ago

Is there reason to believe in either direction, i.e. was Edison know to use staff and or film himself?

The_suffocated 3y ago
I don’t know, but according to the following Library of Congress articles, the film camera was not invented by Edison, but by his assistant William Kennedy Laurie Dickson. The camera apparently was very bulky. I doubt that a bossy person like Edison would want to operate it by himself. 1. https://www.loc.gov/collections/edison-company-motion-pictures-and-sound-recordings/articles-and-essays/history-of-edison-motion-pictures/ 2. https://www.loc.gov/collections/edison-company-motion-pictures-and-sound-recordings/articles-and-essays/history-of-edison-motion-pictures/origins-of-motion-pictures/
- seanthemon 3y ago
  This is a common theme with Edison
- bryanrasmussen 3y ago
  >I doubt that a bossy person like Edison would want to operate it by himself. maybe he would have made an exception to meet Twain however.
fsckboy 3y ago
I would think it would depend on the year. When he first invented it, probably him. Later on when he was selling the things, not. Edison was obsessed with making money from the patents he had, applying them to anybody making movies; the reason Hollywood (the industry) is in LA is that filmmakers fled the East Coast to the wild west to get away from Edison's lawsuits. so perhaps (speculating) if Edison was spending a lot of time with lawyers, I tend to doubt he was doing the filming. Mark Twain was a celebrity though, so perhaps it was a friendly visit.
- shiroiuma 3y ago
  Perhaps it was shot in Toronto by a detective with the Toronto Constabulary...
Moru 3y ago
From the description of the remastered movie: According to Mark Twain researcher Robert Slotta, who has studied the origins of this film for several years, it all began as a simple intro to a feature film Thomas Edison wanted to make based on Twain's 1881 novel, "The Prince and the Pauper" (published in America 1882). Twain reluctantly agreed as long as the material was never used for any other purpose. The intro consisted an edited version of the first three scenes of this film. Scenes included: Twain standing in the doorway, the walk around the house, and the second walk around was another "take" to cover a late camera start on the part of the cinematographer. Since there was still unexposed film left over, it was at the film crew’s urging that the scenes with Twain and his daughters, Clara and Jean, be photographed as a gift with the promise that footage was strictly for their own private enjoyment.

dang 3y ago

Ok, we've reverted the title now. Thanks! (Submitted title was "Mark Twain filmed by Thomas Edison in 1909")

kristopolous 3y ago

My assumption was Edison studios https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edison_Studios https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edison_Studios I believe this is a surviving excerpt from https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0001008/ https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0001008/